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The female basketball team of Nathaniel Narbonne High School was disqualified from a semi-final playoff game win that they had earned, due to the fact that they wore different uniforms in support of breast cancer.
According to ABC News, the pink uniforms, to bring awareness to the widespread disease, were “illegal” by the rules and regulations, forcing the team to forfeit their win.
The California Interscholastic Federation’s Los Angeles City Section told the press:
“Uniform colors may only be a combination of the official school colors. Pink is not a school color at Narbonne. Penalties will include probation and forfeiture of contents,”
Senior guard Laticia Smith told the outlet:
“I kind of thought it was maybe just a joke at one point in time until all the teammates started to say, ‘No, this is serious.’ It was very, very shocking to us. The punishment didn’t fit the crime. You know, we feel like we really didn’t know. We had no idea and if we had some type of warning, we would have never come on the court with those uniforms.”
The school’s original colors are green, gold, and black, so using pink in their regular uniforms was against the regulations. The team followed in the footsteps of NFL teams who used pink gloves in honor of breast cancer, as well as two NBA teams who were allowed to wear red uniforms with Chinese lettering for the Chinese New Year.
The site reports:
The school is appealing the decision and a panel is hearing its case today, the Times reported.
The team hopes to play in the championship game on Saturday, KABC reported.
The California Interscholastic Federation’s Los Angeles City Section did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News. The statewide California Interscholastic Federation said the issue is under the jurisdiction of CIF LA City Section’s rule and not a CIF State rule.
Do you think the girls should have been allowed to wear the pink uniforms?
SOURCE: ABC News | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
