my boys both play little league football, 1 is a 2nd year player the other is a 1st year player. The rules as the parents know them are....every team must weigh in and the weight limits for the 1st year/ 8 & 9 year olds is 90lbs, and the 2nd year/ 9 & 10 year olds is 110lbs. My problem starts with the commissioner of our league. He made a decision yesterday in the 8 & 9 year old game to not make the teams weigh in because our opposing team did not want to. The parents went to him & voiced our concern because these boys were much larger than our boys. At that point, since the game was a "supposed" forfeit by the opposing team the game should not have been played. A few of the boys on our team got hurt, and that was my & many other parents original concern. Now my question, as a parent, what are my responsiblities to make sure this never happens again. I was told that once the "commissioner" made that decision there was nothing anyone could do. I believe the coaches should not have played our boys since it was a "supposed" forfeit. I know I could have taken my son out of the game but didn't want the other kids on the team to feel even more intimidated if my son didn't play. Please help me!! I along with many other parents want this commissioner removed from his responsiblity. He has no children and obviously doesn't really care about the children. This is a small town and he even turned atleast 10 boys away from the game because they were late turning in their paperwork. In my eyes, most of the kids in this town are raising themselves and need these sports & coaches as role models because they are not getting it at home. I've looked all over the net trying to find the right way to handle this situation but have had no luck so far. If there is anyone out there who can help me start the steps to get this man removed from his responsibilities I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for reading & helping.

If ya'll can't help or reply....can you direct me in the right direction??

Bottom line: you shouldn't let your boys play in league where you think their safety is at risk.

Other than that, I don't think we can help you. There's no rule coverage for weight issues; that's all up to the league. And this clearly wasn't a forfeit, supposed or otherwise, since the commissioner and the coaches all agreed to play. Unless you can concretely prove that the commissioner is being negligent with regards to player safety, I don't think there's much you can do; if you really do have a cadre of other parents who are upset, you might consider trying to start up your own league.

thanks for the reply. The coaches were just as upset as the parents...the decision was made between the commissioner & the opposing team...our coaches had no say in the matter. Is there any way to have a commissioner removed? The league itself is not the problem he is.

There's no official mechanism for removing a commissioner, if that's what you're asking. (Unless the league has by-laws or something related to that.)

[Edited by jfurdell on Oct 3rd, 2005 at 01:19 PM]

That is basically what I was asking. Thanks for your help

We cannot help you out very much. This board is mainly for talking about rules of the game, not rules of your league. The reason is because all leagues have different rules, you will have to find out what your league rules are on this matter. Try to find out the league consitution if there is one, if there is one there will likely be a way to impeach a comissioner somehow. I do not know what else to tell you, sorry.

thank you everyone... I already have a call into the league. I'm going to take it as far as I need to. I'm very disappointed in the decisions made by this man. This is not the first time something like this happened. I do appreciate the help though. I was going to get a petition started but I was unsure of what to say & how to say them so I'll wait for the call from the league & go from there.

It sounds like the board needs new blood. I have been on several youth boards and the typical situation is that everyone arrives at the meetings when there's a hot issue and they have opinions and solutions for the board but rarely do those same people want to be ON the board.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see any kid get hurt especially when it happens because of an adults decision but I urge you to get involved, run for an office, run for commissioner. It's harder than it looks but I feel for you if kids are getting hurt.

I'm going to assume that this league is part of the Pop Warner program. Even if I'm mistaken, I'm sure there are similar structures in place for your league.

The national and regional Pop Warner organizations will look very dimly upon this sort of thing, and with good reason. There will be a local confederation of the individual (i.e. town) PW groups; if you can find a contact there, all the better. If not, I would e-mail the regional officials - take a look at http://www.popwarner.com/aboutus/reg....asp?lable=rmt for the list of regions. I might also CC the national office at [email protected].

Really, the best option would be to petition the board of the league to discipline the commish and have them make it clear that such games are not to be played. But I would definitely also go at least one level up - try to keep the officers of the local association of PW groups in the loop.

When you put your kids into youth sports (not connected to a school), you are putting them at risk and the risk is related to the philosophy of the league. Is this a developmental league or one where winning and winning and winning is most important?

We had a similar situation with our son's soccer team. One team in the league really had no business in the league and used the games as a tune up for their real leauge. Several of the teams just decided not to show up for games against that team. The coaches tried to line up a practice game to fill the slot.

By playing in a game like that, you just reward the team that is not complying with the rules or the spirit of the league.

Let's turn this around guys. This game was obviously officated. What responsibility do we take as game officials? Where do we draw the line. If you are properly prepared as an official, you know the rules as well as the commish. You also know when they are being broken.
We are the administrators of the game, not the commish. So what do you do when you have an out-of-control commish in one of these win-win leagues?

Touchy. Tick him off and you lose games/money. Say nothing and risk getting a kid hurt and open yourself up to liability.

How much do you try and protect these kids from the competivive adults? A kid is crying on the field because the coach has been yelling at him....what do you do? Tell the coach to knock it off? eject him? make him send the kid off the field? mind you own business?

I have a rule and I tell both coaches before every game. If a kid is crying (for whatever reason) he leaves the field.

Easy call for me.

I could live and sleep quite easily if I never officiated another game in my life. I could do neither if a kid got hurt on my watch and I could have prevented it.

I see what you're saying, though.