After reading page upon page of comments on the midget football controversy, we believe the solution is quite simple.

We believe there are many children in the community who want to play football and we believe it serves a great purpose in helping these children learn fundamentals and teamwork.

We believe there are plenty of volunteers out there who would love to help these boys and girls learn the rules of the game, not only for fun and exercise but to help them in their progression of the game.

Therefore, we suggest that the Jackets football team split its 52 players into two teams so there is more opportunity to play and the team is more manageable.

We also believe the league should amend its rules for the next season to where teams carry 23 players on its roster.

We understand Jackets coach Brian Bohanon’s concerns and we believe the rules clearly state they can be amended at any time. It is clear to us he received permission from the coaches Saturday morning to let his team participate in a league-wide jamboree that day.

There was, however, a preseason vote taken that shot down Bohanon’s motion to waive the 40-player limit so we believe he took his Jackets team to the jamboree Saturday knowing the team would not be able to participate.

Despite the wording of the rules, that they can be amended at any time, there has to be order, whether it is in local government or midget football and consensus of coaches the day of an event, in our opinion, does not count.

What’s important here now is that 52 kids must now schedule games outside a structured league that we believe they need so they can get used to structure they will find their entire lives.

This problem also affects 31 midget cheerleaders who have worked just as hard as the football players and now have to cheer in games that are not sanctioned by the league.

It is important at this age these players learn there is structure and learn there are rules. This, beyond having fun and getting exercise, are what these leagues are about as the children learn the fundamentals of what we consider to be a great sport.

As hard as it might be for the coaches to swallow the decision, they knew ahead of time they were going to run into this problem.

Now is the time to fix the problem so these kids can play within a structured league instead of a make it up as you go along scenario and now is the time for the league to consider changes to its rules — Editor