Central High field hockey team barred from field due to boy player

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A local high school girls field hockey program has been being booted from the playoffs because of their goalie. The problem - the goalie is a he and not a she.

The Public League field hockey playoffs got underway at Johnston Memorial Stadium in Germantown Thursday afternoon.

The Central High School team wasn't anywhere near the action - they learned Wednesday night their team isn't eligible for post-season play because this season they had a boy who played on the otherwise all-girls team.

Their coach, Linda Hartzell, said the team played all season in the public league - with a boy on the field - without anyone saying anything.

Hartzell says, "Never notified by the school district at any coaches meeting that we had through PIAA interpretation meetings. Never notified of anything."

PIAA stands for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association - the governing body for high school sports statewide.

Their board enacted a rule back in June that if a principal makes an exception a boy can play on a girls team, if the boy meets a number of criteria. But that team will be then considered mixed-gender, and not eligible to compete in post season play with other all-girls teams.

"I feel bad that the mistake was made on the part of several adults and the girls, the boy, the team is paying the price essentially," Hartzell said.

Parents with girls playing in the playoffs for other schools said they don't think boys should be allowed to play on the girls team at any point in the season.

Franklin Towne parent Richard Vito says, "It's a girls' sport and we played them in the last game and he's a goal tender - it's a key position. It made a difference in the game."

Washington High parent Theresa Varraza tells us, "I really do feel bad for the girls, but that's the first thing I said was, I don't really think a boy should be playing against a girls field hockey team."

A PIAA spokesperson told Action News that they met with every school district's athletic director and principal and went over the rules back in the spring. They are unsure why there was a breakdown in communication in the Philadelphia School District.

Our call to a Philadelphia School District spokesperson went unreturned.