N.J. school cancels football team’s season amid hazing allegations

October 7, 2014 / Football
A New Jersey high school has canceled the remainder of its football team’s season amid hazing allegations. Few details have been released, but local news affiliates report that the hazing is “sexual in nature.”

Sayreville War Memorial High School officials made the announcement Monday night at a press conference, following a two-hour closed meeting with parents, according to local media. The cancellation ends the team’s 20-year playoff streak.

From Yahoo! sports:

The Sayreville Police Department and Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office are handling the investigation. The allegations were made directly to the police, and school officials have not been told who filed the report. They were first informed of the investigation on Thursday morning, prompting the district to cancel the Oct. 2 football game just hours before kickoff.

While school officials carefully avoided the word “hazing” over the weekend, the father of a freshman told NJ.com that his son and others would “stampede” to the locker room to dress after practice, hoping to get out before the seniors could “push around” the freshman.

Parents interviewed by NJ.com showed no sympathy for the potential victims. Earlier that day, a group created a Facebook page supporting the coach, who has led the team to three state sectional titles in the last four years. The cancellation applies to the varsity, J.V., and freshman teams.

We’ve been down this road before, but hazing is ridiculous. This most disappointing part of this story is that parents are outraged not at the athletes for bullying other kids but the school district for having the nerve to cancel the season. This is truly a case where winning takes precedence over the true role of education-based athletics. Some parents don’t get it, and they never will.

We don’t know the full story because much hasn’t been made public, but you have to believe if the school district cancels the season and law enforcement has launched an investigation, these allegations have some merit. 


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