Clay-Chalkville to file legal injunction to delay football playoffs

[pmull]

Clay-Chalkville High School is the No. 1 (6A) team in the state. Last week it was determined that they have played an ineligible player all year and they were required to forfeit 9 games. The forfeits mean the highest ranked team in the state will miss the playoffs.

According to reports an un-named player transfered from Huffman High School. He was ruled ineligible to play at Huffman due to a disciplinary problem. AHSAA rules require that a transfer can not play for a new school if he left the old school in bad standing. It is the schools responsibility to verify that any transfer left their previous school in good standing and made a bona fide residence move to the new school zone. The AHSAA ruled the player ineligible. The school filed an appeal on Friday and the appeal was unanimously denied.

If the injunction is granted it will have ripples throughout the 6A state playoffs. My local high school will be one of the teams affected. We were the # 3 seed in Region 7. When CCHS had to forfeit games we moved up to the #2 seed. We are presently preparing to play a home game Friday night against Vestavia Hills. If the injunction is granted and the AHSAA ruling overturned we will play an away game against Hoover.

My question is this. Does the legal system have the power to overturn a ruling made by the AHSAA? This is a membership similar to the NCAA that has rules. They are rules not laws. The AHSAA ruled and heard the appeal. I think the matter is over. Can a NCAA member go to court to over rule an NCAA decision?

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[2Stater]

I don't see any way that will happen. They will be denied. The courts have no jurisdiction, the way I see it.

[SUPERCOACH]

I hate this whole situation, but I think this statement pretty much says it all:

It is the schools responsibility to verify that any transfer left their previous school in good standing and made a bona fide residence move to the new school zone.

Someone at the school dropped the ball on this.  I really hate it for the seniors, but I think the AHSAA made the correct decision based on the rules.  The other day I said that I hoped they would file an injunction.  In light of the quote above it is clear that someone at the school is responsible for this mess and they should accept the AHSAA ruling.  Now they are impacting all of the other schools who truly didn't have anything to do with this.

I suppose that student and his family will be moving again pretty soon before the whole town tries to lynch them.

[pmull]

According to this report CCHS is saying that Huffman withheld information that the player was expelled. CCHS is also accusing Huffman of being the school to turn them in. 

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[SUPERCOACH]

According to this report CCHS is saying that Huffman withheld information that the player was expelled. CCHS is also accusing Huffman of being the school to turn them in. 

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Well if that is true, I reverse everything I just said 2 posts up.

[pmull]

According to this report CCHS is saying that Huffman withheld information that the player was expelled. CCHS is also accusing Huffman of being the school to turn them in. 

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Well if that is true, I reverse everything I just said 2 posts up.

It is a question of who is telling the truth. You have to assume the AHSAA looked into this matter and determined Huffman is not at fault. I feel bad for the CCHS kids. They have a very good team this year.

[SUPERCOACH]

In any case, the kids at Clay-Chalkville are being cheated by something that some adults did or failed to do.  What a sad situation.

[Marshal Dillon]

According to this report CCHS is saying that Huffman withheld information that the player was expelled. CCHS is also accusing Huffman of being the school to turn them in. 

Click here for link

Well if that is true, I reverse everything I just said 2 posts up.

Sorry, but we can't delay the playoffs because of some kind of problem between Huffman and Clay. The AHSAA was their chance to hear their appeal and story and they said no. I really don't think a judge in Alabama will touch this, this ain't California. Did the player lie to Clay about why he left Huffman, if so there's your problem.

 

[SUPERCOACH]

I don't see what it would hurt to delay for 1 week.  As it stands right now, the teams who are in aren't 100% sure who they should even be getting ready to play.  The AHSAA better be absolutely certain that new information isn't going to come out in the next couple of days that would change the outcome.  I don't know how much information they have, but they had better be sure they got it right.  If there are any doubts, delay for a week so they can have some time to do an investigation.

If Clay has any sort of new evidence that they followed the correct procedure to clear the player, then the judge may grant the injunction.  This is exactly what injunctions are for.

[pmull]

I don't see what it would hurt to delay for 1 week.  As it stands right now, the teams who are in aren't 100% sure who they should even be getting ready to play.  The AHSAA better be absolutely certain that new information isn't going to come out in the next couple of days that would change the outcome.  I don't know how much information they have, but they had better be sure they got it right.  If there are any doubts, delay for a week so they can have some time to do an investigation.

