Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
The Police Athletic League can continue limiting players who joined teams in midseason to 10 downs a game.
By CARY DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 8, 2001
NEW PORT RICHEY -- In the end, the testimony from the star player behind the controversy, his mother, his coach and several league officials didn't make any difference.
The judge wasn't going to stick his nose in the affairs of the Pasco Police Athletic League and the bitter controversy over whether three members of the New Port Richey Buccaneers varsity football team should get more playing time.
Circuit Judge Stanley Mills listened to more than an hour of testimony and argument in his chambers Wednesday morning before ruling that the playing time dispute didn't belong in the courts.
"I don't think the court has any business getting involved here," Mills said.
The upshot of the judge's decision: The league's decision to limit players who joined teams in midseason to 10 downs a game will stand.
The parents of the three Buccaneers players filed a lawsuit last week in hopes of changing the policy, which was implemented on Oct. 22, just before the playoffs started. The league's board of directors had previously agreed to let the three boys -- John Perry, Patrick Crabtree and Zach Stough -- join the league after the signup deadline without any restrictions on their playing time.
The board reversed itself after other teams complained about Perry, 16, who joined the Buccaneers after quitting the Ridgewood High School varsity squad. The complaints came after Perry played one full game, a 38-9 victory over Shady Hills in which he scored a touchdown and intercepted a pass.
The 7-3 Buccaneers play the Hudson Cobras on Saturday in the Western Conference finals, with the winner advancing to the PPAL Super Bowl.
As the hearing took place inside Mills' chambers, about a dozen Hudson parents gathered outside, waiting for news of a decision. Afterward, they said justice prevailed.
Perry should never have been allowed to join the league because he had played high school ball the same season, said Hudson athletic director Tim Cline. Moreover, Cline said, the league should have turned away everyone who registered after the signup deadline. Hudson turned down 16 boys who wanted to join the team after the deadline, Cline said.
PPAL president Ted Mounts acknowledged at the hearing that the league violated its own bylaws by allowing Perry and other latecomers into the league. In voting for the playing time restrictions, "We tried to correct the wrong and not punish the kids ... over mistakes that adults had made," Mounts testified.
Perry, an honors student and a star in PPAL for years, was nervous as he took the stand wearing a gold necklace with a "49" medallion, the number on his Buccaneers jersey.
"It's really hard to sit on the bench after starting all these years," he said. "All I can do is cheer for my team."
Mills, in announcing his ruling, noted that Florida courts have always held that the judiciary should not get involved in the affairs of private organizations unless there are "exceptional circumstances." One Florida case, he said, even held that there is no inalienable right to "play football or participate in playoffs."
-- Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6236. His e-mail address is