“COVID Champions” a Possibility with New Rules

It has dominated every thought, word and action all over the world for the past seven months. It has cancelled March Madness, spring sports, graduations and almost every event that can be celebrated. The coronavirus pandemic spilled over into fall sports, with those in charge at every level dissecting how to create a safe season for athletes, coaches, officials and fans.

On the high school level, the Alabama High School Athletic Association created new guidelines for the 2020 season billed as “best practices for return to sports.” As the football regular season comes to a close and teams begin their march toward a state championship, it seems as though these guidelines have been mostly effective in controlling the deadly spread.

In accordance with the state of Alabama’s mandatory mask order that has been in place since July, masks have been required of fans, coaches and officials during the contests. All stadiums have limited capacity, and student-athletes have been allowed to play whether their individual schools are in virtual learning mode, in-person or a hybrid model. All of these rules are sensible, and have allowed sports to continue.

However, there is one rule change I was disappointed to see. As stated in the AHSAA’s new guidelines on page five, “in the event any contest is not played [due to reasons related to COVID-19] during the regular season the game will be a forfeited game by the team whose school is not participating, and the other team will be awarded a ‘win’.”

The AHSAA has stated that schools may determine what constitutes a forfeiture. One school could choose a single player exposure, while another may select an outbreak as their point of no return.

At first glance, this rule seems fair – until you begin to ponder the ways this could impact a school’s playoff run.

While that specific verbiage states “regular season” games would be impacted, a deeper dive into the document reveals the same fate for playoff contests.

In the frequently asked questions section of the same document, the AHSAA stated that the Championship Play policy requires removal of the team that is unable to participate due to school closures or team quarantine. While a team quarantine would certainly render a game unplayable, why are student-athletes forced to miss out on the playoffs due to a school closure? If tests can be performed on all participating parties with no positive results, the game should be played.

If playoff wins are automatically awarded to the team unaffected by the virus, can a true state champion be crowned?

Safety is paramount and must come first to decision makers, but it seems harsh to make teams forfeited playoff games when a solution is in the midst.

Written by: Reagan Cofield