My 6th grade daughter plays basketball for her school here in Southern Il. I am not a big b-ball fan but enjoy seeing my daughter play. At that age it's like watching a bunch of kitten run around batting a ball of yarn. Fun to watch and just root for the home team.
So we travelled up the road tonight to my former hometown. Pinckneyville is legendary for it b-ball team. I shunned this in my youth as I didnt make the team, even though I lettered in other sports and I would have been the second tallest player on the varsity team.
It was nice to go in and see people I knew from my hometown I hadnt seen in yrs (I just moved back here) and invited my mother as she hadnt seen my daughter play either.
Well with the JV team, it was obvious something was different. Couldnt quite ID what it was. The game was stoped and all of our team was inspected for hair pins and berets. Girls with off-color headbands were made to remove them. The coach was warned about my daughter as she had on a white t-shirt under her blue jersey, seems its supposed to be matching colors. What the ref didnt know was its primarily a cover for some mild embarassing exzema bumps on her shoulders.
Then comes the 8th grade game. From the start it was obvious what was going on. The whistle blew every 30-45 seconds for some sort of penalty, foul, technical, you name it against us. The statistician remarked at halftime it was about a 10:1 ratio of penalties against us. Within the last 3 minutes of the game, 3 girls were benched due to fowling out of the game. Many others were carrying a tally on them as well. First time all yr any single girl was benched due to fouls, let alone 3. One of our parents was ejected from the gym for being too vocal. (game was stopped during this)
So, one of the refs I know well. He owns THE local gun store, I went to school with his son, and he is a city commisioner. The other ref I didnt know, nor did my mother. But I did recognize him on the way out of the gym. His picture was on the wall of the gym when the opposing team won state, he was the former coach in 2011.
Does this not stink to high-heaven of a conflict of interest? The city father, I can see him leaning towards a little favoritism for his hometown but I think he could stay fairly impartial. He does have a public reputation to uphold. But this other guy...really? Come on. It was the former coach that expelled the parent. He let a player on his former team display the "helicopter of elbows" freely, yet called one of our girls as she tipped a pass, and the opposing girl caught the ball with her face.
I know this may sound like a disgruntled parent crying in their sour grape juice. But it was so blatantly obvious the grift was on and we were not going to win by any means. I did a quick google and found the championship ref from his former coaching days, now acting as a ref in the same school. What I would like to know from my fellow B&B family is if there is a entity of any sort that I can bring this to their attention? I know there are fathers and lawyers and scientists and many learned men here. I am just looking for a fair way to lodge a complaint to the appropriate place in a way that it is heard that has control over possible conflicts of interest like this. I live in Jackson county Illinois, if that helps.
Here is a picture of their former coach turned referee winning the championship in 2011. He is in the blue shirt.
http://www.duquoin.com/article/20110215/NEWS/302159875
Also, please dont bawl me out or try to dissect my point of view on this. I just dont know where to even start with voicing a concern like this.
So we travelled up the road tonight to my former hometown. Pinckneyville is legendary for it b-ball team. I shunned this in my youth as I didnt make the team, even though I lettered in other sports and I would have been the second tallest player on the varsity team.
It was nice to go in and see people I knew from my hometown I hadnt seen in yrs (I just moved back here) and invited my mother as she hadnt seen my daughter play either.
Well with the JV team, it was obvious something was different. Couldnt quite ID what it was. The game was stoped and all of our team was inspected for hair pins and berets. Girls with off-color headbands were made to remove them. The coach was warned about my daughter as she had on a white t-shirt under her blue jersey, seems its supposed to be matching colors. What the ref didnt know was its primarily a cover for some mild embarassing exzema bumps on her shoulders.
Then comes the 8th grade game. From the start it was obvious what was going on. The whistle blew every 30-45 seconds for some sort of penalty, foul, technical, you name it against us. The statistician remarked at halftime it was about a 10:1 ratio of penalties against us. Within the last 3 minutes of the game, 3 girls were benched due to fowling out of the game. Many others were carrying a tally on them as well. First time all yr any single girl was benched due to fouls, let alone 3. One of our parents was ejected from the gym for being too vocal. (game was stopped during this)
So, one of the refs I know well. He owns THE local gun store, I went to school with his son, and he is a city commisioner. The other ref I didnt know, nor did my mother. But I did recognize him on the way out of the gym. His picture was on the wall of the gym when the opposing team won state, he was the former coach in 2011.
Does this not stink to high-heaven of a conflict of interest? The city father, I can see him leaning towards a little favoritism for his hometown but I think he could stay fairly impartial. He does have a public reputation to uphold. But this other guy...really? Come on. It was the former coach that expelled the parent. He let a player on his former team display the "helicopter of elbows" freely, yet called one of our girls as she tipped a pass, and the opposing girl caught the ball with her face.
I know this may sound like a disgruntled parent crying in their sour grape juice. But it was so blatantly obvious the grift was on and we were not going to win by any means. I did a quick google and found the championship ref from his former coaching days, now acting as a ref in the same school. What I would like to know from my fellow B&B family is if there is a entity of any sort that I can bring this to their attention? I know there are fathers and lawyers and scientists and many learned men here. I am just looking for a fair way to lodge a complaint to the appropriate place in a way that it is heard that has control over possible conflicts of interest like this. I live in Jackson county Illinois, if that helps.
Here is a picture of their former coach turned referee winning the championship in 2011. He is in the blue shirt.
http://www.duquoin.com/article/20110215/NEWS/302159875
Also, please dont bawl me out or try to dissect my point of view on this. I just dont know where to even start with voicing a concern like this.