One of the penalties handed down to the teams involved in the melee that took place almost two weeks ago, is not settling too well with the coaches or the schools' principals. It was decided, late Wednesday evening, that the senior boys' basketball squads that represent C.C. Sweeting (Cobras) and C.I. Gibson (Rattlers) will not be eligible to play in the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) post-season, despite their records. The teams will also forfeit the next two games that they are scheduled to play in, and were placed on athletic probation for two years.
As a result of the fight, that took place on Monday, November 19, both teams will be tagged with a loss each. The two players who were directly involved in the fight will have to sit out three games. The decision is only for the basketball season. President of the GSSSA Alfred Forbes said that it was an unfortunate incident, but a precedent needed to be set. The penalties will be issued to any team and student-athlete, no matter what sporting discipline they compete in. "A strong message needed to be sent to all the schools and student-athletes, not only these two teams," Forbes said.
"We need to set a precedent and show them that that type of behavior will not be tolerated. The GSSSA is a student friendly association and the safety of all our students are key. This is why we decided on the athletic probation for two years. That simply means that those teams and coaches have to be on their best behavior at all times for two years. Any infringements will result in suspensions or there may be harsher penalties."
It was said that the Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald believes that those two teams should not represent their schools in championships. However, both schools are appealing the decision that they cannot compete in the post-season. Forbes also dismissed the rumors that were spread in the association about him not wanting to penalize C.I. Gibson, since he coaches at the school. He noted that both schools will continue to play in the regular season and can still play in tournaments. They await the outcome of their appeals.
He said: "It is a very unfortunate situation with me having to wear two hats, but in the end, I have to let the GSSSA hat prevail. These two teams are among the best in the country and it is unfortunate to know that they may not make the playoffs. Both of the teams will have a lot to consider over the Christmas break. "This is the first time an incident of this nature has happened in many years.
I don't foresee anything like this happening again. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, thanks to sports officer Evon Wisdom, has promised and will try its best to have police present to all of the games. We can't have one police officer, we need at least three to control the crowd. If the crowd did not get involved, it wouldn't have been as bad as it looked." The GSSSA will conclude its after-school sporting activities for the year today, and will resume play on January 8, 2013.
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