University Daily Kansan, April 27, 1983
Page 9
Cheating plagues intramurals
By GARY SMITH Staff Reporter
If nobody cares about a rule being broken, why worry?
Cheating in University of Kansas intramural competition appears not only to be tolerated by participants and officials alike, but almost accepted.
CHEATING. IN the form of intramural teams using ineligible players, has been traditionally difficult to control at KU.
And in this softball season, which has been plagued by rain-outs, it has apparently been impossible.
The reception usually occurs when teams use ineligible players or eligible players that are not listed on the roster or have been intramural offices in Robinson Center.
Brent Hill, facilities and operations worker and a member of the Kommic Kazis softball team in the men's independent trophy league, said he had seen consistent use of ineligible players for several years at the University.
"All a team manager has to do is find out who wants to play, write those names down on the roster, and then tell them that no games no matter who is playing," he said.
HILL, SAID everyone cheated, because otherwise they would not be able to find enough players on their roster to win, and probably would have to forfeit.
"It's really no problem to pull off. I've never been on a team that has been called on to prove its insequence is legal, and I have not had anyone else on it either." Hill said.
Recreational Services rules state that the intramural program is open only to current KU students, faculty and staff.
However, because of the rain and cold, this spring's softball season has been saturated with violations as teams play in organized athletics, legal or illegal, to participate.
Almost two months have passed between the time the team rosters were filled out and the time play began, which has made it unlikely that teams will only use eligible players for the rest of the season.
THE USE OF ineligible players extends to most of the leagues, from men's trophy to recreational and co-recreational.
David Fickes, Overland Park freshman and manager of the Bud Men in the men's independent trophy league, has played in two all-important players in its April 17 game.
"It's too much to expect a whole team
roster to be prepared to suddenly fit its schedule into this season," he said.
"Half our players are non-students. Four or five of them are walk-ons from Overland Park. Once we have lived in and played, and this is a men's trophy league."
Another member of the Bud Men, David Lang, Glathe sophomore, said the weather had been so unpredictable that it was impossible to arrange their schedules around games.
"THIS ALMOST MAKES us non-roster players essential to competition," he said. "If we can't get enough players to play, they have to and then we die excluded from the playoffs and lose the fees we paid to play."
play
"When you're playing in a trophy league you go out with a full squad no matter what."
Another trophy league team forced to use ineligible players was the Kappa Sigma A-1队. A comparison of its roster and the line-up sheet for its April 17 game revealed inconsistencies in team membership.
Todd Hershberger, Newton senior and manager of the team, said his team was forced to use other members of the team because there were not listed on the intramural roster.
"We were required to submit the resters so long before we actually began play that it was hard to organize a team and then get them together when the rain stopped and play began," he said.
THE PRACTICE of using ineligible players is not limited to the trophy leagues. Teams in co-recreational non-trophy leagues have also surrendered to cheating in order to play ball.
Gary Boerger, Lenexa junior, said he had played on several recreational and co-recreational teams that used ineligible players.
"Do you think we'd be able to fill the teams with enough legal players to complete one game?" he said. "It's hard to get students to show up, what with job schedules, exams and the like."
Kim Gibbens, Columbia, Mo., junior and co-recreational softball, agreed with Boerger and cited an example of the problem.
"The irony is that last year I was on a co-rec softball team, the Put Togethers, that had almost zero eligible players and we won every game and had a lot of fun," she said. "This year he had an arm injury. If he touched it, we won't play one game because we can't get enough people to show up."
ALL THE SOURCES agreed that they really did not worry too much about who was playing, but were more concerned with having fun and getting some exercise.
Mary Chappell, assistant director of recreational services, said that her office also was not particularly concerned with who was playing because, she said, the responsibility of such worry rested with team managers.
"There are some things teams get by us all the time, but unless it causes a problem that brought to our attention something, there's nothing we can do," she said.
Chappell said that KU intramural policy directed a team manager that had a complaint against another team to the intramural office. The team under protest would then be invaded, and the team would found, the team would be disqualified.
"Obviously, with six games being played per hour, we can't check out the players on every team. We leave that up to the managers and expect them to protest if necessary."
SHE SAID THAT except for a single warning given last fall to a soccer player who was playing for more than one team, her office had not received any protests this school year.
Chappell said that her office was responsible for administering, organizing and directing the
"To enforce all the rules ourselves we'd need to create a full-time position. Even then you could stop every game and probably still find someone questionable playing from what were really trying to do," she said.
She said the main objective of the intramural program was to compete while having fun.
Chappell said she was contemplating changes that might alleviate some of the problems.
"SINCE THE manager is our only link to the team," she said, "we may need to do a better job on our part to impress on them their responsibility to follow the rules."
She also said her office might provide managers a box in the intramural office to keep in better contact with them. However, she said, she doubted such an action would stop all the cheating.
"We're trying to be flexible, especially this rainy spring, when worrying about who is participating," she said. "And since nobody has protested, we can only presume that nobody else is very worried either."
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