By Cody Marshall-Sultan of Sports

GALWAY–This week was marked by one of the strangest decisions in high school sports. The district ruled on Thursday that the new uniforms purchased by the Galway Athletic Booster Club may not be worn for competitive play during the 2012 season. Their first issues was that the new uniforms (pictured below) have a gold base with navy blue and white piping and an Old-English style “G”. The hats are navy blue and white piping and trim with a gold Old English “G.”  Another issue was that the navy blue did not match the “school’s blue.” For the remainder of this article, I will give an analysis of how this looks from a sports analyst’s point of view and a player’s point of view.

As an analyst: As a sports program (and this is what makes college so much different than high school) you can’t bring off-field issues to a team. Here is a group of student-athletes who were looking forward to new uniforms and possibly writing a new chapter in Galway baseball. Instead, their chapter is preceded by an dialogue saying that they can’t wear their new uniforms for multiple reasons. Over the course of the last week, these players should be focusing on their first game (tomorrow at Mayfield) and not on what they will do about apparel. This is horrible timing for such a decision, and it’s going to be crucial that the players mentally bounce back from this frustrating week.

As a player: Well, I can understand where the school is coming from, but I feel as though this decision should’ve been made way before now. As a team, we have the season to focus on, not off-field issues like this. We were having a great month of practice and now we’re hit with this news less than a week before our first game and it’s unfortunate. I can only hope that we are able to come together and just prove that, new or old uniforms, we are able to have a successful season, despite the opposition against what would have been our new uniforms.

So, what exactly is grinding people’s gears? Well, there are a few issues that can be used to argue this situation. First, high schools do not purchase new uniforms as often as colleges, unless you’re a Shenendehowa (who has an endorsement with Under Armour). However, new uniforms are not always following such strict guidelines as these ones were. In reference to the blue situation, the school colors (on any paper I’ve ever seen) have simply been stated as blue and gold. There has been nothing pointed out to me stating “royal blue and gold.” Therefore, how does a navy color violate the definition of blue? The Baylor men’s basketball team donned neon green uniforms throughout the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament this year, but Baylor’s school colors are simply green and gold, not neon green. However, you don’t need to look at the collegiate level to argue about colors. Why not look at other uniforms within the school? The girls varsity softball uniforms that were purchased 3 years ago have a black outline around the GHS on the front. According to school history, black is not a school color, so why is this okay? Also, look at the back of those uniforms from a distance. The yellow number on the back looks to have a lime green tint to it, and that is not a school color either. However, black isn’t only apparent in the softball uniforms. The wrestling team wears singlets that are predominantly black, instead of blue or gold. So why is the baseball uniforms color the biggest issue?

Now it’s time to look at the issue from a financial standpoint. The school refuses to allow the students to wear uniforms that it wouldn’t have to spend a dime (or penny) on. The booster club would’ve covered the cost of the new look. In a time of financial hardships, why isn’t the school accepting these as gifts or even an athletic grant? Each program is allowed a certain dollar amount to spend each year, so why can’t the baseball program be allowed to spend its money on new uniforms?

It has been said that the biggest issue surrounding the uniforms is that the program did not go through the proper chain of commands in order to obtain the uniforms. Alright, so the team made a mistake. It isn’t as if they are are the only one’s in school history to do that. So why do they have to suffer over the uniform issue? Besides, if this ends up being the last year of athletics at Galway, as the put it in the movie Invincible, “Is it really gonna matter?”

Cody Marshall: Mr. Bednarek, what is your personal opinion of the new baseball uniforms that were purchased?

Peter Bednarek: They are nice uniforms. Unfortunately, they do not represent the traditions of Galway athletics.

CM: Other sports teams within the school, for example wrestling and softball, have incorporated black into the uniforms. Why is it that these uniforms were allowed to be worn during competition, but not the navy-trimmed baseball uniforms?

PB: Various reasons. Most of these were not purchased while I was AD and most of them contain a classic G or an Eagle.

CM: Over the past few years, uniforms have changed in a sort of fashion sense. In fact, Baylor wore the lime green uniforms in the NCAA Tournament, which isn’t a school color at Baylor. However, teams have also worn camaflouge as a tribute to our troops overseas, so why is this navy blue as opposed to royal such an issue?

PB: Royal, gold, and the eagle are all very important to long-time Galway residents. Also, high schools rarely change their uniform styles that drastically. Colleges can because they are funded by corporations.

CM: The new uniforms would not have cost the district money because of the booster club, so why didn’t the school take these as an “athletics grant or gift?”

PB: First, procedures were not followed, which are in place for various reasons. Second, the uniforms were not reasonably representative of “Galway colors and mascot.”