CIF approves forfeit policy

The California Interscholastic Federation San Diego Section has approved a policy on forfeits due to the use of an ineligible player.

The policy, which was approved without opposition at the CIF Board of Managers meeting June 7 and will take effect with the Fall 2005 seasons, prevents a team with excessive forfeit losses from participating in the CIF playoffs unless the team’s conference successfully appeals to the CIF commissioner.

The policy is intended to assist league advisors at playoff seeding meetings, who have faced the dilemma of selecting a team with an inferior record due to forfeits over a team with a better overall record. “There has to be some equity,” said Peter Schiff, the president of the CIF Board of Managers.

The policy is based on the number of contests a team plays. Three forfeits will trigger the policy for football, in which ten games in a season are allowed, while five forfeits will subject sports allowing 20 points in a season (a single game counts as one point and a tournament counts as two points) to the policy. Individual sports for which teams qualify for the CIF championship with scores based on individual points (cross country, golf, gymnastics, and tennis) will be part of the policy process after at least four forfeits, although individual sports in which only individuals advance to the CIF championships (track and field, swimming and diving, wrestling) are not subject to the policy.

A forfeit is classified as such regardless of whether the team with the ineligible player won the game forfeited. The policy, however, applies only to forfeits due to an ineligible player. During the 2002 season in which Christian High School won the CIF Division IV football championship, coach Matt Oliver suspended several players for disciplinary reasons and then forfeited an upcoming Harbor League game rather than risk injury to the remaining players; forfeits due to disciplinary suspensions or illnesses which cause a shortage of players will not count toward the threshold in the new CIF policy. The history of high school forfeits elsewhere in the United States also includes a football game in which the officials mistakenly awarded an extra down and the team which scored the winning touchdown on fifth down forfeited the game it did not legitimately win after the mistake was realized; forfeits due to mathematical errors are also exempt from the new policy.

Ineligible players include those who are academically ineligible or who have been suspended, but most forfeits are due to ineligible players who did not actually reside in the school attendance area. Since the school itself may be unaware of such ineligibility until the violation is discovered, the appeal process allows for consideration of restoring playoff eligibility. The conference must decide to appeal to the CIF commissioner within five business days from the date of declaration of forfeiture, and the commissioner’s decision will be final.