New Canaan Youth Football Coach Subject of Negative Sign, Grievance

New Canaan Youth Football leaders say they’re investigating the public posting of a sign that appears to call for the ousting of one of its coaches. The nonprofit sports organization’s president, Wendy Cunney, said she removed the sign from the fence at Farm Road and South Avenue—a conspicuous place for local organizations to post notices, typically spotlighting high school sports teams’ schedules—because it was “unauthorized and inappropriate.”

“We are upset about the sign,” Cunney said. The largest letters on the sign, which appeared Monday morning, seem to identify a coach on an 8th-grade team, saying that individual “must go.”

The league has contacted both New Canaan High School’s athletic director, who helps oversee the public posting area at South and Farm, as well as the New Canaan Police Department “to assist us,” Cunney said. “When we find out who it is, we will pursue as much sanction in our Parents Code of Conduct as we can,” she said. Signed by parents with kids in the popular youth football program, part of that Code reads: “I have an obligation to address any concerns that I may have at the time they occur with the Head Coach, member organization’s President or FCFL President.”

Another part reads: “I will encourage good sportsmanship by demonstrating positive support for all players, coaches and officials.”

Cunney said league leadership is “disappointed” about the sign.