Alabama state senator Chris Elliott is vowing to draft legislation in response to the controversy surrounding the Spanish Fort girls soccer team.
The Toros were removed from the Class 6A state playoffs after self-reporting an eligibility issue last week.
Baldwin County Superintendent Eddie Tyler filed a desperation appeal to the First District Board on Thursday, hoping the decision would be overturned and the Toros would be allowed to compete.
However, the Board denied the appeal and the Class 6A playoffs took place Friday night without Spanish Fort. The boys also self-reported an eligibility issue and also were removed from the playoffs.
Elliott (R-Daphne) posted this message on social media Saturday.
“AHSAA is at it again, and I’ve heard from many of you. It’s past time for a permanent legislative resolution to these seemingly annual miscarriages imposed on our student athletes, and I’m in the process of drafting this legislation.”
His Facebook post also included a letter from the parents of the students involved in both the boys and girls cases. A lawsuit filed by Mobile attorney David Allen last week stated that Anthony DeFelippo’s move to Spanish Fort at mid-semester was a key part of the eligibility issue. His sisters played for the girls team.
Here is the letter from the DeFelippos:
“On behalf of our daughters, we want to thank the Spanish Fort High School Coaches, Administration, Baldwin County Board of Education, and Community Members who have supported our student athletes while we navigate this unprecedented and unmerited removal of the Spanish Fort Girls Varsity Soccer Team from the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s State Tournament. The AHSAA, an alleged non-profit and that is not state affiliated, asserts in their mission statement they:
‘Serve member schools through interscholastic competition by enhancing student learning, sportsmanship, safety and lifelong values. With integrity as its foundation…’
There is no integrity in the AHSAA’s actions. Here, what the AHSAA has done, is target the SFHS girls team in retaliation to the lawsuit filed on behalf of the brother of two of our players. The alleged investigation, started only after the AHSAA was served with the lawsuit and demanded SFHS self-report any alleged violations it found in the paperwork of this family under the threat of sanctions.
“The ‘violation’ that according to the AHSAA merits removal of the team from the playoffs and lingering sanctions on the student athletes at issue — their belief that the checking of a box indicating that all immediate family members moved to the home was ‘invalid’ because the brother of these athletes, who resided in Colorado for over two years, did not move with the rest of the family from Pennsylvania.
“The rules propagated by the AHSAA do not serve as a shield to protect student athletes, but as a sword to support the AHSAA’s ‘interpretation’ of the rules they themselves create. The alleged violated rule at issue, does not ask whether ‘all immediate family members’ moved, but rather whether all ‘principal members of the family reside in the new place of residence.’
“With all the growth in Baldwin County, the idea that any of our schools can be found to violate this rule if one of the siblings chooses not to move with their family — say to finish their senior year of high school by living with another relative — that all remaining student athletes of that family are automatically ineligible, does not enhance a student’s learning or lifelong values. There is no integrity in that.
“Moreover, it is egregious and a miscarriage of justice that when SFHS questioned why the AHSAA would choose to interpret their rules in such a manner, given that the rules do not expressly state an intent to treat this situation as a violation, they chose to strong-arm SFHS and BCBE by stating ‘the system would face significant fines should [it] refuse to comply with their…
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