Danbury Disqualified from Boys Soccer Tournament

DANBURY, CT — On the eve of the state championship match, Danbury High School has been disqualified from the Class LL boys soccer tournament due to the use of an ineligible player, the CIAC announced Friday morning.

Danbury's use of the ineligible player was discovered after its 4-2 victory against Shelton in a semifinal match Tuesday, and was confirmed Friday morning.

Per CIAC by-laws, Shelton will move forward in the tournament and play Farmington High School in the championship match Saturday at Willow Brook Park in New Britain at 2 p.m.

“When it is discovered that a team has used an ineligible competitor in a CIAC team tournament, the tournament game/match shall be forfeited. The team using the ineligible player will be disqualified from the tournament and that team’s last opponent will advance in its place. Teams eliminated prior to the last opponent will not be permitted to re-enter the tournament,” the by-laws state.

Danbury principal Dan Donovan sent the following letter to parents, explaining the school's interpretation of the rule:

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Early this morning, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) contacted the Danbury Public School Athletic Director, Chip Salvestrini, to question the eligibility of one of the students who played in the November 8th soccer game. According to CIAC regulations, students are not eligible to play until the “issuance of a report card”. The first marking period closed on November 4th and the student’s grades were reviewed on November 7th by Mr. Salvestrini and the district’s CIAC Eligibility Coordinator. It was determined that the student had met and exceeded all of the requirements of both CIAC and Danbury Public Schools to participate in the game.

After providing CIAC with the information as to how we determined his eligibility, we were informed that he was, in fact, not eligible because the student did not have a paper copy of the report card in hand before he played. I immediately contacted CIAC and made an appeal this morning on the grounds that electronic grades were available to students as our marking period closed on November 4th. The CIAC denied the appeal and, as a result, the win was vacated and our team will not advance in the tournament.

I am extremely disappointed in the decision and am heart-broken that our students are being punished for an interpretation that we do not agree with. However, there is no additional appeal to be made and so the decision by CIAC is final.

I will be reviewing our process for determining eligibility to ensure that this never happens again.

Best Regards,

Dan Donovan

Principal

Photo credit: Tim Jensen