STRIPPLING WARRIORZ GET SLAPPED WITH "ADMINISTRATIVE FORFEITS" FOR IGNORING NUMEROUS LEAGUE FEE AND OFFICIATING FEE DEADLINES

Posted: Sunday, April 27, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY – After not paying the full amount of required league fees for expansion teams on the original February 2nd deadline, then failing the deadline to make up the difference a week later, then failing the next deadline a month after that, then failing the deadline for paying their officiating fees, then failing the deadline to pre-pay for officials for their first home game, then shorting the officials payment, then failing a last and final deadline to "get all fees caught up" by noon, Friday, April 25th, the RMFL finally given the Strippling Warriorz organization enough.

Friday afternoon, April 25th, after the "last and final" deadline was ignored by the Warriorz and the Officials coordinator for the Warriorz, Randell Silcox, had not been paid for officiating (including the shortage for the officials in their home game versus Morgan) and RMFL Treasurer, Trent Sutton has not been paid the remaining fees and accrued fines; RMFL Commissioner, Jared Neumeier, handed down the penalty specifically spelled out in an e-mail sent out earlier in the week. The Warriorz were told that if the payments that were almost 3 months late were not paid up, the team would retroactively forfeit their first two games AND the scheduled Saturday tilt against the Logan Stampede.

"We had just had enough," Commissioner Neumeier explained. "They are trying to do something good... but then so isn't every other team in the RMFL? My only regret is that I didn't get tougher on them from the beginning. This is my weakness."

According to Neumeier, the Warriorz were on the verge of forfeiting their opening game against the Uintah Basin Oilers as the were not paid up on the RMFL fees or officiating fees going into the games, per league regulations, "regulations and enforcements that every other team complies with," Neumeier added, "the reality of it is that if a team is not paid up heading into the first game, they are not really part of the league anyway. You can't win games in a league that you do not officially belong to."

Neumeier went on to explain that the Uintah Basin forfeit was "tabled" and the game was allowed to take place. He said that the Warriorz were given three very specific criteria to meet or THAT first game would retroactively be forfeited. The first was that their fees be paid up by April 24th. The second was that they pre-pay for the officials for their first game by the Tuesday before their home opener versus Morgan. The third was that a letter be sent from a Salt Lake County Official to Commissioner Neumeier within the next week explaining how the Warriorz funding was delayed and "guaranteeing" that it was forthcoming as the Warriorz had re-promised.

"I received no letter... to this date (April 27th)," Neumeier confirmed, "and I have certainly never received a call from the Mayor's office... as some people want to suggest. The officials were NOT pre-paid as agreed. They made a side agreement with Randell Silcox to bring the money to the game and pay the officials there. They did do that, however, they shorted the officials $10 a man for that game. And, of course, the deadline of April 24th was even extended to April 25th... and then missed as well. So, none of the three agreed upon requirements were met, hence the forfeits went into effect."

The Logan Stampede agreed to go on with the game anyway, stating their players needed to play and it was good for the community. The Warriorz were encouraged to support the game (which they did) and if they did, they would be given another full week to cover all of their debts and they could avoid another forfeit, and potentially, outright expulsion from the league.

"I was inclinded to give them until Tuesday, April 29th, however the took the news as proper sportsmen and played a good game", Neumeier clarified, "so I'm now giving them until Friday, May 2nd by noon to clear up the full debt as specified in the e-mail of earlier last week. If they do, their Saturday game vs. Morgan will count and they will be back on track; if not, then it will be just another example of the best intentions gone awry."

Neumeier did suggest that a big part of the Warriorz problems seem to be that GM, Kaisa Kinikini, either does not read his e-mail regularly or has trouble understanding what is written. "One of the things I drilled into all of the GM's heads at the Kick-off meeting," Neumeier said, "is that ANY TEAM THAT DOES NOT HAVE SOMEONE IN MANAGEMENT READING AND KNOWING WHAT IS GOING ON VIA E-MAIL, WILL HAVE PROBLEMS... they will likely be fined or worse. And everyone, including Kaisa, nodded that they would have that taken care of. Every deadline and e-mail to the Warriorz was also sent to Treasurer, Trent Sutton, Commissioner, Ed Cerise, and Head of Officials, Randell Silcox and they all confirmed that the verbiage of the e-mails was crystal clear... no ambiguity at all. Its just a shame. We are all hoping they can get this done this week so we can move forward."

Neumeier did say that talking to AA Commissioner, Ed Cerise, that there were signs that the Warriorz were getting better making deadlines. They were late with their team preview input and some roster deadlines and their first stat reporting and they botched the game reporting for the live scoreboard completely, their field was not lined properly and they did not have the required electronic scoreboard as well, but they did get stats turned in on time after their second game and seem to be trying harder to get their administrative duties done."

"We have not asked for the world from the Warriorz," Neumeier ended the discussion with, "all we are asking is that they do what 22 other teams seem to have little trouble taking care of."