Anthem protest football refs resign, likely won't 'ever officiate' in NJ again

The New Jersey Football Officials Association has accepted the resignation of the father and son officials who walked off the field in protest of players taking a knee during the national anthem, effectively bringing to a close an investigation into an incident that garnered national attention.

“We consider the matter officially closed given that they tendered their resignation,” said Scott Heiser, immediate past chairman of the Central Jersey Chapter of the NJFOA, which in November commenced an investigation into the actions of Ernie Lunardelli and his son, Anthony, who refused to officiate an Oct. 27 game between Colts Neck and Monroe during which four Monroe players joined a growing number of gridiron players at all levels nationwide who have protested racial inequality and police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem.

Heiser said the Lunardellis submitted their resignation after the conclusion of the 2017 season through their attorney, Michael V. Dowgin, and that he “cannot imagine a scenario in which the Lunardellis ever officiate another high school football game in the state of New Jersey.”

The chances of Ernie and Anthony Lunardelli ever officiating elsewhere in the country may also be slim, considering that to officiate in another state they would need a “letter of good standing” from the NJFOA, documentation neither may be able to obtain.

Depending on the outcome of the terminated NJFOA investigation, the Lunardellis faced sanctions ranging from expulsion to a fine, none of which the association needs to impose now that it has accepted their resignation, Heiser said.

In a statement released through his attorney on Oct. 30, the day the NJFOA announced it was opening an investigation into the Lunardellis’ conduct, Ernie Lunardelli told MyCentralJersey.com that he and his son “would like to go back to officiating” and that “we do not believe we have done anything that should deny us that right.”

Ernie Lunardelli also told MyCentralJersey.com on Oct. 30 that he “without a doubt” planned to take legal action if the NJFOA barred him from officiating. Hours later, Dowgin told MyCentralJersey.com that the Lunardellis would never again comment publicly on the matter because both men wanted to “stay out of the media from now on.”

Heiser said the NJFOA took no disciplinary action against Thomas Paulikas, the assigner for the Greater Middlesex Conference, of which Monroe is a member, who scheduled the Lunardellis to work the school’s Oct. 27 game against Colts Neck.

Ernie Lunardelli said he told Paulikas in advance of that Oct. 27 game that he would walk off the field and refuse to officiate any contest in which players took a knee during the anthem. Paulikas said no such conversation ever took place and that he was unaware of Ernie Lunardelli's disposition. It had been widely reported that Monroe players first took a knee during the playing of the national anthem before a Sept. 28 against New Brunswick.

“Tom will remain the GMC assigner for 2018 and going forward,” Heiser said. “As far as I know, that has not changed. He’s recently been in touch, so I know that he is still working in that capacity.”

Heiser said the NJFOA’s three chapters, including North and South, have made the Lunardellis’ conduct a point of emphasis among their officials in an attempt to ensure officials honor that officiating contracts under all circumstances.

“We’ve tried to tell our officials they are there to do a job under an officiating contract and they should honor it,” Heiser said. “To the greatest extent possible, they should leave their politics at home and remember they are there to do a job, there for the kids, there for the game. Even if they are personally offended, they have to fulfill their obligation to the kids, the schools and our officiating association.”

MyCentralJersey.com football analyst Marcus Borden, a past New Jersey Football Coaches Association President and member of the NJSIAA and NJFCA Hall of Fame, praised the NJFOA for its handling of the controversy and said he hopes officials who may feel strongly about players taking a knee will decline an assignment to a game where such conduct has previously occurred.

“They should let somebody know that they need to get a replacement,” Borden said. “They should not be trying to cause a scene or make any political statements. Keep politics off the field and let the kids play the game.”

Ernie Lunardelli, the head linesman, said he and his son, Anthony, a line judge, stood on the field with their hands on their hearts while the anthem was played prior to Monroe’s Oct. 27 game and that both left the field immediately after the anthem because they saw four Monroe players take a knee.

“Anybody that disrespects the flag, in my eyes, it’s not right,” said Ernie Lunardelli, a veteran scholastic football official in his 18th season. “What they are doing with this kneeling and everything, they have the right do to that, but the national anthem has nothing to do with them kneeling. The flag has got nothing to do with why they are protesting. If they want to protest, let them protest, but don’t disrespect our country, the flag and the armed forces.”

Monroe Athletics Director Greg Beyer, who declined to comment on the officials' decision to walk off the field, told MyCentralJersey.com district policy permits the school’s student-athletes to peacefully protest.

“We have to follow what is in the policy,” Beyer said, “and pretty much the policy is if a kid doesn’t want to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, that’s his constitutional right, so we have to handle it (taking a knee during the playing of the anthem) the same exact way.”

In juxtaposition to Monroe allowing its student-athletes to take a knee during the playing of the anthem, the principal at Parkway, a public high school in Louisiana, informed his players prior to their game on Sept. 29 that such protests could result in them being removed from the team.

Marjorie Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, told The New York Times that Parkway and any other schools that adopt similar policies “should be on notice that these policies are in fact unconstitutional” because “the law does not permit schools to forbid students from expressing their views.”

Kevin Ciak, president of the National School Boards Association and president of the Sayreville Board of Education, shared with MyCentralJersey.com an official statement from the NSBA which provides school districts with guidance.

“Courts have consistently upheld that students do not shed their first amendment rights at the schoolhouse door, provided such expression does not create a disruption to the educational process," the statement reads in part.

Parochial schools and dioceses that govern them can and have established their own policies regarding the conduct of student-athletes during the playing of the anthem.

While the Diocese of Metuchen, which oversees Bishop Ahr in Edison, has not provided its schools with guidance regarding anthem protests, according to Bishop Ahr Athletics Director Mike Wolfthal, the Diocese of Camden issued a directive last year that any student-athletes who did not stand for the anthem at sporting events could be suspended or dismissed from the team.

At least two Supreme Court rulings protect students’ rights to peacefully protest on campus during school hours and events. The Supreme Court in 1969 ruled that public school students who wanted to wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War during school hours could do so. A 1943 Supreme Court ruling involving Jehovah Witnesses who were expelled from school for not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance said public school students could not be forced to salute the American flag or recite the pledge if it conflicted with their religious beliefs.

On Sept. 24, many NFL players took a knee or elected to remain in the locker room during the playing of the anthem, following the lead one year later of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was the first professional player to take a knee in protest.

The more than 200 NFL players who protested on Sept. 24 did so a week after President Donald Trump said the league’s owners should fire players who protest during the anthem.