Lunenburg High School in Massachusetts will be forfeiting the last two games of its football season after the games were cancelled because of a racial slur spraypainted on a player’s house.
Isaac Phillips’ home was defaced with the phrase “Knights don’t need” and the n-word, reports CNN. The Blue Knights is the name of the school’s football team. The words were found on the home of the team’s fullback, who is 13-years-old, whose mother is white and father is black.
According to WCVB, the boy’s cleats were also thrown in the trash and one of his bicycle tires was slashed at the school parking lot.
The incident has brought national attention to the small town northwest of Boston. The FBI was even called in to investigate.
The decision to cancel the last two games was “made by the superintendent and the School Committee,” Town Manager Kerry Speidel told the Boston Herald. “I feel it is the right decision.”
Anthony Phillips, the boy’s father, told the Herald that it was the right decision and he hopes it gets the person who did it to come forward. “It’s drastic, but sometimes drastic things have to happen,” he said.
The team, which was 4-6, was set to play Friday and that game was indefinitely postponed at first. However, it was cancelled, as was the Nov. 27 game against St. Bernard’s High School of Fitchburg.
A vigil was also held on Sunday, during which the family said the school district did not react in time to other hazing their son had to put up with.