The Gainesville football team can officially put the suspensions from the Brunswick-Gainesville on-field altercation behind them.
The Georgia High School Association’s state executive committee voted to overturn the 30 suspensions of Gainesville High School football players on Wednesday afternoon during the December meeting, effectively ending the court battle between the two.
Gainesville athletics director Adam Lindsey said it was a relief to have it all behind them.
“It is a relief to know that our players don’t have to worry about that looming over their heads, and can just go out and play at this point,” he said. “And I certainly hope that the GHSA will take a hard look at how they’re implementing these rules and start using some common sense moving forward.”
On Nov. 25, the GHSA Board of Trustees voted to uphold 34 of the 38 Gainesville players who were suspended for their alleged participation in an on-field altercation that happened with 1:57 to go in the third quarter of the Brunswick-Gainesville Class 5A playoff game at Glynn County Stadium on Nov. 21. Gainesville was up, 42-0.
Hours after the judgment, GHSA Executive Director Tim Scott postponed the Gainesville-Langston-Hughes quarterfinal game, pending an appeal to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Then, on Monday, Dec. 1, the GHSA reversed course, allowing the injunction to stand and the game to be played.
Earlier this year, a similar situation occurred during the Southwest-Northeast Macon game. The GHSA did not suspend all of the players who left the sidelines.
Gainesville used that case in its defense, and the GHSA eventually recognized that it had applied the rule differently in two cases.
GHSA Executive Director Dr. Tim Scott told the AJC earlier this week that they didn’t address the Macon situation the same way as they did the Gainesville altercation.
“I felt we handled this one (the Gainesville case) by the bylaws, but the earlier one, I’m not sure we did what we needed to do and felt I needed to correct the situation,” Scott told the AJC. “When there’s an inconsistency with what we do at the office, it’s my responsibility, and I needed to correct it.”
During the Nov. 25 hearing, Judge Bearden asked the GHSA whether Gainesville could appeal the suspension before the state executive committee.
Scott said they could, and the GHSA put the appeal on Wednesday’s agenda.
“Okay, so we have that process as well,” Bearden said during the hearing. “Thank you very much for the clarity on that today, council, and for Gainesville City Schools and the GHSA.”
Gainesville will travel to Langston-Hughes on Friday to play the Class 5A quarterfinal game, while the rest of the state will play in the semifinals. The GHSA also postponed the Class 5A semifinal game between Thomas County Central and Roswell to Thursday, Dec. 9. If the Red Elephants were to win on Friday, they would play Rome, which beat Jackson County last week, in the semifinals on Dec. 9.
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