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Football players suspended for wedgies

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Smallpotatoes, Nov 9, 2006.

  1. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    Yes, hazing is bad but is this an overreaction?


    Whittier Regional football players suspended; School investigates possible hazing

    By Jason Tait , Staff Writer
    Eagle-Tribune


    View as a multiple pages

    HAVERHILL - Several football players from Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School were suspended from school this week because of their involvement in what school officials say was inappropriate behavior toward other team members.

    The players were suspended from school for five days and will miss Saturday's key game against Greater Lowell Technical School, Whittier Superintendent Karen Sarkisian said. She said as many as six players received suspensions, but she would not specify the number.

    A win Saturday would likely propel the unbeaten Whittier team, with its 9-0 record, to the playoffs for the first time ever in Division III. School officials refused to identify the players, say whether they play regularly or say whether their absence would have an impact on the game.

    Whittier Regional serves students from Greater Haverhill and Newburyport and also has some students from communities in Greater Lawrence.

    Sarkisian said several football players were waiting for a bus after practice Monday when the incident happened. It involved only football players and they were playful with each other at first before the physical contact escalated, Sarkisian said. She said most of it involved wedgies - or pulling up a person's underwear, possibly causing pain.


    School officials continue to investigate the incident, which was reported by a player to football coach Kevin Bradley. The coach did not return several telephone calls.

    "The students have been very forthcoming and are being honest with what happened and what they know," Sarkisian said. "It appeared that kids were horsing around and it got out of hand."

    Sarkisian said the investigation into the incident will continue, and school officials are looking into whether hazing was involved. In Massachusetts, hazing is a crime that involves an initiation into a student organization in a way that willfully endangers someone's physical or mental health.

    All Whittier athletes sign an anti-hazing statement prior to joining a team, and they get a lecture about hazing from the athletic director, who is also the football coach, Sarkisian said.

    "The bottom line is you have to behave appropriately and treat everyone with respect," she said.

    She said further punishments are possible.

    Hazing prevention became an issue locally after an incident at Pentucket Regional High School in 2001, when younger football players complained they were assaulted by other players during a summer football camp, in what was an annual hazing rite.




    The Whittier incident was reported to police but no charges are expected at this time, said police Sgt. John Arahovites.

    "These things tend to start as pranks. Sometimes they get out of hand," he said. "If the superintendent suspended them for five days ... I definitely think that the punishment fits the crime."

    Arahovites also said if any players were hurt or their parents want to discuss possible charges, police are willing to talk to them.

    "If anybody's hurt or it rises to the level of indecent assault, we'd like to take a look at it. If it rises to the level where somebody is really offended or hurt, then we'd take a look," he said when asked about the possibility of criminal charges.
     
  2. farmerjerome

    farmerjerome Active Member

    Wait, doesn't hazing take place before the season starts?

    Wedgies are nothing. I gave Dr. J one yesterday.
     
  3. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    See? Put the Democrats in charge and all of a sudden we start getting mushy as a country. Today its wedgies getting banned. Tommorow making that funny noise with your armpit means re-education camp, and a record that will follow you the rest of your life.

    And somehow, I don't think that Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School is where the Ivy League goes to fill out its class rolls.
     
  4. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    He said wedgie, not blow job.
     
  5. RedSmithClone

    RedSmithClone Active Member

    My cuz is an assitant coach on the team. I'll see if I can dig up any info over the next couple of days.
     
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