High school program investigated for anti-Semitic play calls (Updated)
Each football team's lexicon of play calls, audibles and checks are a language unto itself, and it's universally a bad sign when the Anti-Defamation League has to step in and investigate yours.
That's the situation at Duxbury High School, in southeastern Massachusetts between Boston and Cape Cod. The ADL has called for a full-scale investigation into the program after it was discovered the program used anti-Semitic terminology in its March 12 season-opener with Plymouth North.
From the Boston Globe:
The ADL’s executive director, Robert Trestan, said in an interview with the Globe that he spoke to Duxbury school superintendent John Antonucci, who told him Duxbury football players called plays in a recent game by using terms such as “Auschwitz,” “rabbi,” and “dreidel.”
Obviously, the investigation will focus not only on how those terms made it to game day, but how and why no adult stepped in to say using such terms was a bad idea.
"It’s deeply hurtful to the Jewish community to learn that the plays somehow connect to the Holocaust and Judaism," Trestan said."This is a really serious situation. There are indications of a systemic failure both on and off the field."
The Globe's report does not specifically state head coach Dave Maimaron has been suspended, but it does note he was not on the sidelines for Duxbury's game last Friday and is not expected to coach the club's upcoming game, either.
“I want to extend my apology for the insensitive, crass, and inappropriate language used in the game on March 12th. The use of this language was careless, unnecessary and most importantly hurtful on its face — inexcusable," Maimaron said. "The staff and the team have been transparent and cooperative with administration during this time, and we have taken responsibility for the incident. We are dealing with this as a team and focusing on the lessons we can learn from this.”
Update:Duxbury has cancelled its games with Hingham scheduled for this weekend.
"In collaboration with the Hingham administration, a mutual decision has been made to cancel the varsity football game scheduled for Friday night, as well as the JV and Freshman games scheduled for Saturday and Monday," the school said in a statement released Wednesday.
"We believe this is a necessary step in light of the recent incident involving the use of anti-Semitic language by the Duxbury football players. A decision about future games will be made at a later date."
Update: Following the highly publicized instance, and being placed on adminsitrative leave from his teaching position, head coach Dave Maimaron has been let go.
