Thanks to a loyal reader, I was given a tip that the official involved in Monday's incident with Kelvyn Park was a non-licensed IHSA official.

According to IHSA documents and assistant executive director Dave Gannaway, Jose Luis Rivas is not licensed to work IHSA contests.

Juan Espinoza, Public League soccer coordinator, assigns officials for Public League tournament games and has had a long history of assigning non-IHSA officials to work IHSA games according to Public League coaches.

"In most cases, whether a school uses an outside assigning person or not, it's the school's responsibility to make sure the officials are licensed," Gannaway said. "But in this case, it was the Public League Tournament and it came right out of the sports administration office. We'll wait to receive the Public League internal investigation before proceeding further. We have full confidence in (Public League sports director) Calvin Davis and know we will receive a complete report."

Prior to today, I had covered two Public League games this season - one last Saturday and one this past Monday.

On Saturday, the player that scored three goals for Senn turned out to be ineligible. Seeing he had just moved from Jamaica that week, I sort of had an idea right away that something wasn't right. But as I told Young coach Ian McCarthy after the game, I wasn't going to write about that. Public League soccer coordinator Juan Espinoza, who has been criticized on a yearly basis by Public League coaches for not providing proper leadership, was in attendance and let the player play.

On Monday, I was in attendance for the Lane/Kelvyn Park game when a Kelvyn Park student-athlete ran on the field, swung at and shoved a ref. From the quotes after the game - the ref said he was "shaken;" the Kelvyn Park coach thought he "got rid of all the violent players;" and the Lane coach shook his head and said "I've never seen an athlete attack a ref in any sport" - you know this was serious...no matter what type of spin or gift wrap the Public League office tries to put on the facts.

But what did the players involved think and see? I spoke to them Thursday after Lane's 3-1 victory over Lake View.

Continue reading "Lane players still shocked over ref being attacked" »

One coach asked me Monday - "Who is running the system in the Public League - the animals?" What's scary about this story is that you have an official now afraid to do the right thing, because of more backlash. I was there, and I saw it first hand. If this happens in the suburbs, the student-athlete is done and charges are filed. A number of Public League coaches agreed with me when we spoke Tuesday. Here's the latest update from Wednesday's Chicago Sun-Times:

A high school soccer referee was still deciding late Tuesday night whether to press charges against a Kelvyn Park High School student-athlete who physically assaulted him during a Public League tournament match Monday afternoon in Chicago.

Jose Luis Rivas was attacked by the teenage offender midway through the second half of a game between Lane Tech and Kelvyn Park at Amundsen High School. Chicago Police were called to the scene after the student-athlete ran on the field, swung at and shoved Rivas after a foul was called on Kelvyn Park.

"I'm scared right now that [if I pursue charges], some of the teenagers might do something to my family," Rivas said in a phone interview Tuesday night. "They know where some of the referees live, and I don't want anything to happen to my family. I will let the police know what I want to do on Wednesday."

Continue reading "Public League referee afraid of backlash if charges are filed..." »

In my 13 years covering prep soccer, I had never seen this happen until Monday night. Here is my story that appears in today's Chicago Sun-Times. Odds are Chicago Police will be visiting Kelvyn Park High School this morning.

A Kelvyn Park player ran onto the field Monday afternoon and physically assaulted a referee, forcing a Public League tournament match between Lane Tech and Kelvyn Park to be called midway through the second half.

Chicago police were called to the scene at Amundsen where the contest was held, but no arrests were made. The player left the scene before police arrived.

Kelvyn Park coach Jorge Ramirez confirmed the player -- who was not dressed for the game -- was a member of his team, but would not give the student's name.

Continue reading "Public League mess: Kelvyn Park player attacks official" »

I saw him play today, and I'll bet there isn't more than two coaches and a handful of people that have ever seen him play.

His name is Remone Gordon, a 6-4 junior from Senn. One of the officials during the game turned to me and said, "the big kid is really, really good isn't he?"

After playing his first half of the season, Gordon toyed with the Juarez defense and scored a hat trick in the 20 minutes in the second half during Senn's 4-2 victory in the Public League Tournament.

He is one of the best players I have seen this fall.

In today's communication era, why did the IHSA need to host seeding meetings this past Wednesday? The state tournament doesn't kick off for a few weeks, and football seeds are decided a week before the start of its state tournament.

Officials need to be assigned, but again - that's the only major problem. This is the 21st Century, and the IHSA still runs its state tournament like its the 19th Century. With a number of weeks still remaining in the 2008 season, there is a good chance these seeds won't be a true reflection of where teams should be seeded.

Agree?

As I looked around at some of the city soccer fields in New York City on Thursday and Friday, it's safe to say some of the fields need some work - both in the city and surrounding suburbs.

But the key is NYC has fields for high school teams to play on - something that the CPS Public League continues to ignore. Money and space are issues, but there is no proactive plan to address the ongoing problem.

I'm tired of writing about it, and you are tired of reading it. So why hasn't the CPS Public League done anything?

Other news and notes:

Continue reading "New York's soccer fields worse than Chicago's..." »

Should the Chicago Fire force teams to sell tickets in order to play at Toyota Park?

Remember, the Fire has to cover costs but it also has to build a fan base.

Let me know your thoughts.

There is nothing like traveling. I love it, unless I'm on a bus.

While I'm in New York preparing to head to Shea Stadium tonight for the Cubs/Mets game, Lake View and Young will hop on separate buses and travel more than 50 miles roundtrip to play an 80-minute soccer game today.

Keep in mind, this is actually a home game for one of the two schools.

What does this mean? Kids in the suburbs should realize how lucky they have it, and people in the CPS Public League Sports Administration need to find more soccer fields.

On a sad note, this spring will be the last run for St. Ignatius girls soccer coach Aaron Carpenter.

Continue reading "Live from New York...buses rides and coach resigning" »