Warning: Transfers could be hazardous to your high school team’s eligibility

Consider this a public service announcement before the new high school sports season begins: Parents, coaches and athletic directors, you need to prevent the embarrassment, ridicule and chaos that happens when an ineligible player is discovered during a season.

There were more than 6,000 transfers in the CIF Southern Section alone last school year, so the potential for mistakes, oversights and even cheating is pretty high — especially if the people in charge don’t fulfill their responsibilities.

Last football season, Long Beach Poly had to forfeit three Moore League games because of an ineligible player, leaving the Jackrabbits out of the playoffs. Simi Valley Grace Brethren, on the eve of playing for a championship, was removed from the playoffs because of an ineligible player. Los Angeles Hawkins was banned from last season’s City Section playoffs because of ineligible players in 2014.

The vast majority of problems involve transfer students. Yes, it’s fun to get excited when someone new shows up and looks talented. But it’s the responsibility of each school to know the rules, fill out the paperwork and confirm eligibility.

If that means going to a student’s house in a surprise visit, or double checking transcripts, so be it. Asking for advice or help from CIF officials is way better than having to break the news of forfeits to a team.

Seemingly every year, right around playoff time, ineligible players are revealed. That’s because people sometimes wait to inform schools about where players are really living until after they see how the team or player has performed. It’s not ethical or classy to wait so long to blow the whistle on a violation, but it’s the way it often happens, so administrators had better do their job thoroughly.

Southern Section Commissioner Rob Wigod, a former athletic director, said he used a simple approach at the start of each school year to determine eligibility.

First, he introduced himself to each varsity team on the first day of practice.“Then I asked all of the players who played the sport at our school last season to gather in a spot,” he said in an email. “Next, anyone who attended our school last year but did not play that sport, go join them. Finally, whoever is left, after practice is over, come to the main office and we can make sure that we have your eligibility situation taken care of, paperwork, etc.

“In that way, we identified the students who we needed to make sure were eligible. There were still two to three weeks before the first game, which was plenty of time to get things done, before they actually started playing in games. It may seem like a simple thing, but it really helped.”

Wigod stressed that “eligibility is an administrative task, not a coach’s task.” But coaches need to be pro-active, and if they have any suspicions about a player’s eligibility they need to intervene and make sure questions and concerns are answered.

Wigod recommends athletic directors bounce questions off other ADs and “never hesitate to call or email our office any time with questions.”

Athletic directors probably deserve a big raise, because so much is riding on their competence and integrity. It’s a tough assignment, but the process works if the person has the freedom and support to do the right thing and demand rules be followed and ask the appropriate questions when a transfer shows up.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Twitter: @latsondheimer