BATH — The president of Hyde School in Bath, Malcolm Gauld, told CBS 13 on Sunday he’s pulling the boys basketball team out of the Maine Principals’ Association.
He said they’ll be re-entering the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council.
The association oversees regular season play and hosts state championship tournaments for more than 150 high schools that compete in groupings based on their enrollment. Hyde participated in Class D.
Gauld said during the Western Maine boys basketball final in February, referees made questionable calls and people at the game yelled racial slurs at his athletes.
“We went to the foul line six times,” Gauld said. “Our opponent took 45 foul shots and we took six. We just felt like maybe we saw a different game out there.”
Between the racial comments and the calls, Gauld said that game was the last straw.
“Some pretty insulting racial comments made to our kids and I guess those two things together made us think maybe it’s time to move on,” he said.
Gauld said what upset him even more than the comments was that no one told the people yelling them to stop.
“It just seemed really inappropriate, the things that were said, and there just seemed to be an approval, maybe a lack of outrage among others about this which made us think maybe we’re in the wrong place,” he said.
Gauld said he loved being a part of the MPA.
“When you make it to the finals in Augusta, you’re playing in front of 5,000-6,000 people and you’re on television and that does not happen in the prep school league,” he said. “We’re gonna give that up for sure.”
But Gauld said he believes switching to the prep league is the right move.
“It’s no statement about the kids that we’ve competed against or anything like that. It was just a real hollow sick feeling when we walked out of there,” he said.
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