Mom’s Facebook post calling for high school football to start sooner goes viral; sons fear they won’t get to play

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A Baton Rouge mom’s Facebook post, in which she expressed her frustration for the delay of high school football season in Louisiana due to Governor John Bel Edwards’ coronavirus restrictions, has gone viral.

The post has been shared more than a thousand times, and many other parents across the state are agreeing with her. Parents and their children want to play football.

High school football players across Louisiana are hoping for their season will turn out somewhat normal when it starts on Oct. 8.

Some teens, like her son Blocker Harvison, are wondering if they will even be allowed to play. Harvison plays right tackle for Dunham High School.

“I was actually watching a high school game on TV, I think it was on Saturday, and it was just really nice kind of like a sense of normalcy, but you know it’s hard,” he says.

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Harvison desperately wants to play with his teammates one last time before college. However, he fears his football cleats won’t even meet the field this fall.

“Ultimately, we want to play football. Ultimately, we want the choice of whether or not our boys play football or whether or not our daughters cheer to be given back to us. As parents of football players, we have always known that there are inherent risks to them playing the game,” says Blocker’s mom, Claire Harvison.

Harvison has been vocal about this issue not just on social media.

“We believe that we can do it, and we can do it safely and we want the opportunity to do that. So, we’re hoping that Friday will give us the green light that we can get the liability issues reconciled and we can move forward,” she says.

Claire Harvison and other parents are meeting with the Louisiana House of Representatives’ Education Committee Friday, Sept. 4 to see if they have a shot for a football season.

Their argument is that all the surrounding states were given the chance to play and to do it safely. Now, the Harvisons are hoping for that same opportunity.

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