Ineligible player costs Bolton football team

[Spartansfan]

Whitehaven is just as good as both Millington and White Station. Assuming that Millington beats Whitehaven is very dangerous. I for one think that Whitehaven will go to Millington and win should they make it to the second round.

 

 

I'm thinking Millington has the hardest path to the semi's. And if they overlook Collierville due to the anticipation of playing Whitehaven, they might not get to play WH. They're going to have to really take each game seriously, and like you, I don't see them getting past WH without one heckuva fight. I won't be surprised at all if WH takes that game. OTOH, if Millington is looking past Collierville and WH in anticipation for a potential match up with White Station, then we will see ya'll in the 3rd round, because Millington won't make it.

[mrbigster]

I have numerous conflicting thoughts about this:

 

Bolton should be complimented for self-reporting this. When they did, though, they should have realized that it would result in the forfeiture of 9 games. It sounds as though they expected something different when there is no other option. Still, they did the right thing and should do it next time because that is the right thing to do. We don't applaud that kind of behavior enough any more.

 

After ten weeks, what caused Bolton to decide to investigate this kid? IF someone came forward and reported it then they did the right thing, too, but about ten weeks too late IF they knew about it all along. Too many of us, myself included, have known of suspicious circumstances that should have been reported and turned in (meaning athletes who claim they have moved but you see them every week or so in the same old town/neighborhood). Sometimes it is the "if they don't want to play for us, we don't want them anyway" attitude but that can end up really costing an innocent school, like it did Bolton. We need to report this immediately and quit turning our heads, refusing to get involved. I bet that someone, from Bolton or Craigmont, knew about this and could have reported it early and saved the Bolton team from this.

 

When Bolton decided to check this out, how did they do it? Did they confront the kid or what? It would appear that schools need to inverstigate every transfer thoroughly and it would be interesting, and educational, to know how Bolton managed to find the truth.

 

 

I've been thinking the same thing..How did Bolton all of a sudden just find out..I'm sure somebody knew..students,parents..etc..It's not fair but it's the only thing the T.S.S.A.A. could do..Lake Co had the same thing happen to them several years ago..A student was 2 months older than the eligibility date..Lake Co had just changed coaches..the new coach thought that the schools turned their records in for all incoming freshmen and if someone moved in,turn those in as well..With this kid being a senior and having played all the previous years,thought the T.S.S.A. A. had all the records and would inform a school that a player was going to be too old..Well..he played all year and Lake Co won the district and was getting ready for the playoffs..This team was a top contender for the State Championship that year..Beat Halls ,2nd place team by about 35 or 40 points..Basketball season was getting ready to start and the new principal was getting the basketball records ready and saw this player was going to be too old for basketball as well as football and reported it..Lake Co had to forfeit all its games..Halls came to Lake Co and got the 1st place trophy and South Fulton had to give their cleats back out and took the 2nd spot..So..it does hurt a lot of players,other teams,communities..Had the principal not found the record..Lake Co may have won a State championship..The only other option then was if the player had played in all the games..I was hoping maybe he had gotten hurt and didn't play some of the games..He had only scored 1 touchdown all year from his receiver spot,as Lake Co was known back then as a running team with all state running backs..But he had played in every game..thus the ruling for all the forfeits..It's tough ...maybe that's something Bolton can look into..I'm sure it already has..did he play in all the games..

[Rob_M]

Whitehaven is just as good as both Millington and White Station. Assuming that Millington beats Whitehaven is very dangerous. I for one think that Whitehaven will go to Millington and win should they make it to the second round.

 

Good thing that you don't get paid to think..... Just Kidding!! Whitehaven is a very good football team. If Millington is able to win this week vs Collierville, The Trojans will get all they can handle from the Whitehaven team. That being said. There hasn't been a team in the Memphis area that has been more impressive at home than Millington.

 

Millington has only given up 7 pts all year long at home. That's 7 points in 5 games.

[Pantherbert]

Pantherbert, DO YOU WANT ANSWERS ?

