On Friday night, the 11 players on St. John's 5th grade basketball team in Clark, New Jersey, had a choice to make: Play without the team's two girls or forfeit their entire season, with two games left. The vote was 11-0 in favor of keeping the team together, NJ Advance Media's Jessica Remo reported Sunday, even after team parents reminded them of the stakes. "It doesn't matter," one of the boys replied; the team began to chant "Unity!" and some parents cried. The game did not happen, because the refs said they had been instructed by CYO league director Rich Donovan not to officiate if the girls were going to play.
Donovan had warned the St. John's team two weeks earlier, after someone complained about girls on the team following a game at St. Theresa's, another Catholic school in Kenilworth. Parents say Donovan also wiped the St. John's team record because the girls had played in previous games.
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