Sportsmanship/legitimacy

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 151924

Geoff:
I seem to sense that you have an agenda to
blame Harry and suggest that he cheated right from the beginning.

a_svirn:
Well, you got it all wrong. I never said a word against Harry. It is 
the way the tournament is organized that raises my hackles. If 
anyone's integrity is in question it's Dumbledore's, not Harry's.

Geoff:
I am trying to avoid a "table tennis" post, but I must return to my 
point
that the hosts didn't introduce an extra person. This was due to
Moody!Crouch's altering the Goblet of Fire.

a_svirn:
And who was Moody/Crouch? More or less Dumbledore's deputy, wasn't 
he? I'd say it qualify him as a "host". And it was Hogwarts – the 
school that hosted the event – that got extra champion because of 
Crouch's actions. 

Pippin:
Foul play could not be proved, it was only suspected. There
was no proof that Harry hadn't got around the age line or asked
someone else to put his name in the goblet.

a_svirn:
What do you mean "foul play could not be proved"? Foul play was 
there for everyone to see –Hogwarts had an extra champion. You can 
hardly call it fair, can you? Was it Harry's fault or someone else's 
is quite another question. The point is that it was *not* fair, it 
was most certainly *against* the rules, and yet nothing was done to 
sort this mess out, because of the one rule that allows to play 
foul. 

Pippin:
Possibly they could have
called off the whole contest -- but how could Dumbledore be
sure that wasn't what the enemy wanted?

a_svirn:
No, it was *im*possible  -- because of the contract. Besides, why 
whishes of this hypothetical enemy of Harry Potter should matter to 
the delegations of Durmstrang and Bauxbatons? They came to 
participate in a major sporting event, not to be inducted into the 
Order of the Phoenix.  

Pippin:
Dumbledore's fairness (and I do believe
he thought it was only fair to credit Harry in the spirit of the
rules) <snip>

a_svirn:
I am not sure that there is such thing as "spirit of the rules", 
though. Especially if this *spirit* works right against their 
*letter*. 

Besides, according to you Harry seems to be the only one who 
deserves fairness. What about Cedric and Krum? Why should they give 
up their fairly gained advantage because of this mysterious spirit?