Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The New Mexico Activities Association board of directors last week proposed bringing the hammer down on member schools that engage in “egregious acts of unsportsmanlike conduct” by teams or spectators.
Dusty Young, associated director of the NMAA, stated in an email the proposed changes in the organization’s bylaws must pass a vote by member schools before being implemented.
He said that vote will take place “over the next few weeks.”
“There was not a specific incident,” Young added, “just something that the NMAA and our member schools have been discussing for almost a year now in an effort to ensure that sportsmanship is a primary focus for our state moving forward.”
The NMAA board unanimously recommended passage of the change.
Wayne Ferguson, athletic director at Tucumcari High School, is the official voter for TPS on bylaw changes.
Ferguson said the proposed bylaw changes regarding sportsmanship was prompted by “an accumulation of incidents.”
He labeled the proposal as “too punitive.”
The proposal states that “unsportsmanlike conduct by coaches, students, and/or spectators may cause the school or individual to be placed on probation or suspension for 180 school days/365 calendar days.”
It also states: “Any time an egregious act of unsportsmanlike conduct by a team participant, including a coach, occurs two or more times during the same season, at the same school, in the same activity, the team will be suspended from participation in that activity for the remainder of the season.”
The same sort of rules apply to spectator conduct.
“Examples of egregious unsportsmanlike conduct by participants, coaches, or spectators include but are not limited to, fans entering the playing surface to engage in acts of violence or abuse, constant verbal attacks on officials, attacking other fans, coaches physically or verbally attacking officials, players fighting other players during postgame handshakes, or student sections verbally chanting inappropriate or demeaning comments towards individuals, teams, or officials,” the document reads.
If the second act of misconduct occurs when there are no games left in an activity’s current season, the penalty may be applied to the next season.
The NMAA also will notify a school that team and individual or spectators have been placed on warning after the first offense.