NJ Legion has disqualified a team from the State tournament after allowing it to play all it's regular season games. The reason is the insurance was not procured by the State rule required date of 4/30. The State rule penalizes a team for not getting the insurance by 4/30 by disqualifying them from the State tournament. However, the insurance was obtained by the date set forth in the National rule. A different date. The penalty for not getting the insurance by the required date under the National rules is disqualification from further competition. A different penalty. The National rules also hold that the State cannot modify National rules so as to conflict with the National rule. Here, the State rule clearly conflicts with the National rule yet the State administrator will not apply the National rule and allow the Team to play.
The State rule makes little sense as any team can play the entire season without insurance but would give up the right to play in the post-season. If the intent is to make sure the team had insurance then why let the team play without it.
Isn't the intent of American Legion baseball to let the young men compete and decide the outcomes on the field? The games should not be decided in Legion Hall's by old men but rather on the baseball diamond by the young men.
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