O'ahu High schools should heed warning signals and classify
| • | Chart: How classification might work |
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
Instead of Kahuku High leading Leilehua 56-0 at halftime again, what if the Red Raiders were sweating out a 24-21 lead over Kamehameha Schools?
Rather than watching the stands empty after a 77-0 first half against Damien, what if St. Louis School found itself and a large crowd fired up about a close game against Wai'anae?
If there was ever a week that should have given officials of high school leagues double-barreled pause to ponder the direction of football here and take a closer look at the benefits of a statewide classification system, this should have been it.
First there was Damien announcing, and then standing by, its intention to forfeit Interscholastic League of Honolulu games rather than be forced to play powerhouse St. Louis again this fall, a stand that dramatized the inequity of too many of the contests being played these days.
Then, there was the announcement of ESPN's three-year television contract with the Western Athletic Conference, one of three Division IA conferences that will participate in televised Friday night football games. That underlined the competition the high schools face for fans.
Both should have been eye-openers for a sport that is struggling here to fill out its rosters and put people in the stands.
Apart from what should be the overriding issue, the best interests of those who play high school sports, this week's developments have to make you wonder where the future is headed.
One-sided games, of which there have been too many, are bad for business. And the business of football is what clearly drives revenues that not only finance the sport but are necessary to underwrite many others as well.
The days when schools could count on a crowd just by turning on the lights on a Friday night have gone the way of the late, great Turkey Day games. Now, except for immediate family and friends, football needs to at least approximate the attraction of the events it is competing against for the entertainment dollar.
And you get better, more exciting games by matching teams that are on the same level in terms of resources and numbers. Forty-nine of the 50 states have seen the wisdom in this. According to Robert Kanady, executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations, Hawai'i is the only one without classification on a statewide basis.
Not that it hasn't been talked about here. ILH executive secretary Clay Benham some years back proposed a well-conceived three-tier model. Keith Amemiya, executive secretary of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association, has drawn up a prospectus for a two-level system. Both would include Neighbor Island schools in either regular season or state tournament plans and reclassify on a regular basis.
Sadly, they draw dust while 30-year old grudges and petty bickering continue to be barriers to real progress. Some of what led the public and private schools to part after the 1969 season and continued to divide the two sides has been solved. Common ground has been found on fifth-year players, transfers and elsewhere. But as fast as one element of contention is solved, others are pushed to the point you have to wonder if division rather than solution is the real aim.
Meanwhile, television is pushing Friday night college games. If the concept does well in the ratings this year, don't be surprised if more conferences get involved. The danger locally and, indeed, nationally isn't in one UH-Fresno State game. But if it expands and, particularly if the marquee schools, Southern Cal, Texas, Florida State etc. get involved, expect high school audiences to drop.
The events of this week should have been a three-alarm wake-up call for high school football. Over the ensuing months, we'll see if anybody was listening
