A Suffolk Superior Court judge on Friday, Nov. 6, refused to order the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to put the English High/New Mission football team into the Division 8 playoffs, ending a two-day legal push by Boston Public Schools. The ruling means English High football playoffs hopes are over for this season, after a filing mistake left the team one game short of the MIAA’s seven-game minimum.
Judge Gillian Feiner denied the district’s request for emergency relief Friday afternoon, according to the Boston Globe, WCVB and Universal Hub. The MIAA said in a statement that its tournament, which started Thursday night, “will proceed as scheduled.”
Why English High was left out
The dispute turns on one game. English High played O’Bryant last Friday, but nobody from BPS entered that game on ArbiterLive, the scheduling platform the MIAA uses, by the Sept. 18 deadline, the Globe reported. Because it was missing from the official schedule, the game was recorded as a scrimmage rather than a varsity contest. That left the Eagles with six official games instead of the seven required for tournament consideration, according to CBS Boston.
The Globe reported that the omission violated MIAA rule 34.6, which says schedules are final after established deadlines. Had the O’Bryant game counted, the team’s record could have made it the 15th seed in Division 8, the Globe reported.
The Boston City Council had already weighed in. Earlier this week councilors unanimously urged the MIAA to overlook the clerical error, as we reported in our earlier story on the council vote. When that appeal failed, the Boston School Committee went to court on Thursday, Nov. 5, asking a judge to order the team into the bracket, Universal Hub reported.
What BPS argued and what the judge decided
In its filing, BPS argued that the MIAA misapplied its own rules. The district said the O’Bryant game should have been treated as a forfeit loss instead of a scrimmage, which would have given English the seven games it needed, according to the Globe and CBS Boston.
Feiner did not take up the forfeit argument, the Globe reported. She focused instead on the clear wording of the rule and on what reinstatement would do to a tournament already underway. Universal Hub reported that she found BPS had violated the rule, even if unintentionally, so there was no breach of the district’s agreement with the MIAA and no basis for an emergency order.
“The court recognizes that BPS’s omission of the seventh game from the schedule it submitted to MIAA was inadvertent and, moreover, that English’s resulting exclusion from the tournament is devastating for the student-athletes who worked hard to make it into the postseason,” Feiner wrote, as quoted by the Globe.
She went on to say that granting the request would force the MIAA to “revisit and reconfigure the tournament brackets” and would “displace another school from the tournament schedule, thereby depriving that school’s student-athletes of the opportunity to compete.” According to the Globe, an injunction could have affected several other schools and knocked Ware out of the playoffs entirely.
The district’s response
“We are disappointed that our MIAA appeal was denied,” a BPS spokesperson said in a statement reported by the Globe and CBS Boston. “Tournament eligibility should be based on a team’s record, not on clerical errors. The Eagles played a great season, and we will work with the team on how best to recognize their achievements while ensuring that such a mistake does not happen again.”
CBS Boston reported that BPS is reviewing how it verifies schedules so the same kind of error does not happen again. The statement did not say who failed to enter the game or whether anyone will face consequences.
The team still played on Thursday, in a non-playoff game. English lost 48-0 to Pentucket/Georgetown, the Globe reported.
Why it matters for Boston schools
The case is a small one in legal terms, but it lands at a time when BPS is under scrutiny over basic operations, from late buses to building plans. For players on the combined English/New Mission team, a season that would have ended in a tournament now ends with a court ruling about paperwork. Families tracking the rest of the school year can find key dates on our Boston Public Schools calendar.
The ruling also shows how little room the MIAA’s rules leave once a deadline passes. Feiner’s decision rested on the fact that the schedule rule was clear and that BPS did not follow it.
What happens next
The Division 8 tournament goes on without English/New Mission. The BPS statement did not mention any further appeal, and the MIAA said the bracket will proceed as scheduled. The district says it will work with the team on ways to recognize its season.
Sources
- Boston Globe: Judge denies English High football postseason appeal
- CBS Boston: Judge denies appeal after English High football left out of playoffs due to filing error
- WCVB: Judge denies Boston English football’s playoff bid after clerical error
- Universal Hub: Judge knocks English High out of football tournament
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