This is terrible for these kids, but the blame here lies with the adults responsible for the logistics.
Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West little league baseball team has been stripped of it’s little league world series title, after it was found their staff violated a “rule prohibiting the use of players who live outside the geographic area that the team represents”. In other words, someone lied about where a player lived.
We all know it happens in high school and travel leagues. However, at this level, the staff has to know that every detail would be investigated. Teams compete from all over the world in this tournament, and their registration applications are gone over with a fine tooth comb to ensure fairness across the board.
ESPN fills us in on the details of the team’s punishment:
The organization found that the Jackie Robinson team used a falsified boundary map, and that team officials met with neighboring Little League districts in Illinois to claim players and build what amounts to a superteam.
Little League International CEO Stephen D. Keener issued a statement on the matter:
“For more than 75 years, Little League has been an organization where fair play is valued over the importance of wins and losses. This is a heartbreaking decision. What these players accomplished on the field and the memories and lessons they have learned during the Little League World Series tournament is something the kids can be proud of, but it is unfortunate that the actions of adults have led to this outcome. As our Little League operations staff learned of the many issues and actions that occurred over the course of 2014 and prior, as painful as this is, we feel it a necessary decision to maintain the integrity of the Little League program. No team can be allowed to attempt to strengthen its team by putting players on their roster that live outside their boundaries.”
The official championship will be awarded to runner-up Mountain Ridge Little League from Las Vegas.
[h/t ESPN]