Narbonne Sanctioned for Rules Violations

James Anderson, coach of the City and State Division I champion Harbor City Narbonne girls’ basketball team, has been suspended for 10 games next season, and the team will not be allowed to participate in the L.A. Watts Summer Games this year because of rules infractions, City Section Athletics Commissioner Barbara Fiege said.

Fiege said the violations were identified by Narbonne after an investigation by school officials.

The section’s rules committee recommended the sanctions two weeks ago and they were entered into the official record by the Interscholastic Athletic Committee on Monday.

Narbonne was penalized for two infractions.

During the 1998-99 season, when Narbonne was ineligible for the playoffs and on probation for violations that led to its being stripped of the City and State titles in 1997-98, a player who was injured for most of the season participated in the Gauchos’ final two games. The player, however, had not been added to the eligibility roster.

The other infraction occurred when three incoming freshmen played for the Gauchos during the 1999 L.A. Watts Summer Games a few days before they graduated from middle school. The girls had completed their classes before the tournament began but were not scheduled to take part in graduation ceremonies until the following week.

Section rules prohibit eighth-graders from participating until they have graduated.

Anderson’s suspension next season does not include tournaments. Anderson said he will miss two pre-league games and eight Marine League games.

“The penalties are justified,” Anderson said. “I know there is going to be some backlash from the outside, people saying, ‘Well, here we go again.’ But we turned ourselves in. We weren’t trying to hide anything.”

Fiege said the penalties were appropriate for the particular infractions.

“I think they were relatively severe because they were on probation,” Fiege said. “A name being left off the roster generally only results in the games that player participated in being forfeited.”