Fans have been banned for the time being from all boys basketball games at BFA-Fairfax High School after a confrontation with racial overtones at Thursday’s varsity game with Milton High School.
According to an account in the County Courier newspaper, fans and players confronted each other on the basketball court after Thursday’s game, with a Milton player accusing a Fairfax fan of directing racist remarks at him.
BFA-Fairfax officials said they will investigate what happened.
“We cannot and will not tolerate the use of racial language on our school grounds at any time,” they said in a written statement issued by John T. Tague, the school superintendent; Elizabeth Noonan, the high school principal; and Geri Witalec-Krupa, director of student activities at BFA-Fairfax.
They said the incident occurred after the final buzzer, when BFA student fans spilled onto the basketball court, but not only students were involved. “We are also aware of negative interactions between adult fans and the Milton players as they were preparing to leave the gym for their bus ride home,” the school officials wrote.
Once the investigation is completed, they will revisit the decision to ban spectators from basketball games, the school officials wrote.
The high school sports community in Vermont has struggled to confront racist behavior. Earlier this month, the Burlington High girls basketball team postponed a game against Champlain Valley Union High School after one of its players used a racial slur in a TikTok video. The same week, Enosburg Falls High School canceled the varsity and junior varsity girls basketball games against Middlebury because of Enosburg student spectators’ racially inappropriate comments toward Middlebury players.
Similar problems were reported during last fall’s high school sports season.
Jay Nichols, executive director of the Vermont Principals’ Association, which regulates high school sports, said last week that he does not believe there’s an overall increase in racially motivated behavior. Rather, he said people are increasingly willing to report these incidents.
Through the association’s new “reporting a concern” form on its website, anybody can report an incident at a sporting event. The form was instituted last year after multiple episodes of racist and hateful language at school sports games across the state.