Kent State Abruptly Cancels Women’s Field Hockey Game So Football Team Can Have Their Disappointing Fireworks Display

This week — in an absolutely disgraceful move — prior to the second overtime of a tied field hockey game between Maine and Temple University, administrators from Kent State University walked onto the field and cancelled the game so that they could safely set off a pre-game fireworks display for the Kent State football game happening in a nearby stadium.

The fact that a women’s field hockey game was cancelled so that the university’s football game could set off a (non-essential) fireworks display is embarrassing. In the end, the game was declared a scrimmage for NCAA reporting purposes. The game will not count in either team’s standings.

The University of Maine broke the story on Saturday morning with the following tweet.

The University of Maine was putting it nicely. To be clear–the Kent State football game could have easily started on time without the fireworks, which would have allowed the field hockey game to go on, uninterrupted. Riley Field, a senior midfielder for Maine, reacted via Twitter:

https://twitter.com/RileyField11/status/1170383993101004800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1170383993101004800&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fkent-state-maine-temple-field-hockey-football-194210435.html

The idea that this could happen to any NCAA team is an embarrassment. The fact that it happened to a women’s field hockey team is telling. Imagine Kent State administrators walking up to the UVA Men’s Lacrosse team or the Maryland Men’s Soccer team during a game and declaring “no-contest” so that fireworks could go off.  We think heat would be felt — not only from the fireworks — but from the team’s athletic departments and university officials.

Kent State released the following statement after the game:

There is no denying that college football and men’s college basketball programs generate the most money for their respective establishments. That’s no excuse, however, to treat other sports and their athletes as dispensable and insignificant. Field hockey players wake up for early practices just like football players. They run and lift and go to study hall and miss time with family and friends in pursuit of excellence in their sport. Kent State’s disregard for their efforts during that match represents a culture problem within the NCAA that needs to be addressed. As of yet, the NCAA has been silent on the issue.

Temple University’s Director of Athletics, Dr. Patrick Kraft, released a statement today:

“The circumstances that prevented the completion of our field hockey contest against Maine on Saturday are simply unacceptable and our student athletes and coaches deserved better. Fairness and equality are essential in the mission of college sports and I am disappointed for the student athletes at Maine and Temple whose competition was not deemed worthy to finish.”

Calling Game reached out to Kent State for a statement regarding their actions this weekend and received the following from the Director of Athletics Joel Nielsen:

On behalf of the Kent State University Athletic Department, I would like to apologize to the University of Maine and Temple University for the decisions made surrounding the Field Hockey contest this weekend. In hindsight, a different decision should have been made to ultimately ensure the game reached its conclusion. We hold ourselves to a very high standard, and in this situation, we failed.

I realize that my statement does not undo the negative impact on the student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans who deserved to see their teams compete in a full contest. Also, we let down the field hockey community and its supporters as a whole. We live by our core values, including integrity and respect, and in this case, we undoubtedly fell short.

We will take this opportunity to learn from our mistakes. I can assure you that we have already reviewed and altered our procedures to see that no student-athletes are faced with this situation in the future. I wish the field hockey teams from both the University of Maine and Temple University the very best this season.

The apology is a start, but the fact remains that women’s sports are not as important their male counterparts — at least at Kent State. We are Calling Game on this embarrassing display by Kent State administrators. And useless fireworks.

[Photo by Camille Simmons/Temple University]