This weekend, I mentioned that Sayreville War Memorial High School in Sayreville, New Jersey was turned upside down by a grisly hazing scandal involving its powerhouse football team. Reports of players being subjected to horrific sexual assaults in the locker room triggered a criminal investigation that led to district officials canceling the remainder of the season after only three games, and seven of the alleged culprits are now in custody.? On Saturday night, Sayreville superintendent of schools Richard Labbe told The (Newark) Star-Ledger that based on what he’s learned so far about the goings-on in the locker room, it’s possible that the Sayreville Bombers may remain shuttered in 2015 as well.
Labbe said that “based on the severity of the charges,” he isn’t sure if there will be football next year in Sayreville. Any final decision, he added, won’t be made until Middlesex County prosecutors complete their investigation. He also revealed that a major factor will be whether he thinks this football-crazed blue-collar town five miles south of Staten Island has its priorities straight.
“I just think that based upon everything that has occurred, I just need to make sure that we recognize what football is. It’s just a game. And as soon as it becomes more than just a game, it opens up to situations like this. I need to make sure the community knows that this is a game and our children have the privilege to play it.”
That message was clearly aimed at the parents who pitched a fit at a school board meeting held on October 4, the day after Labbe canceled the entire season. However, given what is known about the situation, this was the only acceptable response. After practices, several upperclassmen would collar a freshman in the locker room, pin him to the floor, and jam a finger up his rectum while lifting him up. According to the parent of a player on the freshman team, it had gotten to the point that the freshmen would “stampede to the locker room” so they could get dressed and get out before the varsity players arrived. Indeed, that parent said he saw kids changing outside the locker room. When hazing gets to the point that you don’t feel safe changing in your own locker room, it’s a sign that something is going on that can’t just be handled in-house. And the mere fact law enforcement even has to be involved at all is a further sign that whatever is going on in the Bomber locker room is very wrong.
I find myself thinking back to the hazing scandal that engulfed Florida A&M’s marching band in 2011. After drum major Robert Champion was beaten to death in a hazing ritual aboard a band bus, the band didn’t return to the field for the remainder of the season. An investigation revealed a culture of hazing so pervasive that school officials felt they had no choice but to keep the band off the field for the entire 2012 season as well. It’s not clear as of yet that the situation in Sayreville is that serious. However, it is clear that the culture in that program is unacceptable and needs to be cleaned up from top to bottom. If it takes sitting out an entire season to do it, so be it.
Labbe declared last week that shutting down the season is his way of sending a message that there will be no tolerance for “(any) forms of harassment, intimidation and bullying” in Sayreville. And so far, it sounds like he means it. The next step, though, is to give head coach George Najjar and his staff their walking papers. From where I’m sitting, it seems the only reason Najjar still has a job right now is that prosecutors told Labbe and other district officials not to talk to the coaches until further notice. Labbe said that he doesn’t think Najjar knew about the hazing. But if I were a father in Sayreville, even if Najjar didn’t break any laws, given what is known I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting my son play for him. I’d really like to know how a situation like this would get so far gone if a coach had had any sort of handle on his locker room. As successful as Najjar has been in his 20 years at the helm, it shouldn’t begin to make up for being disengaged in a way that a high school coach simply cannot be.
Let us know your thoughts at the Liberal America Facebook page. Sign up for our free daily newsletter to receive more great stories like this one.
Darrell Lucus, also known as Christian Dem in NC on Daily Kos, is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
