The stadium lights flicker on as the sun starts to set. The marching band roars to life and the cheerleaders start to rally the crowd. The football team takes the field, ready to battle against a new opponent. But this isn’t a ‘normal’ football game for one reason: it’s a Thursday.
Due to football referee shortages and recent violence at games around the county, MCPS has mandated that all schools mix Thursday night games into their athletics schedule, especially when those games have a risk of violence, such as a rival game. Our own rival game against Churchill took place on a Thursday night, angering students.
While Friday night football games are a ‘staple’ of the high school experience, Thursday night games should be continued in the years to come.
First of all, Thursday night football games DO keep students safe. With school the next day, students are more likely to go home immediately after the game ends, and not go to parties where drugs and alcohol may be present. Additionally, the risk of violence between students is reduced because students are less likely to loiter around the school after the game.
On weeknights, students can have hours of homework and study. But on Friday nights, the last thing that students want to do is homework, giving them time to support school sports. Thursday night football games give other sports the opportunity to play on Friday nights and attract the student population to their games. For example, a Friday night soccer, volleyball, or field hockey game has a much higher chance of being well attended by students than a Tuesday or Wednesday night game. Even though football games attract larger crowds than any other fall sport, there is no reason that other athletes, specifically female athletes, shouldn’t get the opportunity to have highly attended games.
Putting other sports on Friday nights still allows students to experience ‘Friday night lights’ from the stands. Cheer and poms can still perform, the BBQ club can still grill for the students and fans can still dress up in fun themes like Wild West or black-out. Football players can also have the opportunity to cheer for other sports on Friday nights.
This doesn’t mean that students can’t still have the experience of going to football games. Thursday night games can be just as fun as Friday night games, and most football games can still be played on Friday nights. However, playing three to four football games on Thursday nights is still a smart idea for student safety and the support of other athletes.
