RIVERSIDE — A local youth football organization is under fire after being accused of changing eligibility rules for the playoffs.
News Center 7′s Mike Campbell reached out to the league for an explanation.
The Gem City Youth Conference (GCYC) sent an email explaining their actions and why they won’t be letting some players suit up for the playoffs. It’s tough for families to understand.
“It’s childish, it’s ridiculous, these kids want to play football, that’s what they should do, that’s why the parents paid,” said Marti Pettit, who has grandsons that play for the Huber Heights Youth Warriors and the Mad River Indians.
One grandson had to sit out three games and now is looking at being barred from the playoffs even though his dad lives in Huber Heights, but he doesn’t go to Huber schools.
“It’s very frustrating for a grandparent, to see a grandson crying because they can’t play just because adults want to be crazy,” Pettit said.
Pettit believed her grandson was fine once he was granted the waiver the league required, for both the regular season and playoffs.
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John Wagner coached in the GCYC for years and was an athletic administrator through last year for a league team. He said just last year the waivers were good for both regular season and playoffs.
“I never thought a peewee kid would be such a threat to grownups,” Wagner said.
The GCYC board of directors told News Center 7 “The waiver was for the regular season only and it does not include eligibility for the playoffs.”
In addition, the board of directors agreed that the ineligibility of players would be reviewed prior to playoffs for a final determination for participation. That decision was final on Sunday, October 8th.
The league said they understand the emotions but this is about fair play.
“While this is upsetting to some, the 1500+ eligible kids in the program also deserve fairness in competition,” they said.
The GCYC didn’t explain why the impacted kids didn’t also impact fair competition in the regular season and parents and grandparents who paid 300 dollars or more for players to be on a team certainly don’t see any fairness here.
The league told News Center 7 there are close to 50 players impacted on five out of the eight teams in the league. They apparently only informed administrators not coaches and said “In hindsight, the GCYC Board of Directors should have taken the lead on that communication so all clubs were clear on the decision and they would have received identical information.”
Many parents are still hoping the GCYC will reverse their decision and change the rules for next year if they feel the need to.
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