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PARLIN, N.J. — A championship high school football team had its season canceled by the superintendent because some players allegedly bullied and harassed younger team members, which caused an uproar in the community.
Sayreville War Memorial High School has won three state sectional championships in the past four years, according to ESPN, but it is now forced to forfeit the remaining six games of the current season in a decision made by the school board Monday night.
"There was enough evidence that there were incidents of harassment, of intimidation and bullying that took place on a pervasive level, on a wide-scale level and at a level at which the players knew, tolerated and generally accepted," Superintendent Richard Labbe said after the meeting, according to nj.com. "Based upon what has been substantiated to have occurred, we have canceled the remainder of the football season.”
(The younger players) would live in fear of seniors and juniors. They would race to the locker room to get changed and get out before the older kids got there.
–School official to ABC News
Younger team members were bullied and harassed weekly, often with “sexual overtones,” an official told ABC News.
"They would live in fear of seniors and juniors," the official told ABC News. "They would race to the locker room to get changed and get out before the older kids got there."
Parents of other football players, cheerleaders and band members angry about the harsh punishment said it shouldn’t have to affect those who weren’t involved in the harassment. A school official said fans are also upset that uninvolved kids will miss out on possible college scholarships and NFL opportunities.
The school board held another meeting Tuesday night to listen to the concerns of parents who said one game is "punishment enough" and the kids "are not monsters," according to ABC7 News.
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Senior players who were not involved in the hazing incidents also voiced their complaints.
"Now we're not going to have that closer of going out and finishing our senior year. It got taken from us, from something we didn't even know was going on," said player Derek Rodriguez, according to ABC7 News.
Despite the uproar from the community, the board decided to uphold Monday night’s decision. Police are investigating the allegations but no charges have been filed yet.
