Banned! - ISSA drops the axe on Eltham, Excelsior cricket teams

Excelsior and Eltham High Schools have been banned from participation in all Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Under-19 cricket competitions for next season.
The decision follows a disciplinary committee hearing by ISSA into altercations between players and supporters of both institutions following the playing of the final of ISSA Twenty20 cricket competition recently.
“ISSA has taken the decision to ban both schools and their players from playing Under-19 cricket next year,” ISSA competitions secretary, George Forbes, told STAR Sports.
“The schools have also been placed on probation, which means that any breach that they might commit within the next year will see them being banned from all ISSA-organised sports.
“It was also recommended that the schools take disciplinary action against their respective coaches, as the disciplinary committee felt that the coaches did not do enough to ease the tension that was brewing heading into and during the final.”
According to Forbes, it was revealed during the meeting that tensions had existed before and during preceding final of the three-day Under-19 ISSA Grace Shield competition, which Excelsior won by massive 220 runs.
Excelsior also won the Twenty20 crown by 45 runs to cop the coveted urban area double.
The most dominant team urban area high school cricket since the turn of the century, Eltham is coached by Oral Simpson, while Excelsior, who in winning the Grace Shield, captured their first major Under-19 title, is conditioned by Kirkland Bailey.
The year-long ban does not affect participation of both schools Under-16 and Under-14 cricket teams
“The principals are very disappointed and expressed that they did not know that what was happening,” Forbes continued.
“They expressed reservation as they did not think that their boys would have behaved in that manner, which brought the game into disrepute and the good name of both schools into disrepute.”
The principal of Eltham High is Vivian Lindo-Foster while her counterpart at Excelsior is Deanroy Bromfield.
Both Eltham and Excelsior have the option of appealing the ban. This appeal would be heard by all but three of the 15 principals of the executive committee of ISSA.