We finally have two sides to this story, thanks to a commenter (see below). Let's assume, for the sake of discussion, that everything the commenter says is true. (I must admit that I, too, was wondering how a team in lily-white Calabasas managed to have so many players of color.) It seems to me that we have a bit of a problem here with the white majority accusing the minority team of poor sportsmanship.
Even if the allegations of "loud and outspoken" parents and coaches are true, and even if there were penalties for "poor sportsmanship," it seems to be poor sportsmanship not to let the number one team into the playoffs. Obviously, the violations must not have been too serious, or there would have been penalties that would have caused games to be lost.
It seems that the real objection is that the minority players are simply better players, and that they don't match the demographic of the area. Apparently, if the players in question were white, the PYFL and Calabasas Raiders would have no argument at all. A white player could have been imported illegally, but no one has bothered to investigate the actual facts of the situation for either white or minority players.
It is obviously racist to refuse to allow a winning team into the playoffs based entirely on race.
Don't discriminate against winning football team because of their race
Pacific Youth Football League AND Calabasas Raiders: Let the Senior SIlver youth team play in their earned spot in the playoffs
Started by: Myla, Canoga Park, California
Change.org
Discrimination is unacceptable especially against children. This 13 year old predominantly African-American and Latino youth football team playing in a predominantly Caucasian league, has lost only one game in the season and is ranked #1 in their conference.
Playoffs start this Saturday and this team was told they are not welcome in the playoffs. Excuses such as poor sportsmanship, running up the score, etc. has been given, however, no coach or player has ever been suspended, ejected, or even verbally warned. There was no knowledge that there was even an issue, until the playoffs when they were told that their team is "SPOOKY" and too aggressive. This is TACKLE football and the word spooky is very insulting and ignorant and carries a racict connotation. These boys have played their hearts out all year and deserve to play. Please help us stand up for whats right and not allow money and power to be abused. Say no to racism and discrimination and let the Calabasas Raiders Senior Silver Team play in the playoffs where they belong.
Sign Myla's Petition
UPDATE OCT. 28, 2012
This comment was left by someone who seems to know something about the situation:
theothersideofthestory has left a new comment on your post "Discriminating against winning football team becau...":
Seriously...This team had many penalties for poor sportsmanship. Their coaches and parents, by there own admission, were loud and 'outspoken' on the sidelines, earning them many of those penalties while the boys supplied the rest. Another strange issue I find with this is; that the population of Calabasas is approximately about 1% African American, according to the sources I searched online. How is it possible for them to be able to field an almost entirely black team? There have been rumors floating around for years that they actually pull players in from LA all the way down to Orange County to stack their teams. The PYFL has specific territory rules, and my understanding is that they are not supposed to stack your teams even with what actually is your rightful pool of boys. The Playoffs are by invitation only, and if you don't play well with others, you don't get invited. Other teams from Lancaster, Palmdale other locations have, African American players in higher quantities (with their demographics backing it up-mind you) and they are in the playoffs. Cheaters and bad sports got caught at their game and now - guess what? They are being bad sports about it....shocking, don't you think???
9 comments:
This sounds horrible and all but I have seen zero supporting documentation or reporting on this. Is there anything, any news stories, whatever, to refer to here?
I couldn't find anything either. Would love to see something besides the change.org petition on this.
I only found this too and not any mention on the football teams site...
Seriously...This team had many penalties for poor sportsmanship. Their coaches and parents, by there own admission, were loud and 'outspoken' on the sidelines, earning them many of those penalties while the boys supplied the rest. Another strange issue I find with this is; that the population of Calabasas is approximately about 1% African American, according to the sources I searched online. How is it possible for them to be able to field an almost entirely black team? There have been rumors floating around for years that they actually pull players in from LA all the way down to Orange County to stack their teams. The PYFL has specific territory rules, and my understanding is that they are not supposed to stack your teams even with what actually is your rightful pool of boys. The Playoffs are by invitation only, and if you don't play well with others, you don't get invited. Other teams from Lancaster, Palmdale other locations have, African American players in higher quantities (with their demographics backing it up-mind you) and they are in the playoffs. Cheaters and bad sports got caught at their game and now - guess what? They are being bad sports about it....shocking, don't you think???
So for arguments sake, you are saying no other team has African American or Spanish speaking boys??? You can't be racist if most teams have at least 1/3 or more of one or more of those demographics. Why don't you do some non biased research and figure out the teams demographics before spouting out declarations of which you only take the word of a few disgruntled parents. As someone who is present at many a PYFL game, I can say for certainty that with very few exceptions every team has a wide variety in the color of the skin on the boys beneath the pads- usually more dark than light. (and again with the city having demographics that back it up).
Where is the proof of the poor sportsmanship in writing? Where are any actual notes or records from the games documenting this? Why were players not suspended? Why are they #1? Why would any adult refer to them as spooky? And are people of color not welcome in Calabasas?
So loud and outspoken are spooky and reasons to omit children from participation? What parent doesn't cheer their kid on? Perhaps your referring to the manner in which some African &Hispanic American people cheer their kids on...the "loud&outspoken" complaint seems to be a cultural misunderstanding... and I have experienced this myself;being an African &Cuban American who attended college with 95% white people.... there were often many misunderstandings regarding certain phrases I would say or my personality being referred to as OUTSPOKEN.
Sounds to me like someone is intimidated and/or afraid of a large group of African &Hispanic American people simply because they may cheer on their kids differently or in a way they are not accustomed to. Different cultures do things differently...people are often afraid of things alien to them.....
To "theothersideofthestory":
You write, "So for arguments sake, you are saying no other team has African American or Spanish speaking boys???"
I certainly didn't say that. In fact, you are the one who said this:
"Another strange issue I find with this is; that the population of Calabasas is approximately about 1% African American, according to the sources I searched online. How is it possible for them to be able to field an almost entirely black team? There have been rumors floating around for years that they actually pull players in from LA all the way down to Orange County to stack their teams."
You certainly implied that ALL the other teams mirrored the demographics of the area.
Now you are saying that ALL the teams have a majority of brown and black players. Are you accusing ALL the teams of "pulling players in from LA all the way down to Orange County"?
This would certainly seem to be the case.
I researched the demographics of Calabasas, and found that only 6.4% of the population is Hispanic. link
Clearly, the people in charge of the league have a problem with black kids, but not with brown kids.
But my logic still applies. The ONLY criteria you are using to determine that these boys must be from out of the area is the color of their skin.
You could have white and brown kids from out of the area, too. But you don't seem to be worried about that.
You obviously have a case of racial profiling here.
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