When Rock Port celebrated their 60-28 win over Worth County in the District Finals, it violated both MSHSAA rules and the spirit of sportsmanship that MSHSAA expects all of its member schools to follow. It is normal for fans to celebrate big victories by their teams, especially at places that have been starved of success in recent years. But Rock Port's celebration went way overboard and creates legal liability for their school as well as jeopardizes their ability to host future playoff games.
The fireworks that were shot off by certain fans following the game were in violation of MSHSAA Guideline #13 regarding hosting home playoff games in the MSHSAA 2012 Football Manual (Page 10), which specifically prohibits fireworks, cannons, or other explosive devices. The MSHSAA, in a note at the end of the section, reserves the right to approve playoff game sites and to require a change of sites when necessary. There was also taunting as well; audible from the field were, "Welcome to real football!" and, "Go home!" It will not do the Rock Port administration any good to say that since the Public Address announcer asked fans to exhibit good sportsmanship that their job was done; the Football Manual requires administrators to take all necessary steps in order to control fan behavior. There is no exception whatsoever in the rulebook for fans watching the game from the streets, outside the fences, or from private property. Actions speak louder than words.
The larger issue is the potential human cost involved should something go horribly wrong and someone is killed or seriously injured from one of these fireworks celebrations. In 2011, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, an average of 200 people went to the emergency room with fireworks-related injuries in the month around the July 4th holiday; that can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars for each instance. In Lowell, IN this year, a 26 year old man died while placing fireworks into a mortar tube and one of the fireworks ignited prematurely and struck him in the face. In Pelham, NH, nine people were injured when a fireworks explosion ignited a house. Here in Missouri, two Columbia boys lost some fingers after trying to stuff fireworks into a pipe. In Joplin, a man was injured while preparing fireworks for a fireworks convention. And in St. Louis, a cat is fighting for his life because of a fireworks accident and because the owner, for a long time, did not have the funds to take it to a vet. We will not link to the site due to the graphic nature of the footage that they show.
This creates a liability issue for the Rock Port School District should something of this nature happen at a home football game there. Since the MSHSAA deems each school district responsible for the conduct of its fans, they could be a target of a massive lawsuit should something of this nature happen. When we googled fireworks safety in preparation for this article, the first thing we noticed were all these advertisements by law firms circling like sharks in the water waiting for some accident to happen so they could pounce on some victim. Had a firework misfired, it could have exploded in the stands and detonated, injuring departing spectators. Since it would be difficult if not impossible to identify the person(s) responsible for the injury, the Rock Port School District would have been a logical target, fair or unfair. This has happened before; in China, there is graphic Youtube footage of a fireworks display which misfired into a crowd and injured around 100 people.
The Rock Port School District has a fundamental choice to make -- should they continue to tolerate such displays and risk having to spend tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayer dollars in medical bills and/or legal fees? That is for their taxpayers to decide, but as a taxpayer of the Worth County School District, for me, even the slightest risk of this sort of accident is not worth it.
Rock Port won the game. That is not the issue. The fundamental issue for their school district is whether they support the MSHSAA's philosophy of interscholastic activities or whether they believe in winning for its own sake. The MSHSAA Football Guide (Page 3) states that football and other interscholastic activities are only a supplement to the school program. This, for instance, is why certain other schools will not even let athletes with F's compete until they get them taken care of. These games are supposed to provide educational experiences that contribute to the development of good citizenship. The manual states that football and other interscholastic activities can only be justified when this is their primary philosophy and purpose. The Football Guide goes on to state that competition for competition's sake cannot be justified. If the Rock Port School District is either unwilling or unable to control the behavior of certain fans, then they cannot reasonably justify fielding a football team regardless of how many games they win or lose.
No comments:
Post a Comment