Looking at Acadiana High’s football page, my first impression was of an ordinary end-of-the-season post, which most teams have performed all the time. Now, having read all about it, I felt that the page rather overstated its purpose; I’ve seen this in my school groups, too. One minor comment escalated into something much bigger.
Acadiana was put away in the second round of the LHSAA playoffs. Days after that, the Facebook page issued a thank-you post to the coaches. The post was calm and respectable in essence, saying a lot about the work the coaches had done throughout the season and how they helped the players to learn and grow. If you read that part only, there really was nothing wrong.
The problem arose because of its captioning. The admin wrote that someone told them after game three that coaches matter. Then she wrote that this person was right. Reading through it, it felt more like a veiled sarcastic jibe than a request of goodwill. It felt almost as if they had been waiting the entire season to spite a fan who had complained rather early about them.
At the beginning of the season, Acadiana struggled a little. The fan base questioned the coaching, as fan bases do. Even in my school, some people early on start discussing the changes the coach needs to make should the team lose two or three games. But in this case, instead of letting it die off, the football page kept it for months and revived it when the season ended.
A certain parent named Leslie Broussard really hated the caption. She stated in public that that was not right for the page to be talking like that, and for a page so widely followed, it didn’t look good. A few hours later, she discovered that she’d been blocked. Honestly, part of me couldn’t help but think that was just the sort of scenario where page admins begin blocking people just because they disagreed. It always causes more drama than it cures.
She took to her own page and accused the admin of the football page of being a bully who waited till the team went far in the playoffs to bring up old criticism. She pointed out that this is a team that doesn’t even win the state, so bragging or shaming fans seems quite unreasonable.
People started reacting fairly fast. Some were just shocked that a school page would badmouth its own fans. Others attempted their best to calm both sides by saying it wasn’t worth it. By then, still, many had expressed agreement that that caption had crossed the line and didn’t fit the positive message provided in the graphic.
What sort of puzzled people were, how on the one hand, the page thanked coaches for teaching character, but then, on the other hand, blocked a parent for giving a considered opinion. It just didn’t shine any glory on a school that encourages respect among students.
The post is still there. There have been no changes made. The admin has also remained silent.
Football, for Acadiana, is almost a culture. The community stands behind the team in wins and losses. So when a simple school page expresses behavior that feels personal or rude, the entire community is aware. After seeing it interpreted at all, it reminded me how easily adults behind a page forget that their posts represent an entire school and not just their own feelings. You may also be interested in: Who Is Andrew Tate Sister Janine Tate Her Life Work And Family Story
