WHAT a week for women's equality! The possible "true confessions" of a 24-year-old brunette named Monica is still haunting the most powerful leader of the free world. Karla Faye Tucker was executed in Texas, thereby joining the elite ranks of male inmates who have been terminated on death row. Learning not to
kick around girl athletesMeanwhile, in Hawaii, a scrappy bunch of girl high school soccer players, their coaches, parents, fans and their female attorney finally triumphed -- with a little help from the governor -- in their battle against chauvinism, pigheadedness and just plain bad judgment on the part of the HHSAA.
HHSAA is the acronym for the all-powerful Hawaii High School Athletic Association, which oversees all state high school sports tournaments. It is run by a five-member executive board who think they answer to no one. Thus, they wield their power without regard to others, and bristle when their decisions are questioned. Shades of Bishop Estate!
So when promoter Tom Moffatt wanted to use Aloha Stadium on Feb. 21 for a Mariah Carey concert, he paid $25,000 to the HHSAA. The agreement was that the organization would move the girls' state soccer tournament, which had been scheduled for the stadium, to some other venue.
This is when HHSAA's arrogance first rears its ugly head. Its five members -- president Anthony Ramos, Wallace Fujii, Wallace Kawane, Norman Minehira and Jane Uyehara -- decided, without consulting anyone, to hold the event at Maui's War Memorial Stadium.
When Oahu's large contingent of participants complained that they didn't have enough time to raise funds for a neighbor island trip, the HHSAA said tough. Furthermore, its board wasn't going to use any of the $25,000 from Moffatt to help defray travel costs and hotel expenses.
When Jill Nunokawa, a UH civil-rights counselor and president of the Gender Equity Sports Club, tried to reason with the board, she and the soccer parents were rebuffed. The ultimate insult came on Monday, when about three dozen people attempted to testify at the HHSAA executive board meeting, held (again, shades of Bishop Estate!) on the grounds of Kamehameha Schools. The group's members were told at the security gate that it was a "closed meeting" and they were threatened with arrest for trespassing.
A closed meeting? Why? Four of the five members of the HHSAA executive board are Department of Education principals, who are paid by taxpayer dollars. Every public school is mandated to donate money to HHSAA's coffers. The league uses state facilities, and its decisions affect thousands of public school students. And does the number nine -- as in Title IX -- ring a bell?
IT looked as if the HHSAA would stand fast, until the soccer parents threatened to sue. That's when the governor stepped in on Wednesday and "strongly urged" that the HHSAA keep the tourney on Oahu.
It could use the stadium and high school fields during the following week, Feb. 25-28, with private-sector money helping to defray the costs of bringing over the neighbor island teams, Cayetano "suggested." The HHSAA begrudgingly abided.
If there's any moral to the story, it's this: Girl soccer players -- heck, all female athletes -- are tired of getting kicked around by the establishment. Pay attention to feedback, be responsive and play fair. Or, like the HHSAA, you're liable to get kicked in the, well, you know.