WOODHAVEN, Mich. – After abruptly ending the season of a youth football team, the executive board of the Downriver Football League has broken its silence about why a team wasn't allowed to play.
This week, the Woodhaven Warriors learned they would not be allowed to play in any postseason games.
The league's president said it's about more than parents arguing that led to the decision.
"Anything that involves minors we take pretty seriously," said Doug Moores, president of the Downriver Junior Football Leagu.
With a league centered around children, the Downriver Junior Football League took the series of complaints about the Woodhaven Warriors seriously.
The league gave Local 4 News a detailed list of the investigations involving the team. In 2016, the Warriors were investigated and found to be guilty of parents and some coaches drinking at football games.
But what's worse was offering alcohol to a child.
"It was another child from another organization from last year. They were at their field. She was going around selling 50/50 tickets and happened to come upon the group and the offer was made," Moores said.
The Warriors petitioned to continue to play through this year's postseason after a new incident involving coaches and another team happened. Parents were especially concerned for the cheerleading squad.
But the league president said an investigation found in 2016, one cheerleader was kicked off the team three days before competition because she wasn't "good enough" and the team wanted to win by any means.
"That's not what we're about. We're first and foremost about sportsmanship," Moores said.
The Downriver League has been around for many years, and the league president said they did not want to make any of their findings of their investigations public, but the Warriors left them no choice. They hope to move beyond this troubling season.
"I just hope we can all move on from this and heal. And continue to grow our league," Moores said.