THE KID CAN PLAY
DID YOU AGREE WITH THE DISPOSITION?
Kid can play football
Matthew B. Stannard, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, November 24, 2008
(11-24) 17:33 PST OAKLAND — An Alameda County judge ruled today that the organization that oversees high school sports in California violated state law when it found a Placer County foster child ineligible to play football because of a paperwork mix-up by his school’s athletic director.
That mix-up – a failure to file Dyer as a “hardship” transfer to the school – had led the California Interscholastic Federation to rule Dyer ineligible to play for the Placer team. The five games he had played in this fall, by extension, were invalid. The CIF then ordered the high school team to forfeit those games, two of which were league games, effectively disqualifying the team from the Division IV playoffs.
In her ruling today, Superior Court Judge Judith Ford overturned the federation’s decision to disqualify Dyer from the games, and ordered that the five forfeited games – and its 4-2 record – be restored. In theory, that puts Placer back in the playoffs, though CIF officials did not immediately comment on how and when those games might be played.
Faced with a scrum of reporters after the hearing, a grinning Dyer said he felt “good” about the ruling. Asked if he was ready to play some football, he offered two more words: “Oh, yeah.”
Dyer’s coach, Joey Montoya, who sat beside his player throughout the hearing, was more verbose.
“We’re obviously happy with the decision. We feel that the right decision was made,” he said. “We stood for what we believed was right, and it came out to be true today.”
The judge promised to issue a written order Tuesday clarifying her decision. Attorneys for the National Center for Youth Law, who represented Dyer, said they expect Ford’s decision to apply not just to Dyer but to similarly situated foster children who want to play high school sports.
The center had argued that it was illegal to require foster children to apply for hardship transfers to play sports in their new schools when other children – those who moved with their entire immediate families – faced no such requirement.
“It was an issue of fairness,” said Leecia Welch, an attorney for the youth law center. “We couldn’t be more happy with the ruling.”
Federation attorneys had argued that the paperwork was a requirement, not a barrier. They said the condition was designed to protect against high school athletes being recruited and told the judge it was so important that they would rather require the paperwork from all new transfers than lose the process altogether.
CIF attorneys had no immediate comment after the hearing, but later issued a statement saying Placer will play Oakdale, as originally scheduled, this Friday.
“While we strongly disagree with the decision, we respect the judge’s ruling and will move forward in accordance with it,” said Pete Saco, commissioner of the CIF section that includes Placer, in the statement. “Longer term, we will be exploring our options, but for now we look forward to resuming and completing our Section football playoffs without any further distraction.”
E-mail Matthew B. Stannard at mstannard@sfchronicle.com.
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