A season-long mess that started with racial slurs in a parking lot has ended with 770 young football players locked out of Colorado's state tournament. The Colorado Football League cut ties with The Nation Youth Football League, which means all 28 of its teams are out when the tournament kicks off Oct. 24, according to The Denver Post.
The key facts:
- The dispute traces back to a season-opening game on Aug. 15 at the Pinnacle Athletic Complex in Thornton. The Park Hill Pirates' 13U team beat the Denver Mustangs 19-13 in a matchup between two of the state's top middle school teams.
- Park Hill chairman Herman L. White said his program was subjected to racial and derogatory language and postgame hostility. He said the confrontations escalated to a law-enforcement response.
- Hellian Robinson, one of three security guards working the event, told the Post that about six young adults on the Mustangs' side chanted an expletive about Park Hill. He said they then directed the N-word at Park Hill fans in the parking lot, with roughly 100 people nearby.
- Robinson said the group fled in an SUV as police arrived. He believes a fight would have broken out without security there.
- Mustangs 13U head coach Matt Hill and defensive coordinator Chris Driessen said the group was made up of teenage relatives of some players. They said the coaches didn't know them and that the group was permanently banned from team activities.
- Driessen said the team and parents held discussions and an all-hands meeting making clear the behavior wouldn't be tolerated. Hill served a one-game suspension from NoCo Football.
- A second incident involving racist language by two Mustangs 13U players led the CFL to call an emergency meeting. Facebook posts kept the feud going from there.
- On Wednesday, the CFL upheld the ban on The Nation Youth Football League.
The leadership fallout
Nation league president Mikoyan Watson said the situation came down to "poor leadership," and he included himself. He also named several CFL officials, saying the core problem was a breakdown in communication at the top.
Driessen said the Mustangs' side didn't know about Park Hill's concerns with The Nation league at the time. In his words, the team considered the matter closed after its own discipline.
Why it matters
The Nation Youth Football League includes eight organizations. It's one of four conferences feeding the CFL's state tournament, alongside NoCo Football, Rocky Mountain Pop Warner and Pikes Peak Pop Warner. Park Hill, founded in 1968, has produced NFL names like Calais Campbell and LenDale White.
The league-wide penalty means hundreds of players who had nothing to do with the original incident or the online back-and-forth won't get a shot at a state title.
Source: Denverpost