Michelle Basch, wtop.com
Controversy continues over a Thanksgiving Day football tradition in the region.
D.C. Public School leaders disqualified Wilson High School from this week’s annual Turkey Bowl championship game after determining the team used an ineligible player in several games, but efforts continue to get the decision overturned.
After an investigation, the school system determined Wilson High player Nico Robinson lives in Maryland, not D.C.
But Wilson’s principal wrote a letter to D.C.’s Statewide Director of Athletics saying he has documentation proving Robinson is a District resident.
Also, attorney Cynthia Goode Works, who is representing the parents of some other Wilson High players, says DCPS broke its own rules in this matter.
She says one of those rules states player eligibility complaints cannot be made after the middle of the season.
Another says complaints about ineligible players must be made within 24 hours after the player in question plays in a game.
“Applying the rules that DCPS has set out, Wilson is entitled to participate (in the Turkey Bowl), however DCPS has chosen to ignore their rules and to make up rules essentially as they go on,” says Works.
She says the decision is unfair to the other athletes on the team.
“The Turkey Bowl is a historic event. Often times there are scouts that are looking there at these children. They are missing out on this opportunity, and it’s not their fault,” Works adds.
Anacostia, which has replaced Wilson High in the Turkey Bowl, is scheduled to play Dunbar at 11 a.m. Thanksgiving morning at Eastern High School.
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