Referee who told varsity wrestler to cut his dreadlocks or foreit match suspended for two seasons: 'This is vindication'
A New Jersey referee has been suspended for two seasons after he pressured a varsity wrestler to cut off his dreadlocks.
State officials revealed on Wednesday how referee Alan Maloney told the teenager during a match that if his dreadlocks were uncovered, he would have to forfeit that day's match, CNN reports. The Division of Civil Rights and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) agreed to suspend Maloney after an investigation into the controversial 2018 incident.
The said agreement additionally calls for officials and staff involved in high school athletics across New Jersey to undergo implicit bias training.
While Maloney is caucasian, the wrestler in question, Andrew Johnson, identifies as mixed race, per the news release about the agreement.
"This is vindication," Johnson's attorney Dominic Speziali told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "This entire incident happened based on nothing he did wrong."
Johnson, a student at Buena Regional High School, was told by Maloney back in December to cover his hair or forfeit the match. At the time, Johnson could apparently not find a hair covering that met the rules.The 16-year-old wrestler, seeing no other option, had a trainer cut his hair for him. That said, footage of Johnson's hair being chopped off went viral on social media and sparked a major backlash from professional athletes and celebrities.
"Racial discrimination in the enforcement of the rules of any sport is inconsistent with the spirit of fair play," New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal told CNN. "The Division on Civil Rights' action today makes it less likely that any student-athlete will have to endure discrimination that not only undermines fair competition but also violates our state laws."
The parties note in the memorandum of agreement that after Johnson told the trainer to cut his hair, she asked the referee what to cut. In response, Maloney allegedly told her something like "cut until I say so," the wrestler told the civil rights agency investigator.
But Maloney disputed Johnson's testimony and denied he gave instructions on how to cut his hair, saying it was Johnson's coach who told the trainer to do so. According to him, he neither spoke to the trainer nor his coaches.
Nonetheless, a coach told the investigator that Maloney had, in fact, instructed the trainer when to stop before the bout took place. For the rest of the season, Johnson competed without a hair cover, after a national official clarified that the existing rules pertained to length and not hairstyle. Larry White, the executive director of the NJSIAA, which oversees high school sports in the state, told CNN that hair-length rules have since been changed.
"We are confident that those changes, together with the training programs NJSIAA will be developing in collaboration with (the civil rights division), will ensure that a situation like this does not happen in the future," he said.