A girls' basketball team was reinstated when their being ejected was overturned by a panel in a decision made Tuesday--that they could not play in the city championship game this week. The team from Narbonne High School was required to forfeit their Los Angeles semi-final victory on Saturday because they had no permission to wear jerseys with pink on them. However, their coach was still barred from the championship.
On Saturday the Narbonne Gauchos won, improving to 23-5 and earning a spot in the city title game. However, their white uniforms had pink numbers and letters, to increase cancer awareness among people.
The regional officials nullified Narbonne's 57-52 semifinal win and banned them from other playoff games. That is because they had violated rule book's Article 305, which states that uniform colors must include a mix of the school's official colors. Narbonne's school colors are green, gold and black, according to LA Times.
However, after an appeal on March 3, Tuesday, the ruling was overturned after the story had become national news, and viral in social media. Narbonne will meet Palisades in the championship game on Saturday.
The appeals committee stated that it had agreed to reinstate Narbonne "in the spirit of the game," according to NY Times. As forms of punishment, the team's coach was suspended for the rest of the season, and in 2016 the team cannot host any home playoff games.
Kyle Berman, Athletic Director for Narbonne said on Monday that the team had worn pink numbers and letters to support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. Yow, the long-time women's basketball coach for North Carolina State, died in 2009 of breast cancer.
Officially Narbonne had been disqualified from the championship game because it had not submitted a written request to wear uniforms with non-school colors. It was not because the uniforms were pink.