Congratulations to the students of the Archbishop Murphy girls soccer team for winning the state championship. The boys football team is currently in the state playoffs; congratulations to those students.

The talent of the student athletes at this school is unmatched. Year after year Murphy has some of the best teams in the state, and rarely faces a challenge until the state playoffs. I am not offering my congratulations to the school or the parents of the students. That is because the playing field is not equal when a private school can recruit athletes from across the state to build its teams, while the public schools must rely on student athletes from within their boundaries.

Winning at Murphy should be expected, and indeed it is. I have followed high school sports for many years, and like clockwork, Murphy produces winning teams year after year, and they are seldom even challenged by the public schools in the same conference. Heck, they are not even challenged in all of the press and photos The Herald affords this school. They win at everything.

How can this be deemed fair? Why isn’t there an adjustment into a larger division because of recruiting? I wish someone with knowledge in this area would take the time to proffer an explanation to the readers, because it makes no sense at all.

I might suggest the private schools compete only among themselves, because otherwise, it sure has the appearance of Murphy having the best team money can buy — like the Yankees, only at the high school level.

Again, congratulations to those talented students; they are indeed the best. Are the parents and school keeping their pride in perspective relative to the recruiting issue? I think something is broken to allow such disparity between this kind of “competition” because, let’s be honest, there really is no competition.

Rob Dietz
Arlington