FUMA Prep Football Team Forfeits Two Games
Fork Union, VA -
Officials at Fork Union Military Academy announced today that their prep
football team will forfeit the results of their first two Prep League games in
the 2008 season due to the participation of an ineligible player on their
team's roster. The FUMA Blue Devils, who recorded a victory over St.
Christopher's this weekend to elevate their Prep League record to 4-0, will
forfeit their game results against Prep League opponents Norfolk Academy and
Hargrave Military Academy bringing their Prep League record to 2-2.
Fork Union
officials determined that one of their players was five weeks too old to
participate in undergraduate competition. The student athlete was not in the
starting lineup and saw action in less than a dozen plays in the latter stages
of two games this season, both of them lopsided victories with FUMA winning by
more than three touchdowns. Fork Union officials contacted the Executive Director
of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) to report this
eligibility oversight and the consequent forfeiture of the two games in which
this player participated.
Fork Union
Military Academy is a member of the Prep League in the VISAA. League
eligibility rules state that student athletes are only eligible for
undergraduate play if they reach their 19th birthday after August 1st of that
academic year.
In a statement
released today, FUMA's president, Lt. Gen. John E. Jackson, Jr., notes that
teaching responsibility and leadership to its cadets were two of the school's
objectives. "This is a hard lesson for our school and our team," said
General Jackson, "but we are confident that modeling those virtues we
endeavor to teach is of more value than a win-loss record." |
Statement by Lt. Gen. John E. Jackson, Jr.,
President of Fork Union Military Academy
As you know, two objectives of the Academy's mission are to teach our Cadets responsibility and leadership. Recently, we have had the opportunity to demonstrate these qualities not only to our students, but also to our colleagues in the Virginia Prep League and the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association.
This school year the Academy enrolled a student-athlete who, due to oversight on our part, was five weeks too old to compete in undergraduate athletics. He was permitted to play in two prep football games before our coaching staff recognized his ineligibility, as determined by his birth date. Upon our discovery, we immediately contacted the Executive Director of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association, the governing body of our own Prep League. The school will have to forfeit the two games that the ineligible player participated in. Both were victories which will now be recorded as losses.
This is a hard lesson for our school and our team, but we are confident that modeling those virtues we endeavor to teach is of more value than a win-loss record. We ask for your continued prayers and support as we press on to do the right thing.
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