BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Football practice was allowed to resume at Viera High School as an investigation into a widely publicized hazing incident is ongoing, but Friday night’s game has ben canceled.
The decision from Brevard Public Schools came a few days after the football program was suspended.
“If the students weren’t involved, they should be allowed to play,” Viera senior David Reyes said. “The new coach just needs to be on his ‘A’ game and make sure none of that stuff happens.”
Deputies said most of the incident was recorded on video by one of the team members and was later posted to social media.
A statement from Brevard Public Schools on Wednesday read:
“This afternoon BPS made the choice to cancel Viera High School’s football game scheduled for this Friday evening. As you may be aware, the team was allowed to return to practice today. The investigation into the hazing incident is still active and a decision on the status of future games will be made at a later date.”
Brevard Public Schools
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The video showed players in a locker room acting inappropriately toward an underclassman.
During a school board meeting on Tuesday, a woman identified herself as the mother of the teen who was targeted in the incident.
“Those players that were involved took (football) away from him and turned his life upside down when they chose to post it on social media,” the woman said. “Anti-hazing computer-based training is not going to solve the problem. It’s only a Band-Aid if you don’t get to the root of what’s really going on.”
The player’s mother took issue with the district’s response to the incident and football activities being allowed to resume.
“For me, there is no timeline for justice and there is no timeline for the emotional trauma that will be left behind when things go back to business as usual,” she said.
Board Chair Matt Susin said several students were suspended after the incident and Shane Staples, the head coach of the Viera High School football team, had been relieved of his coaching duties.
On Wednesday, the athletic department for South Fork High School, which is the opponent for Viera High School’s next scheduled game, posted a message on social media that said the football game on Friday was canceled.
South Fork Athletics said the cancellation was due to circumstances beyond its control.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Varsity football game on Friday night has been cancelled. JV will play at home next Wednesday and Varsity will resume their season away at Fort Pierce next Thursday. #GOBULLDOGS pic.twitter.com/w07r4JHftL
— South Fork Athletics (@SFAthletics) August 22, 2023
The announcement, which came a day before Brevard Public Schools’ decision to cancel the game, didn’t sit well with Susin.
“During that time, we start getting tweets and everything else out that we’ve forfeited,” Susin said. “They’re supposed to send paperwork to us and we’re supposed to say, ‘Yes, we forfeit.’ We sign it and all that stuff, never did. So for them to turn around and do that is disrespectful.”
Susin said he hopes the game can be rescheduled instead of Viera forfeiting.
The district said its investigation shows that the lewd video was an isolated incident, not a culture of hazing.
Susin said his heart goes out to the family of the player who was hazed but the season shouldn’t be cancelled.
“You hold the people accountable for what they do, you don’t hold the rest of the program accountable,” Susin said. “For somebody to sit back and say the rest of the program has to fold because a couple of kids made a decision, that’s wrong.”
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