Disinformation And Misinformation Plague Philly High School Football Games
ALEX LLOYD GROSS FILE PHOTO DELAWARE VALLEY NEWS.COM A PREVIOUSLY PLAYED PHILADELPHIA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL GAME.
by Alex Lloyd Gross
The schedule for Philadelphia Public League football games is done over the summer. By the time the first game rolls around, the information is wrong. The problem is when this information is published it is not updated.
For example, a game being played between Roxborough and Lincoln at Lincoln is published for Friday at 3:00 PM. People looking to attend show up at 2:45PM find an empty stadium. They check Max Preps, , and PA Football News. Two reputable sites to glean information and both will have the same, wrong information. At times, one will have the game at a completely different stadium. The game was actually moved to the Northeast Supersite with a 7:00 PM kickoff.
Yesterday is a prime example, between IMHOTEP and Lincoln. information showed the game at 1:00 PM as being played at Lincoln, or a site in North Philadelphia. Still others showed the game as canceled. The end result was Lincoln losing the afternoon game 16-0. The game was played at Northeast High School. IMHOTEP will play next weekend for the city championship. Where that game will be played is a mystery.
This nonsense has been going on for some time and district personnel point fingers at athletic directors, who point fingers at someone else. The solution is free and simple.
Schools are filled with kids that want to be sportswriters. Have a team create a social media position that is in charge of getting information out about the teams and the games. Someone is telling the school police the game time, that same person should be texting the coordinator. A email list is set up that parents, fans and anyone can sign up for alerts.
That way, when the decision is made to move a game from Roxboroguh to South Philly at 11:45 AM, day of the game. Those people that subscribe to the email list get that information in a timely manner. The student is getting experience in sports information, media relations and responsibility. This student can be a part of the team, travel with them and get free admission to the game.
This kind of misinformation campaign seems to only happen in Philadelphia. Not knowing where to go also impacts attendance. In Lehigh County just 45 minutes from Philly, every game is played to a full capacity stadium and everyone knows where to go, and what time the game is.
The exception to this are Thanksgiving rivalry games, which are always played at the same place.