They are both situations that require people to submit to unwritten rules that are generally known to the competitive community you are participating in, but are not explicitly written or enforced by the specific tournament that you are playing in. Any other variables around it are highly subjective and irrelevant (or so I've been told). You both have the equal and fair ability to organize your team and get AT LEAST 8 people to the match ready to play through it's entirety. If you fail to do that, that is all on your team and no one else. You put yourself at a disadvantage because of your own failures, not the other way around.
Really, in any serious tournaments I've participated in outside of warband, you wouldn't have been able to play at all and would have been forced to forfeit your match if you didn't meet the minimum requirement of members to play the match. Just allowing you to play the match with less than the required numbers would have already been considered extremely sportsmanlike since they are letting you play the match with a chance to win with the members you've got rather than take the automatic forfeit.
@Memelock
You want to ft7 me meme boi? I'll dook on you just like I dooked on Arys