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Prior to Thursday, I was planning to cover Kelly vs. Oak Park and Fenwick vs. Lyons on Friday night. (See, there actually will be some soccer coverage).
But now there's an added twist to the Kelly/Oak Park game.
At least two Kelly boys soccer players will be forced to sit out of Friday's Class 3A regional final game against Oak Park after receiving questionable yellow cards during Tuesday's win over Argo.
Kelly coach Raul Magdaleno said two of his players received yellow cards for not being correctly listed on the roster. According to IHSA rules, this is not a cardable offense. Because the players were given yellow cards for this and also received a yellow card during the game, they will be forced to sit one game.
"The IHSA ruled it was a judgment call and they can't reverse it," Magdaleno said. "(IHSA assistant executive director Beth Sauser) said she can't reverse the call, because there is nothing in the by-laws that will allow it."
Sauser said both players will have to sit, because they received two yellow cards in the previous game. A Public League spokesman said Calvin Davis, Public League sports director, is looking into the situation.
But here's the added twist: Kelly says Argo had no problem with the situation on Tuesday. Kelly athletic director Stan Mietus said on Thursday night that he and Argo athletic director Mike Sommerfeld are good friends.
"We spoke and he said they didn't have a problem with it," Mietus said.
Kelly is pointing the finger at Oak Park, the regional host.
"We were doing our job as the regional host," said Oak Park coach Paul Wright, who used to teach at Taft. "Argo had questions, and we looked into it. Kelly had five players in uniform not on the roster."
At the end of the day, the biggest issue is this - the kids just want to play. Whether it's Kelly's fault for not having an updated roster or the ref's fault for handing out yellow cards when he probably shouldn't have, these kids shouldn't be sitting. They didn't do a thing to deserve this.
The IHSA is caught in a catch-22, because it can't change a game decision now. If an official ejects the wrong player in a game, the IHSA can't go back after the game and eject the right player.
Humans make errors. God knows I do, probably on a daily basis. But humans can correct errors and make things right. The kids are the ones who have been robbed today, and everyone knows it.
No one was trying to cheat, no one was trying to sneak anything past anyone.
Now the question is this: Is anyone going to stand up and fight for these kids or just stand there and do nothing as they are punished for doing nothing wrong?
Sadly, I'm betting no one will do a thing for the kids. You'll hear people say it's unfortunate and they can't do anything. But I know if it was their kids, they would be screaming bloody murder.
And you know something? This is happening right in front of everyone's eyes.
I wonder what Walgreens, corporate sponsor of the IHSA state series, thinks of the IHSA's motto that's posted on the ihsa.org home page - 'Do What's Right!'
Will they?
- Joe Trost
Cell Phone Alerts
No, the IHSA will not do anything.
The IHSA will never "Do what's right!"
In fact, 9 times out of 10, they "do what is easiest for them" i.e. take the politically expediant way out of making a difficult decision.
however, when the terms of the IHSA administrators are up, the school administrators will vote them in for another term, so principals are also not "doing what's right!"
Joe,
As much as it pains me, I agree with you. If the rule was misapplied, as your blog states, then it's a no brain er. Let the kids play. Come on Beth, you're the executive director of soccer, make a ruling that makes sense. The officials misapplied the rule. The kids should be playing. Why should the players get penalized for the coaches mistake. If the coaches can get yellows for the wrong color tap on their players socks or shirts not tucked in (great added value to the game by the way), then the coach should have been carded for the offense, not the players. When are we finally going to start making the game better? As Joe and I have traded this barb before, get a clue!
Coach Kohorn
Head Coach
Lisle High School Varsity Soccer
What about the second yellow card the players received?
If the players in question had not committed the offense this would not be an issue.
Quit slamming the IHSA for being put in this situation, blame the coach for this one. Eventually the blame will be put on the official.
Keep up the good work!
From a slow, uneducated, and LICENSED IHSA soccer official.
Finally a city school get caught. Why have rosters if your players do not need to be on them? First, it's the coaches fault how can you not have your roster set for a state game and you should know the numbers of the refs.
Second, the refs are at fault for not catching this sooner. Didn't they check the roster after the first caution? I assume there were two other (ARs) there too, didn't they have something to say.
Again, if everythign was right in the first place this would not come up
You got to have accountability.
"The IHSA ruled it was a judgment call and they can't reverse it," Magdaleno said. "(IHSA assistant executive director Beth Sauser) said she can't reverse the call, because there is nothing in the by-laws that will allow it."
there is nothing in the by-laws that will not allow it either..so who gets the final say...the coach's that agreed it was alright or the OPRF coach who is the HOST, of which his team will be playing the next game against Kelly...
So why did the ref think this was a yellow card offense? how did he come up with that?
What is next...Are we going to give the kids yellow cards because of NO corner flags? Maybe we should give them yellow cards because they are UGLY. This is getting ridiculous and making high school soccer look very bad. We even have coaches making decisions that clearly affect the game. Nice job coach. You should both be ashamed of yourselves. THIS IS NOT A JUDGEMENT CALL! THIS WAS A MADE UP AS WE GO CALL BECAUSE IT BENEFITS ME.