Story
Palm Beach Gardens forced to forfeit opening victory
Friday, September 07, 2012
by
Jeff Greer
The Palm Beach Gardens football team must forfeit last week's season-opening victory and pay a fine to the Florida High School Athletic Association after the school self-reported a violation of the state's player-eligibility policy.
Palm Beach Gardens Athletic Director Bill Weed forgot to inform head football coach Rob Freeman of an ineligible player on the Gators' roster prior to Gardens' 45-7 win Aug. 31 over rival Palm Beach Lakes. The player, who is a minor and unnamed in a letter sent from the FHSAA to the school, is academically ineligible with a sub-2.0 grade-point average, and can't participate in team activities until his academic status improves.
Once Weed recognized the error, the summary of violation says, he told the player of his ineligibility and reported the violation to the FHSAA. Because the mistake was self-reported, the school likely won't appeal the FHSAA's punishment.
In addition to forfeiting the win over Lakes, Gardens was fined $100 and received an official reprimand. The fine was significantly reduced because Gardens notified the FHSAA. Normal FHSAA policy requires a minimum fine of $2,500 per athlete, per contest for playing an ineligible player.
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User Comments:
bada-bing commented on September 7, 2012 at 8:37 p.m.: report abuse
AD should resign- this is unacceptable-
Gotta Go commented on September 7, 2012 at 10:37 p.m.: report abuse
How do you forget to tell the coach he has an ineligible player. It takes 10 seconds to check GPA and bells should have went off right away. This is just another instance of the AD not doing his job up there. How many of these rules violations has he had since he took over at Gardens?
aldo commented on September 7, 2012 at 11:18 p.m.: report abuse
That kid is Florida Gator material.
4real commented on September 7, 2012 at 11:41 p.m.: report abuse
Personally I think the school and coaches should be fine not the kids for there hard work one kid did not win this game, those kids did not know about this and they went out there and played there heart out. Shame on the AD and any coach that might have know about this, good job on letting down those kids
True Gator commented on September 8, 2012 at 7:29 a.m.: report abuse
INEXCUSABLE!!! There aren't many fond of Mr. Weed in the athletic department at PBG or in the community.
Gator Class of 12 commented on September 8, 2012 at 9:11 p.m.: report abuse
Here we go again. What does this do? He did the same thing last year to our soccer team, but they had to forfeit 10+ games and pay a bigger fine. My sister remembers him screwing up the suspensions of girls basketball players and letting them play too soon. Something there has to change. He thinks he is so funny, as an adult he tries to be funny and runs our pep rallies with Mr. Falk. Neither are funny, and they should let students run the student pep rallies. He needs to grow up.
Gator for Life commented on September 9, 2012 at 8:25 p.m.: report abuse
Why does that Principle put up with this. He needs to step up and fix this situation before any more major mistakes are made. He also should make Weed pay for this out of his own pocket. Next time he wont forget to tell someone.
GRADES? commented on September 10, 2012 at 9:57 a.m.: report abuse
I agree that the AD screwed up. The head coach should have been notified IMMEDIATELY...even a phone call on his cell that evening. But how about the players? Let's put responsibility on them If these kids are so good, and have so much potential (FLORIDA GATOR MATERIAL), how is his GPA below 2.0 anyway. Maybe the school should provide extra tutoring for these athletes who dedicate so much time to the sport.But if kids can't maintain a simple 2.0 (C average) then they shouldn't be in high school sports anyway!! They should be studying!
Open Your Eyes commented on September 10, 2012 at 10:48 a.m.: report abuse
Clearly the AD informed the coach of the situation. He is taking all the blame so you "fans of the program" won't start talking bad about the new coach. To Mr. Weed, great job for taking the bullet so everyone else can save face.
booger commented on September 10, 2012 at 10:55 a.m.: report abuse
^^^^ That's the bigggest BS thing I have seen yet, but thanks for your input Mr Weed
hobbie commented on September 10, 2012 at 10:58 a.m.: report abuse
@open your eyes- Bill Weed take a bullet for someone else?????? HAHAHAHAHAHA. bIggest coward/puppet in the school system.
Gator Football Mom commented on September 10, 2012 at 11:02 a.m.: report abuse
This is absolutely terrible. Weed needs to be picked and be gone - those boys worked hard for this victory and so did the coaches. How does this happen? This is totally unexcusable, Weed himself should be fined for not doing his job and the team should not have to contend with their win being taken away from them. They were not prevy to this information....this just really irritates me off that the school and pricipal will allow this. Open Your Eyes, you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about - how about this, GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!!!
Elvin commented on September 10, 2012 at 2:52 p.m.: report abuse
@Booger and Hobbie....YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!
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