CIF sanctions high school in El Dorado Hills for racist heckling at girls’ soccer game
The governing body for high school sports this week put sanctions on Oak Ridge High School because of racist heckling at a championship soccer game earlier this month.
The California Interscholastic Federation in an emailed statement to The Sacramento Bee said, “discriminatory and racist behavior toward an opponent contravenes the principals of education-based athletics.” The CIF wrote, “with cooperation of both schools with the review process,” Oak Ridge athletics will be placed on probation for the remainder of this academic year and through next academic year and the 2023-24 school year, along with six other sanctions.
For the time being, the El Dorado Hills school will not lose any home playoff games, often the punishment handed down for poor sportsmanship of players, coaches or fans. That was the punishment for McClatchy High School after a girls’ basketball game against visiting Lincoln of Stockton was marred by McClatchy fans rushing the court when a Sac-Joaquin Section playoff game still had several seconds left on the clock. The CIF had McClatchy travel for two games in the Northern California tournament despite its No. 2 seed.
An Oak Ridge student in the school’s rooting section on March 5 barked out monkey sounds in an otherwise silent stadium as Ciara Wilson, a Black soccer star for Buchanan High of Fresno, attempted a penalty kick in a Northern California title game. The student was later identified and disciplined, Oak Ridge principal Aaron Palm confirmed, adding that he and his school apologized to Wilson, the family, the team, the school and the community. Palm also said his school will continue to work on sportsmanship.
The CIF was in discussions with the Sac-Joaquin Section office throughout the investigation. Section commissioner Mike Garrison told The Bee recently that the heckling sound, “goes against humanity. Let’s take it a step farther from high school sports. One human to another, why treat anyone like that?”
Should Oak Ridge violate its athletic probation, including fan heckling, immediate severe sanctions would likely occur.
The other sanctions levied by the CIF:
▪ During the probationary period, any Oak Ridge-Buchanan soccer matches will be hosted by Buchahan in Fresno, regardless of team record for playoff seeding.
▪ Oak Ridge must complete an annual sportsmanship workshop/training session that includes racial/cultural sensitivity training, and sessions that must be completed by all Oak Ridge administrators, athletic directors, coaches and students.
▪ Before the start of the next section championship games, Oak Ridge administrators will complete game-management training.
▪ The Oak Ridge administration is encouraged to “engage with the administration at Buchanan to begin the process of developing a positive relationship between the two schools and communities.”
▪ By Aug. 1 of this year, Oak Ridge must submit an “action plan to the State CIF outlining not only how it will comply with sanctions but also what other strategies, if any, that it chooses to implement to avoid the repetition of the type of conduct that led to the implementation of these sanctions.”
The CIF said it “will refrain from further comment at this time” on the matter. This isn’t the first time Oak Ridge has been instructed by the CIF to address poor sportsmanship, which was referenced in the sanctions overview. Oak Ridge students heckled McClatchy girls’ basketball players during a NorCal playoff game in 2016, a game played in El Dorado Hills.
Buchanan High athletic director James Gambrell told The Sacramento Bee on Friday that he was, “hoping the CIF would use this unfortunate incident as a platform that it will not tolerate this behavior. We have chosen at Buchanan to use this experience as a teachable moment for our kids, our coaching staff and our community, and we will be better equipped if this sort of unfortunate thing arises again as a home team or as a visiting team.”
Wilson, the Buchanan star player headed to Fresno State on scholarship, alerted the referee to the heckling immediately after it happened. Buchanan coaches and administrators expressed disappointment that the game wasn’t immediately halted and the heckling student removed. Wilson did not attend school for a week after the incident in an effort to process all of this. Her father, Brian Wilson, wrote to the CIF, expressing his concerns that this incident will be largely forgotten, but not for Ciara and her family, and that it will be “something we remember forever.”
Gambrell on Friday said he was moved by the in-game actions of Oak Ridge goalkeeper Kate Plachy. While the soccer coaches were talking to referees after the heckling sounds, Plachy, on her own accord, approached the Buchanan team at midfield.
“She personally walked from her goal to our team at the 50, went up to our girls and said, ‘I apologize. This is not what we stand for and it’s unacceptable,’” Gambrell said. “That was amazing. (Plachy) followed up with social-media messages to Ciara, and they shared phone numbers. (Plachy) showed support, showed empathy, and that’s what athletics is supposed to be teaching kids. I couldn’t be more impressed with that student athlete.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 12:28 PM.