After four years playing as girls and boys together, St. John’s 5th grade CYO basketball team was told two weeks ago that the girls can no longer play.
Not only that, because they had played in the previous games this season, the entire season is now forfeit.
So what did the boys on the team do? They voted unanimously to refuse to play without their teammates.
In response to one of the boys’ parents who wrote a letter to League Director Donovan, he said
he understood her frustration and anger, but the facts are their roster is illegal per league guidelines, it was reported by another program and the proper protocols must now be followed. Donovan did not respond to a request for comments on the decision.
In league rules obtained by NJ Advance Media, there is no mention of whether the teams in the St. John’s team’s division – the JV black league – can or cannot be coed, though other divisions are mentioned as strictly boys or girls teams.
The Archdiocese of Newark ought to look 150 miles north to Storrs, Connecticut. That’s the home of the University of Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball team, which won its 100th consecutive game this evening.