 

 

Finally, someone caught the reference /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

[Pantherbert]

Pantherbert, your frustration is understandable, but your anger at TSSAA is misdirected. As CoachT said, the rule is clear -- even the "accidental" use of an ineligible player results in forfeiture. There is no authorization in the rule for exceptions. There are sensible reasons for this sort of rule (e.g., deterring school officials from looking the other way when eligibility concerns should be investigated; keeping the responsibility for eligibility verification at the school level where it belongs; avoiding the subjectivity and arbitrariness of trying to hypothetically reconstruct what outcomes in games would have been if the ineligible player had not participated). But whether you accept that the rule makes sense or not, it is the rule that the member schools of TSSAA have adopted for themselves. The TSSAA member schools have a process for changing rules they don't like. But until they do, it is the job of Ronnie Carter and the Board of Control to enforce the rules as they are written. To say that Ronnie Carter didn't care is presumptuous and, I dare say, wrong. To criticize the Board of Control for an appeal that supposedly wasn't taken seriously is wrong as well -- it was the school's right to appeal, the school made that choice, and five members of the Board assembled on short notice to hear whatever Bolton wanted to present. Those Board members are school principals. They know that this sort of situation could just as easily occur at their schools. They assuredly took the Bolton officials seriously.

 

This is an unfortunate situation for both Bolton and Bartlett, but not one for which TSSAA officials are to blame. The schools choose the rules by which they will regulate their competition, and the TSSAA officials have simply enforced those rules. That is their job. I'm sure they all feel badly about it, but they were not free to ignore the unambiguous rule that the schools have adopted for themselves.

 

 

 

The forfeit I understand. The beef is with adding a "win" to all who lost to the team in question. The best way to handle it is to throw out Bolton's games entirely and simply bump everyone up.

[canton]

It blows my mind what parents will do to get their child in the right school. I have heard cases where the parents will drop their child off at a bus stop for a certain school, and the school only finds out because someone in the neighborhood calls and spills the beans. This doesn't just happen for athletics. I guess all football coaches, principals, and teachers should start making home visits.

 

I hate this whole thing for the kids, parents and coaches that do the right thing.

[Pantherbert]

Whitehaven is just as good as both Millington and White Station. Assuming that Millington beats Whitehaven is very dangerous. I for one think that Whitehaven will go to Millington and win should they make it to the second round.

 

 

 

UUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum.......................................no.

[Rob_M]

PB..... Take it easy on him..... Everyone is entitled to their opinion.... Even If It is wrong.

[bobmob]

This is going to sound COLD. But, Bolton is finally getting what they have sowed over the last 20 plus years. The late Paul Barrett routinely "recruited" talented players from other area schools to play sports (primarily Basketball) at Bolton. He never got "caught" and thus helped the Wildcats win numerous State Championships.

 

I for one hope that Ronnie Carter and the TSSAA uphold their earlier decision.

 

 

Oh please.... I would almost guarantee you that not one player on Bolton's fooball team even knows who Paul Barrett is. Maybe they should. I can hear the coach explaining it now.

"Guy's we have to forfeit 9 games this year because the late Paul Barrett allegedly recruited some good players for the basketball team in 1980." "It finally caught up to us."

"But coach, Bartlett and us have put so much blood and sweat on the field for the past four years. What does coach Barrett have to do with us."

Your statement is more than cold. Those alleged recruits must have put such a beating on one of your teams that it is still hurting. It's about the kids today, not what happened 20+ years ago.

 

I think the reason this situation came out so late was that the player in question was using another students address. The other student had an issue come up where the office had to pull up his address and the computer listed two names for that address. They notified the assistant principal who is also the AD.

After seeing this first hand I would not want my biggest rival to have this happen to them. We must put in place a system to prevent this from occuring again or request for a rule change to allow for a true appeal.

[bobmob]

Illegal enrollees will pay

Bolton High case prompts crackdown at Shelby schools

 

 

 

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/...llees-will-pay/