LYNN — City officials are weighing in on East Lynn’s youth football team’s disqualification from competing in the championship game.
After beating Everett 14-6 Saturday, the Bulldogs, East Lynn’s Pop Warner (ELPW) 14 and under football team, was set to play a championship match in Florida, until Sunday, when Pop Warner disqualified the team over discrepancies with two of the players’ physical exams.
LeToya Marie, one of the players’ mothers, wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday that she thought it was unfair to barre the team, who had worked and trained tirelessly all season, from competing in the championship.
“It’s unfair and it’s not right,” Marie wrote. “ Don’t take that opportunity away, give these kids their respect […] We got our championship and now they are trying to take what these young men earned.”
The ELPW team pushed back against the disqualification in a written statement Wednesday night, arguing that all athletes were approved to play.
“ELPW (East Lynn Pop Warner) reviewed the 14U book with the E-Mass President and he confirmed only two updated physicals had not been inserted into the book in place of the 2021 physicals. ELPW produced the two documents the next day,” ELPW said. “Every single ELPW athlete was officially stamped and approved for play in the 2022 Pop Warner season.”
In a joint statement from Mayor Jared Nicholson, City Council, and the School Committee published Wednesday, government officials urged Warner Pop to reconsider their decision.
“On behalf of the entire Lynn City, we stand behind the East Lynn Pop Warner 14U team, their coaches, and their parents. We know how much this sport and the opportunity to represent the City of Lynn on a National Stage means to each player. We are so proud of all they have accomplished and achieved to get to this point. We hope that Pop Warner Football Conference of Eastern MASS and the New England Regional Pop Warner League representatives will do the right thing and allow these young players to proceed to play in Florida as they have earned,” city officials said.
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
