Football harassment investigations in Lisbon could lead to a two-year ban from university sports

Two separate hazing investigations, both involving the Lisbon High (Maine) football team, led to the school’s decision on Oct. 4 to suspend all football-related activities until further notice. Since then, every week has passed and Lisbon has announced the abandonment of her games, one by one.

Principal Richard Green finally ended the team’s season on Monday when he announced that the team’s season finale scheduled for Friday would also be canceled. The pain may not end there, however, as the program now faces a two-year ban from its varsity football program.

As WMTW News in Maine reports, the Maine Principals’ Association Handbook states that a team “will be prohibited from participating in varsity competition leading to postseason play in that sport for the following two years” if it does not submit a submitted schedule fulfilled in the sports Heal Point or Crabtree.

Should a decision be made to ban Libson, the school could appeal to the MPA Interscholastic Management Committee and seek a waiver based on extenuating circumstances.

The Lisbon school board notified the school community shortly after announcing the suspension of football activities that it had hired an “outside agency” to investigate the hazing incidents. This investigation has already resulted in seven players being removed from the football team. Last week, Lisbon police, who are conducting their own investigation into a separate alleged hazing incident involving the Lisbon soccer team, told WMTW that they submitted their findings to the Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office for review.

WMTW received confirmation from District Attorney Neil McLean Jr. that it had received the police report but provided no further information in a statement.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to provide further details at this time,” McLean’s statement said. “It is difficult to say when a decision will be made as we need to ensure we have made every effort to bring this matter to a fair conclusion.”

The school confirmed that no coach had been suspended or fired as of Monday as a result of the investigation.