A joke award turned sour after it was posted online and went viral.

Martha Aranguiz’s eight year old son received a certificate that dubbed him “Captain Cry-baby” after a hockey and basketball tournament hosted by the West Broadway Youth Outreach Centre.

She said it was all in good fun, and gave her sister permission to post the award on Facebook.

It went viral, attracting criticism from people across the country who called it bullying.

“It never should have gone this far. It should have never been aired on Facebook. It should have just never made it to this point,” said Aranguiz.

Aranguiz’s son has been going to WBYO for two years. She said he can struggle with sportsmanship, an issue the centre is helping him tackle.

Aranguiz said her son is embarrassed by the post and the negative attention it drew to WBYO director, Ken Opaleke.

“He knows that Ken loves him and they were just doing this for fun. Not to belittle him, but just for fun,” said Aranguiz.

Aranguiz said she supports Opaleke and the centre, and will continue to send her son there.

She said Opaleke apologized in person for the award. He also issued an apology on Facebook that said:

“Every year we give out a number of ‘joke’ awards at the end of our tournament. It is meant to be fun for the kids and they are typically well received. I can understand how in this instance, my humour was not appropriate and showed a lack of judgement. I never meant to make a child feel bad about himself.”

Opaleke has been director of WBYO for 23 years, and was recognized by “Our Manitoba Heroes” in 2013 for his work with the group.

The WBYO Board of Directors met Monday night to discuss the issue and how to move forward. In a statement, the board said:

“We will be reviewing all awards to ensure they are positive and supportive in nature. In addition, while our organization has a long held zero tolerance policy on bullying, we will be formalizing this and ensuring all WBYO staff are fully aware of and understand it.”

The WBYO board also thanked community members for their supportive comments about Opaleke and the organization.