Boy On Dennis-Yarmouth Field Hockey Team Draws Critics

READING (CBS) - If it's called the girls' field hockey team, then why is there a boy on the field? That's what some parents were asking as they watched Dennis-Yarmouth face off against Acton-Boxboro Tuesday with goalie Max Allen protecting the DY goal net.

"Look at him lined up with everybody else. I mean, there's such a physical difference," said Maura Champigny watching her daughter's team face Allen. "Having a boy in a field hockey net somehow doesn't sit well."

It's a battle high school sports officials have tested before. In fact the MIAA challenged the issue all the way to the Massachusetts State Supreme Court, and lost. "We can agree with some of the issues people have about safety. We can agree with some of the issues people have culturally. It just doesn't seem right," said the MIAA spokesman Paul Wetzel.

Last year, one of the stars on Concord-Carlisle's football team was a girl. Under Massachusetts' own version of Title 9, the equal rights amendment, if she could play on the gridiron, then boys can play field hockey.

Despite Allen's size and strength, Acton-Boxboro won Tuesday's play-off game in Reading 3-0. His coach, Mary O'Connor, said she didn't want to discuss the gender issue. "He's like everyone else on my team," she said. "Everybody on my team, I treat them fairly. I love every single one of them, and that's it."

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