DURHAM — A cooperative high school football program involving Oyster River and Portsmouth — which appeared to be a done deal two years ago before being tabled — was finally approved Wednesday night after the Oyster River School Board gave its approval.
The board voted 6-0 to approve a cooperative team, and in a second vote, chose Portsmouth over Dover by another 6-0 margin.
Portsmouth coach Brian Pafford said the move still requires approval by the NHIAA, the governing body of high school sports in New Hampshire. Numbers-wise, Pafford said up to 20 current eighth-graders players from the Oyster River district could join the program this fall.
“It’s hard to say, but I’m going to guess, on average, we’ll probably get 20 players added to the program,” Pafford said. “It wouldn’t hurt my feelings to get to 30.”
Although Pafford said the NHIAA requires schools seeking to form a cooperative program to apply with the organization one year in advance, he believes it’s possible Oyster River players could join the Portsmouth program as early as this fall.
“There’s no alignment issues or scheduling issues, so I don’t see it being a problem,” Pafford said.
Speaking in favor of the merger, Councilor Daniel Klein said that while he understands some community members’ concerns about the dangers of the sport, he feels a consensus is lacking in that area.
“I take safety concerns very seriously, (but) it might turn out to be less (dangerous) than we think,” Klein said. “This is not an issue for the Oyster River School Board to pass judgment on. (This) is a sanctioned sport.”
Klein said he decided to vote yes based on community feedback, which he said was largely in favor of approving the merger.
“The kids who continue to come to us, we continue to hear how meaningful it is to them,” Klein said. “It’s extremely compelling. I feel for them.”
Councilor Denise Day said that while neither Portsmouth nor Dover presented a bad choice for a merger, she said Portsmouth made more sense, pointing to the already existing cooperative girls hockey program between the schools.
Day also noted that the merger agreement for football is only for two years.
“If at some point there’s something that makes us say, ‘whoa, wait a minute,’ we do have an out (after two years),” Day said.
Five people spoke during the public-comments period before the vote, with four in favor of a merger. Dr. Robert Barth of Lee, an outspoken critic of football, who has made a number of public comments coming out against the merger, citing safety concerns, said he now supports the measure if only to put the issue to rest.
“I sincerely wish all players and families only the best,” Barth said, “and hope that all the mounting, damning evidence from medical science is proven wrong. Unfortunately, it rarely is.”
A cooperative varsity football program between Oyster River and Portsmouth — slated to begin in 2017 — appeared to be a done deal in early 2016, when the Portsmouth School Board approved a merger. But the Oyster River board shot down the proposal in April of that year.
One councilor, Kenneth Rotner, recused himself from Wednesday’s vote.
As for the new team’s name and uniform design, Pafford said there will no major changes right away since Portsmouth’s current uniforms are relatively new. He said discussions have been ongoing as to what to call the team should it be approved.
“I kind of like ClipperCats,” Pafford said.