Fashion Police . . . with a Vengeance

[Freddy]

"The statement, 'I am not the uniform police' is correct. However, officials are hired to enforce the rules of the game. Uniform, equipment, and apparel are all included in the rules book and must be enforced... Consistency among the officials in enforcement of these areas will provide for a unified statement to coaches. When some officials choose not to enforce the rules, they are only hurting the profession and setting up the next crew for criticism from the coaches, when, in fact, the officials who did not enforce the rules are the ones who deserve the criticism." (NFHS 2017-19 Basketball Officials Manual Point of Emphasis, p.4.)

Hopefully the lessons learned from this Fashion Police bust at this state cross country meet yesterday bubbles up to positively affect the coaches and officials of other sports, especially basketball:

How Shirts DQ'ed an Entire Cross Country Teaml

Note how the pre-season POE's and online rules meeting slides and the review questions -- all mandatory for all cross country coaches in the state -- all refute the blame game that the coach and many supporters of the featured team have chosen to play.

[Rich]

Where is the coach in all this? He should know the damned rules and should be front and center to take the blame.


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[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Rich

Where is the coach in all this? He should know the damned rules and should be front and center to take the blame.

Sadly, as the quotes in the article attest, quite the opposite. Instead, a teachable moment for impressionable minds on how to play the "Blame Game" card. Ugh.

[BillyMac]

Lots of finger pointing here.

The officials at meets previous to this for not knowing, or not enforcing uniform rules.

The officials at the start of this meet for not knowing, or not enforcing uniform rules, especially after the warmups were removed (preventative officiating).

But the main fault goes to the coaches for not knowing, or not communicating uniform rules to their athletes. This is where the buck stops. If anyone wants to put the blame for this specific incident where it belongs, it's on the coaches.

No fingers should be pointed at the officials at the end of this meet for enforcing the uniform rules as written. They are not at all at fault here.

Don't blame the athletes, they were just doing what the adults told them to do. It's too bad that they had to take the brunt of the punishment.

[Scrapper1]

Great article.

I love this from the coach:

Undergarment formalities should never disqualify a team from running at the State Meet.

He's 100% correct. It should never happen. Because the coach and AD should ensure that the team is properly dressed.

[johnny d]

I ran XC in high school and my daughter runs now. At every state meet, which in our state includes regionals, sectionals, and the state meet, an official personally comes and inspects what each runner from every team is wearing before the meet starts and gives them approval or tells them what they have to change. It was the same way 25 years ago when I ran in the same meets. The same thing should have happened in this meet. In fact, an official inspected this team and failed to tell them their undershirts were illegal. While the coach of said team should know the rules, this was clearly a failure on the part of the official to warn the team that they were not in compliance with the rule. Since they were not properly warned by the meet official, it is improper and against the rules to disqualify them as well.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by johnny d

While the coach of said team should know the rules, this was clearly a failure on the part of the official to warn the team that they were not in compliance with the rule. Since they were not properly warned by the meet official, it is improper and against the rules to disqualify them as well.

How is it against the rules.

Do two wrongs make a right?

The premeet (earlier meets), prestart (this meet), officials certainly played a part in this fiasco, and should take some blame, but the coaches were the most at fault. Coaches should know the rules and should communicate such to their athletes. The postmeet officials that disqualified the athletes were in no way at any fault, they were just doing their job. Why have rules if they're not going to be enforced.

[johnny d]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

How is it against the rules.

Do two wrongs make a right?

The premeet (earlier meets), prestart (this meet), officials certainly played a part in this fiasco, and should take some blame, but the coaches were the most at fault. Coaches should know the rules and should communicate such to their athletes. The postmeet officials that disqualified the athletes were in no way at any fault, they were just doing their job. Why have rules if they're not going to be enforced.

Not two wrongs, only wrong was by the two officials that approved them before the meet started. They did not tell them their uniforms were illegal, therefore, they were not given the warning required by rule. Also, in most states, the only meets that uniforms are looked at or even matter is in the state tournaments. Most meets, especially the small weekday meets, the runners were whatever they feel comfortable running in, and many do not wear their uniforms at all during these meets. I have posted the rule below. In addition, no team has been disqualified from that states postseason for a violation of that rule in over 30 years.