If Clay has any sort of new evidence that they followed the correct procedure to clear the player, then the judge may grant the injunction.  This is exactly what injunctions are for.

Everyone knows who they are playing based on Friday's ruling. All playoff team coaches and principals had a meeting Saturday morning in Montgomery to discuss the playoff paring and distribute playoff tickets to home teams.

If CCHS had any new information Friday's appeal meeting would have been the time to bring that information forward. I don't see anyway a judge would grant an injunction to delay the playoffs.

[Jamos]

I'm thinking someone at Clay dropped the ball on this with the majority of AHSSA voting against Clay as they did. It's just so hard for me to think that the HC at Clay didn't check this kid out himself to prevent anything like this happening. It is possible that Huffman didn't forward all of the kids info as they should have, it's very competitive in the high school world anymore as these coaches try to recruit all the time. Anybody remember Propst at Hoover?

[Coach Hank Crisp]

pmull you should have turned Hoover into the AHSAA for sometime and had them kicked out of the playoffs as well.   


The kicker for Vesatvia ( Spina?) kicked a 50 yard FG Friday night but had the wind to his back.

[SUPERCOACH]

I don't see what it would hurt to delay for 1 week.  As it stands right now, the teams who are in aren't 100% sure who they should even be getting ready to play.  The AHSAA better be absolutely certain that new information isn't going to come out in the next couple of days that would change the outcome.  I don't know how much information they have, but they had better be sure they got it right.  If there are any doubts, delay for a week so they can have some time to do an investigation.

If Clay has any sort of new evidence that they followed the correct procedure to clear the player, then the judge may grant the injunction.  This is exactly what injunctions are for.

Everyone knows who they are playing based on Friday's ruling. All playoff team coaches and principals had a meeting Saturday morning in Montgomery to discuss the playoff paring and distribute playoff tickets to home teams.

If CCHS had any new information Friday's appeal meeting would have been the time to bring that information forward. I don't see anyway a judge would grant an injunction to delay the playoffs.

I guess it would have to be something new they found since the appeal for them to have a chance.  If the AHSAA has no doubts about what happened when they made the ruling then I guess that is the end of it.  I have no idea what information they have, it may be obvious to them what happened.  But the whole incident smells like a setup to me.

[Marshal Dillon]

I don't see what it would hurt to delay for 1 week.  As it stands right now, the teams who are in aren't 100% sure who they should even be getting ready to play.  The AHSAA better be absolutely certain that new information isn't going to come out in the next couple of days that would change the outcome.  I don't know how much information they have, but they had better be sure they got it right.  If there are any doubts, delay for a week so they can have some time to do an investigation.

If Clay has any sort of new evidence that they followed the correct procedure to clear the player, then the judge may grant the injunction.  This is exactly what injunctions are for.

This opens a HUGE door for similar lawsuits. Where do we draw the line once the door is open? A school suing based on a bad call by the ref, players suing because they aren't starting, coach's suing every time a player is deteremined ineligble? It opens a giant can of worms.

[SUPERCOACH]

If they dropped the ball and didn't check him out like they were supposed to, then they have no case and the judge will deny the request (I hope).  I feel horrible for the boys who busted their tail all year, but the school is responsible in this case and there isn't anything that can be done about it.

If they were tricked and are innocent in the matter, as has been suggested, then they absolutely should get an injunction.  I have no idea if that is what happened or not, but if it is then this is exactly the right time to get the courts involved.  This isn't the same as a blown call.

I suppose that if Huffman simply did not send the papers, then Clay is still at fault.  They should not have played him until they got the paper work (see Duron Carter).  But if Huffman or someone gave them false information (intentionally or accidentally), then they should go to court.  I doubt this is the case though or it would have come out during the appeal.

This is a horrible situation and NOBODY wins here.  It is obvious how Clay loses, but the eventual state champion loses too because there will always be doubts as to whether they deserved it or could have beaten Clay.  Winning the championship is great, but if the best team in the state was eliminated due to rules trickeration (if that is indeed what happened), is it really a legitimate championship?

 

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