An open letter to the Helena-West Helena Superintendent Mr. John Hoy

[Luke Matheson]

Helena World sports writer Ron Kelley sent me this open letter to Helena-West Helena after what Mr. Kelley believes was blatant cheating by the officials in the Helena-West Helena vs Forrest City game Friday night.. The letter is as follows:

An open letter to the Helena-West Helena Superintendent Mr. John Hoy:

I saw some very disturbing things while covering the Helena and Forrest City game. I saw you there as well, rooting for the home team. When refs in the wide open cheat for a team and make it so obvious as though it was the right thing to do, I was shocked. Never have I seen cheating so out in the open. Anyone there saw it and anyone listening heard Andrew Bagleydescribe it; Andrew Bagley was not kidding. This is what we are teaching our kids today, that it is okay to cheat. So sad. You heard the disappointing sighs in the stands in response to the horrible, and dare I say the worst calls by refs I have ever seen. Several times I think the refs made up calls on the spot using signs I have never even seen and walking off yardage seemingly at random. I was even threatened by a ref in the first quarter to be thrown out of the game just for asking him if he was serious about one of the plays he called. I took photos of him moving the ball literally two yards at a time, inching the other team to free first downs giving them extra chances, etc. Fans were horrified by this. Players were devastated mentally. They were playing the refs and they were playing the other team. But when I heard a Helena coach speak up and tell our boys that "we don't cheat", that made the trip, and the loss, worth it. Ethically and morally the Cougars are 3-0. As bad as the Cougars were getting slammed down by horrific calls one after another, NOT EVEN ONE PLAYER cursed. Let that sink in for a minute. Not ONE SINGLE Helena player was heard cursing about this on the side line. I was steaming mad and the players were upset but they kept their cool, I think better than I did. How do they do that!? Not even one coach cursed! And not even one fan in the stands cursed, from what I could tell. I was so proud of my new hometown team because we knew immediately who the better team was, and its not always the one with the most points on the score board. You, sir, should be very proud of your coaches, players, students, band members, fans, staff, and parents for their extraordinary restraint in remaining calm throughout the ball game against Forrest City. That says a whole lot about the product of students and staff that we are churning out of our public school district. I am impressed and more proud of our Cougars now... more than ever. Keep up the awesome work Mr. Hoy!

Here is the link to the post:

 

[GraysPowerRankings]

First of all, I would at least hope the AAA would consider investigating the obvious concern Mr. Kelley posted in this open letter. Perhaps there were other witnesses to this matter?

Secondly, I hope young people and adults will benefit from the positive side of the letter. For every negative can turn a positive, if handled the correct way.

 

[Luke Matheson]

Mr. Kelley is wanting to raise awareness. He may be posting here soon to discuss more.

I will say this, I wasn't at the game so I can't speak of what happened, but I have head a lot of things from numerous people. I have also seen some flat TERRIBLE officiating at numerous locations in this state. I am one who believes more needs to be done to ensure games are called fairly and professionally.

There are a lot of great officials out there, so this isn't calling all of them out, but there are some crews I have seen that couldn't call a peewee game if they tried.

 

[abagley75]

This wasn't just about officiating. While it was definitely the worst I Have seen in the 12 years I have been the Voice of the Cougars, this experience was further marred by a total failure of FCSD to have adequate game day management and execute common tasks and exhibit normal professional courtesies. The Helena locker room was filthy and the toilets clearly had not been recently cleaned. The public address announcer declared from the speaker in the 4th quarter, "One more stop and this game is over." When I tried to file a story on a game Forrest City won with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, rather than give a few minutes to finish the FCSD personnel turned out every light in the press box and stadium and declared it time to go home. Thankfully, the Forrest a City radio crew had a copy of their roster because FCSD did not have one when asked. So, this is about more than bad calls even though there were more than a few. We still had chances to win the game. I am thankful for the classy way our players and fans conducted themselves under horrible circumstances. But things should run better than they did at Forrest City on Friday.

 

[Luke Matheson]

I can't speak about anything since I wasn't there, but the thing that bothers me is the bathroom not being clean. That is a sanitary issue, and there are a ton of things that could be harmful to the health of coaches and players if it isn't kept up properly.

 

[FrankJohnson]

Officiating in Arkansas is atrocious all over the state. The comical thing is where. You speak them they actually believe they are doing a good job.