"For the wearing of an illegal uniform, when a violation is observed and noted by a meet official, the competitor shall be required to make the uniform legal before becoming eligible for further competition, and shall be issued a warning that a subsequent violation shall result in a disqualification from the event. The referee shall be notified of the violation by the observing meet official, and the referee shall then notify or cause to be notified the head coach of the offending school of the competitor's violation and warning."

[johnny d]

Also, the rule applies to individuals, not the whole team. Therefore, in addition to the fact that they did not give the team or any individual on the team the required warning before disqualification, they compounded the mistake by disqualifying the entire team when only a handful of their competitors were in violation of the rule. Complete and utter incompetence on the part of the two officials that inspected this teams apparel before the race started and by the official that disqualified them at the end.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by johnny d

... officials that approved them before the meet started. They did not tell them their uniforms were illegal, therefore, they were not given the warning required by rule.

Thanks for the rule citation. I already put part of the blame on these premeet officials, but some blame still must fall on the coaches as well. Coaches aren't blameless here.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by johnny d

The same thing should have happened in this meet. In fact, an official inspected this team and failed to tell them their undershirts were illegal.

I don't recall anything about a "pre-race inspection" being required or being performed in the race in question. Maybe I missed it.

In fact, this paragraph seems to imply just the opposite:

However, according to the MHSAA rules, Johnson said there is no warning needed prior to disqualification. Warnings are only issued if they are spotted. Officials are not obligated to tell athletes to take off their warm-up clothes in order to check uniforms. Ultimately, Johnson said, the responsibility of uniform compliance is with the coaching staff.

Heck, compare it to basketball (recognizing that the penalty is different) -- the official observe the warm up. All looks good. Late in the 4th quarter, a player attempts to enter the game wearing an illegal uniform -- not seen because s/he had her/his warmup on doing the pregame.

Is that the officials fault? They were "supposed to" check for this and give a warning so it could be fixed.

[johnny d]

Even if a pre-race inspection is not required, they are usually performed at state level races. Regardless, an inspection was performed by two different race officials at this meet, neither of whom told the team they were in violation of the rule. Also, the wording of the rule is pretty clear, before an individual can be disqualified from the race for this infraction they first have to be given a warning that they are violating the rule. Only after said warning is given and not heeded, can a person be disqualified. Since no warning was given, the officials were mistaken in going directly to disqualification. And yes, I agree the coaches should know the uniform rules and have their team properly equipped. However, in this instance, in this sport, it does not matter if they do or not. It is the race officials responsibility to provide them with a warning, before they impose the disqualification. The officials did not adhere to the first part of the rule, thus they cannot impose the second part of the rule.

In basketball, their is no provision or requirement for officials to issue a warning before penalizing a uniform infraction. The cross country rule I cited above is pretty clear. The person from the MHSAA is wrong in that while there is no requirement for an official to inspect the uniforms before the race, there is a requirement that the people in violation of the uniform rules be given a warning before they are disqualified.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Thanks for the rule citation. I already put part of the blame on these premeet officials, but some blame still must fall on the coaches as well. Coaches aren't blameless here.

If the quoted rule is correct, blame should also be on the postmeet officials who disqualified the athletes, because there was no warning given (by the quoted rule) before the meet. I previously held these postmeet officials blameless.

Here's the last paragraph of an article I recently had published regarding basketball (Fashion Police) equipment restrictions:

Rules that restrict equipment colors benefit officials by allowing them to easily identify players on each team during fast paced action. Consistency among officials in the enforcement of equipment restriction rules will provide a unified statement to coaches. When some officials choose not to enforce these rules, they are only hurting the profession and setting up the next crew for criticism from the coaches, when, in fact, the officials who did not enforce the rules are the ones who deserve the criticism. For those officials contemplating not enforcing equipment restrictions because such rules have “nothing to do with the game of basketball”, in the words of author Roy T. Bennett, “Stop doing what is easy, or popular. Start doing what is right”.

If all (adult officials and coaches) involved in this cross country fiasco hadn't done what was easy, or popular, and decided, instead, to do what was right, none of this would have happened.

This reminds me of the Muslim basketball player last year whose head scarf was ignored by officials all season long until the state tournament when she was asked to provide documentation that she didn't have. She didn't have it because she had played in twenty regular season games with no questions asked. The tournament officials (correctly) didn't allow her to play and everything hit the proverbial fan. With apologies to "Art" Linkletter, sometimes adults do the darndest things.