MHSAA Executive Committee Upholds Football Forfeitures

EAST LANSING , Mich. � Oct. 25 � The Michigan High School Athletic Association's Executive Committee upheld the application of the organization's forfeiture rule in a case involving Battle Creek Lakeview High School 's football team at its October meeting here Thursday (Oct. 21).

Earlier in the month, Lakeview High School reported the use of an ineligible player in its first five football games of the 2004 season, a violation of MHSAA Handbook rules all schools voluntarily adopt by school board resolution when joining the Association each school year. The school was appealing the application of the forfeiture of each game in which the ineligible player was used.

There were six instances during the first eight weeks of the 2004 football season where a school has had to forfeit anywhere from one to five games for the use of an ineligible player, with three of those occurrences affecting a school's eligibility for the District round of the MHSAA Football Playoffs. On 18 previous occasions since the Fall of 1993, schools have appealed to the Executive Committee and/or the MHSAA Representative Council that the requirement of forfeiture be waived. The fact that forfeitures may affect qualification for post-season tournaments in football contributes to the fact that 11 of the 18 requests for waiver involved varsity football games. All such previous requests were denied.

The MHSAA Executive Committee is made up of five individuals from the MHSAA Representative Council, the Association's 19-member governing board. The Executive Committee meets monthly during the school year to hear appeals of regulations by member schools.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.

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NOTE � Click here for the appropriate portion of the minutes from the Executive Committee meeting.

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