Premier High School Football Team Forfeits Games Amid Investigation into Hazing Allegations

[rocktivity]

40. Exclusive: Parent Reveals Sexual Nature of Alleged Locker Room Hazing Ritual

Last edited Tue Mar 5, 2019, 03:14 PM - Edit history (3)

NJ.com: It would start with a howling noise from a senior football player at Sayreville War Memorial High School, and then the locker room lights were abruptly shut off. In the darkness, a freshman football player would be pinned to the locker room floor, his arms and feet held down by multiple upperclassmen. Then, the victim would be lifted to his feet while a finger was forced into his rectum. Sometimes, the same finger was then shoved into the freshman player’s mouth.

This disturbing hazing within the storied Sayreville football program, as told to NJ Advance Media on Wednesday by the parent of a player in the program, happened almost every day in the locker room this fall, he said. The allegations — for the first time — provide details to the events that sparked a criminal investigation by local and county police, and prompted the cancellation of the remainder of the Sayreville football season this week by Superintendent of Schools Richard Labbe.

Madeline Thillet, speaking at Tuesday night’s board of education meeting, said her son was one of the members of the team interviewed by investigators. She downplayed the hazing while protesting the cancellation of the season. “I was at the police station with him when they were questioning him,” she said. “They were talking about a butt being grabbed. That’s about it. No one was hurt. No one died. I don’t understand why they’re being punished. I think that the forfeited game was punishment enough.”

Fingers in rectums fit the legal definition of rape that the DOJ established two and a half years ago:

Justice.gov: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

Keeping the students safe is important, of course -- but so is holding them accountable. It is their actions (including their toleration of them) that have ultimately led to their not only losing their football season, but to disgracing their teammates, coaches, school, families, and community. However, I don't see anything happening to the perps legally unless there's a major snitching epidemic.

Here's hoping that the family of the parent who came forward doesn't get torch-and-pitchforked out of town. And I hope Mrs. Thillet hasn't sealed her son's fate -- the others may decide to gang up and blame the whole thing on him.


rocktivity

P.S. New Jersey rock legend Jon Bon Jovi, who recently tried to buy a piece of an NFL football team, is a Sayreville War Memorial alumnus.