Massachusetts high school field hockey team forfeits game to avoid male opponent
DIGHTON – For the first time, a Massachusetts high school will exercise its new right to forfeit a game to avoid a player of the opposite sex on the opposing team.
The Dighton-Rehoboth field hockey team said it will not play against Somerset-Berkley next week.
Dighton-Rehoboth female hurt by male player
The Dighton-Rehoboth school committee instituted the new rule after a female field hockey player was badly injured from a shot by a male player.
In November during Dighton-Rehoboth's playoff game, a boy on the Swampscott team fired a shot that hit a female player, causing "significant facial and dental injuries."
Under the Massachusetts Equal Rights Amendment, boys are allowed to play on girls' teams when there is not an equivalent team for male athletes.
Dighton-Rehoboth superintendent Bill Runey called for rule changes after the incident versus Swampscott. Runey said the state should put conditions on what positions boys can play in certain sports.
New rule for Dighton-Rehoboth
In July, the discussion continued and led a new policy for Dighton-Rehoboth sports teams.
"We felt that the injury that happened back in November was so grave, so devastating, that it would've prompted change," Runey said at the time.
The committee voted for a new policy, allowing coaches to opt out of games for any reason without consequences.
"No student-athlete on a single-sex team shall be penalized by the District in any manner for refusing to play...against an opposing team because that team includes a member of the opposite sex," the policy reads.
The MIAA called the policy a local decision, and said the organization would not get involved.