Jones County Sheriff's Department was called to remove tearful kids and heartbroken parents off the football field after they peacefully marched in solidarity onto the field during an illegitimate game held Tuesday Night at Calhoun Community Center to demand answers as to why the Jones County Youth Sports Conference kicked their kids out of the Youth Superbowl schedule for this upcoming Saturday, November 2, 2024.
In an unprecedented move, The Jones County Youth Sports Conference has not only shocked, but upset the Jones County community by kicking The Roosevelt Cyclones Football Team completely out of the conference to prevent them from playing in Saturday's Youth Superbowl Game, despite being declared the winner after beating the Soso Colts on last Thursday, October 24, 2024 in the conference final playoff game.
Tuesday Evening, October 29, The Jones County Youth Sports Conference held a game between The Soso Colts, who Roosevelt Cyclones just beat last Thursday eliminating the team from the playoffs and The Power Chiefs, who didn't qualify to make the playoffs, to determine who would replace The Roosevelt Cyclones in the Superbowl, making the game illegitimate.
The Soso Colts lost the game Tuesday Night, October 29, 2024 to The Power Chiefs 6-12.
After multiple request from the members in the community, Hattiesburg News investigated the matter and spoke with both the conference, team officials, as well as Jones County Officials.
Mike Street, President of the Jones County Youth Sports Conference admitted to Hattiesburg News the Jones County Youth Sports Conference did kickout The Roosevelt Cyclones, but Street claims it was according to the rules. Street further claimed he stepped down from President to avoid dealing with the matter because of his close connections to the Soso Colts Youth Football Team, the who filed the formal complaint.
The Soso Colts allegedly filed a formal complaint according to Street to the Jones County Youth Sports Conference after its lost to the Roosevelt Cyclones alleging that Roosevelt had players who were catching passes and running the ball who had on the wrong jersey numbers.
Street says according to their rules, players who wear numbers 0-49 can catch passes and run the ball. Players who have numbers 50 and above can not. Soso's Football team claimed in their formal complaint that Roosevelt Football team had players wearing numbers 50 and above who were not only running and catching the ball, but also scoring touchdowns.
Hattiesburg News can not verify what's in the actual complaint made by The Soso Colts.
According to Street, after a team files a formal complaint against another team, the team that the complaint was filed on has 24 hours to respond to the formal complaint. However, Street says the team nor its representatives can no longer serve on the board or be a part of the decisions as to what will happen to the team who the complaint was filed on.
This prevents the team from having any voice in what happens with their team's future. If found guilty, Street alleges that team will either forfeit its game or entire season. Street claimed that this is all a part of the rules in which each team is given a copy before the season starts.
Unfortunately, The Roosevelt Cyclones was kicked out the conference all together.
When Hattiesburg News questioned Street about what evidence if any was given to the conference that proved the Roosevelt Team violated any of the rules or a copy of the formal complaint or what all board members made the decision to kick the team out so that Hattiesburg News can verify, Street immediately hung up the phone in Hattiesburg News face and Hattiesburg News was unable to reach Street any further.
For the record, as with any sport, there are referees who officiate the game. If this actually happened or if any rule was broken as with any sport, the referees could have disqualified the touchdowns and or plays and given the offending team a penalty, such as with off-sides, roughing the passer or pass interference.
However, the referees did not give such penalties during the game neither did any coach or staff complain to any official during the game that any of such violations that Soso alleged in its formal complaint actually took place.
The Jones County Youth Sports Conference Superbowl is scheduled to take place Saturday, November 2, 2024.
Both the Jones County School District and The Jones County Board of Supervisors told Hattiesburg News they don't have any ties to The Jones County Youth Conference.
This is a developing story!
Comments