Safety Concerns Sideline Youth Football Teams
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — A local youth football league is getting hit with a boycott over safety concerns tonight.
One team is alleging another is fielding bigger and older players that make the games unsafe.
The Sierra Athletic Conference suits up children as young as 6 years old for tackle football. The youngest play Mighty Mite football.
Now, a letter sent out by the head of Sierra Athletic Conference alerts parents to "severe allegations" including "falsifying documents" in order to put older, bigger players on the field to win games.
The letter also says there is no proof.
But the games in question have been canceled.
"This weekend blows me away, that there's coaches out there that think a win is more important than safety," Woodcreek Youth Football parent Aaron Matthew said.
Matthew has three boys that play on the Woodcreek junior football team. All the boys are part of a boycott this weekend after their coaches accused opponent Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills of suiting up the older bigger players.
"You have four dominant players that are crushing their opponents," Matthew said.
Oak Ridge youth coaches declined to comment on the allegations referring to the league letter instead.
The accusations come as youth football across the country is scrutinized for safety, even leading youth coaches to teach safer tackling techniques.
"It's huge at this level; it's always during practice. It's heads up football," Matthew said.
Now this youth football boycott, over safety concerns, leading to a game day with no games.
The president of the Sierra Athletic Conference has called an emergency meeting for next week to discuss the safety claims.
