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Football Officiating => General Discussion => Topic started by: TXMike on February 15, 2012, 01:33:49 PM
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What kind of statement is this!?!?!?! Sounds like some adults essentially throwing their hands up in the air and giving up rather than trying to find a way to conduct the game safely. If the "adults" can't find a way for the kids to play safely then perhaps the "adults" need to find a new job.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/georgia-school-voluntarily-forfeits-playoff-spot-rather-play-131118863.html
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Mike, I don't know if you recall the football brawl but it was pretty ugly. The "assailing" school's administration didn't exactly step up and accept responsibility for it either.
Had I been the Warren Co. administration, I would have declared it a boycott. The end result might be the same as far as GHSAA is concerned but the public perception might be a little different.
If I were assaulted to the point of brain injury by a group of thugs at a game and the home school's response was "sorry, not our problem" or "you kind of brought it on yourself" I don't think I'd be too keen to accept another assignment there.
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Should have played the game, locked the gates and allowed no one in except teams and had extra police all on the sideline. All equipped with TASERS of course.
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Not to be critical, since I don't know all the dynamics involved, but it sure sounds like the GHSA could have rearranged the brackets.
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Should have played the game, locked the gates and allowed no one in except teams and had extra police all on the sideline. All equipped with TASERS of course.
Several decades ago, following similar circumstances involving two City Basketball teams, a championship basketball game was held in a closed gymnasium because of threats made by supporters of both teams. A lot of people were upset, but the message was that the two schools were willing to take extraordinary steps to maintain order, whether supporters liked it, thought it was fair, or not.
There was no appeal, the schools made the decision and that was that. The game went off without problem, and the following basketball season, crowd behavior was noticibly improved throughout the region.
As the saying goes, "Before you can get a mule to behave the way you want, you have to get it's attention".
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I am with Al and the others who suggest the game could be played without "fans" if need be.
(Although my preferred solution were I with the school that is "giving up" would be to organize a huge police/security force and let the state association and the other school know that was what we decided was needed to ensure the game could be played safely. I would invite both the state and the other school to augment the force if they were willing but that we require that type of insurance in order to play the game.)
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I've got no problem with her decision.
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I am with Al and the others who suggest the game could be played without "fans" if need be.
(Although my preferred solution were I with the school that is "giving up" would be to organize a huge police/security force and let the state association and the other school know that was what we decided was needed to ensure the game could be played safely. I would invite both the state and the other school to augment the force if they were willing but that we require that type of insurance in order to play the game.)
I agree with Mike. There's nothing in the rulebook that says fans have to attend. ;D
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Another supporter of no fans. Just the 2 teams with no one else on camous.
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As someone in school administration, I applaud the decision. The safety of all is the first priority. Plus, it's not all about sports. You tell the students and the community, "Sports is a privilege, not a right. If we can't conduct an event that we can guarantee your safety, we won't do it."
For years, one of our most successful private schools would forfeit games that were played in tournaments on school days that required students to miss school. It's about education, not athletics.
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That was a gutsy and proper move by the administration. When you're having brawls at high school sporting events, then maybe the events have gone beyond education and turned into something else.
There was a high school football game around San Antonio a few years back between two very small schools that was played on a Friday afternoon at a neutral site with very few fans/people allowed in. This move was because of gang threats between the two schools. I will see if I can find an old news story about that. Natalia and someone else, maybe Lytle.
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We need to remember that school's first responsibility is to teach useful lesssons, and today one extremely useful lesson far too often ignored is simply that bad behavior has consequences, and consequences more often not cause, or should cause pain. I suspect we all agree that there is no excuse for a brawl at a football game, on multiple levels.
Students and spectators MUST understand that this will NEVER be acceptable, and will ONLY bring bad consequences. I suspect forfeiting a playoff round game caught the attention of a lot of people in that community who may otherwise have blown the original episode off. Was it fair to the players? I certainly don't know, but hopefully local officials who had the opportunity to see the post-brawl reaction and attitude among both players and other students, took time to observe the reaction to the original incident.
Consequences that really don't cause pain, rarely work. Consider our diddling with Iran. To be effective consequences need to cause more pain, than whatever caused the need to apply them, causes pleasure. Sometimes mules can be really stubborn, and take a lot of effort to make them change their mind and behave as is expected.
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It's about education, not athletics.
I know a handful of coaches I'd like you to explain that to. ;)
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I know a handful of coaches I'd like you to explain that to. ;)
Just a handful?