ALEXANDRA SCHOOL is embroiled in another controversy, but this time on the football field, and outspoken principal Jeff Broomes is a signatory to a letter of protest.
Yesterday, the Queen Street, St Peter school sent a letter, co-signed by Broomes and physical education teacher Roger Broomes, to the Barbados Secondary Schools Football League (BSSFL) protesting the circumstances surrounding an unplayed soccer match last month between Alexandra and neighbouring Coleridge and Parry school.
The BSSFL ruled that Alexandra lost the match, which was originally scheduled to be played on November 22, by default, and awarded the points to Coleridge and Parry.
As a result, Alexandra, who had played unbeaten up to that stage but also did not play a match against Christ Church Foundation, did not qualify for the quarter-finals of the ongoing Under-19 competition, ending with 13 points from four wins and a draw.
Two of those quarter-finals were played yesterday with Coleridge and Parry hosting Deighton Griffith at Ashton Hall and St Leonard’s Boys opposing Alleyne at the YMCA.
The remaining two quarter-finals are slated for today, but in its letter to BSSFL president Dave Small, which was copied to the league secretariat, Alexandra requested that its protest be dealt with before the quarter-finals were played.
“The basic tenet of natural justice states that where a party is accused of any wrongdoing, it must be afforded a hearing before any judgement is handed down. In this case, the Alexandra School is being accused of breaching the rules and has not been afforded a hearing,” the letter stated.
Efforts to reach Broomes yesterday were unsuccessful but a source close to the school said legal action could be taken to stop the BSSFL from continuing with the tournament which had seen four rounds of matches being rescheduled due to the period of mourning for the late Prime Minister David Thompson.
Alexandra had also stated that its team was prepared for the match on November 22 only to discover from students that Coleridge and Parry, who never arrived for that game, were playing another match on the same day against Combermere.
When the BSSFL rescheduled the match for the following day, Broomes informed the tournament coordinator, Adrian Mapp, of “a scheduling with another sport at the school and that the game could not be played on that day”.
Small left the island yesterday with the Under-17 football team for Santo Domingo but when Mapp was contacted, he said the rules of the tournament, which were in place since 1984, were clear.
Mapp pointed out that Alexandra did not give adequate time to reschedule the match, doing so very late on the same day, and the BSSFL’s executive took a decision that they would lose by default.
“The playing rules state that you must give the executive 24 hours in advance to reschedule a match. That was not done and they lost by default.
I came and found those rules and I can only adhere to them,” Mapp said.
