High California soccer prospect T.A. Cunningham asks for injunction to play after being deemed ineligible

An lawyer representing defensive finish T.A. Cunningham, the No. 1-ranked soccer prospect in California within the Class of 2024, filed for an injunction Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court docket, requesting to reverse a ruling final week from the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Part that decided he was ineligible.

Within the offseason, Cunningham, a junior, transferred to Los Alamitos Excessive in Southern California from Georgia, the place his mother and father nonetheless reside. The submitting from lawyer Michael Caspino asks for an “fast order” that might make Cunningham eligible to play Thursday night time.

“[The CIF and CIF Southern Section] have offered no written clarification for his or her choice to bar [Cunningham] from enjoying soccer this season,” the submitting states.

In accordance with the submitting, the ruling from the CIF, California’s governing physique for highschool athletics, “is predicated on the grounds that [Cunningham] doesn’t meet the definition of a ‘homeless scholar’ and/or has failed to ascertain that his change of colleges was on account of a ‘hardship.'”

Cunningham’s petition challenged that assertation by together with photographic proof that his household was evicted from their residence earlier this 12 months, leading to the necessity to discover a new college.

Across the time his household was evicted, Cunningham’s father linked with representatives from Ranges Sports activities Group, a would-be sports activities advertising firm created to facilitate title, picture and likeness offers, principally for faculty and highschool athletes.

“The Ranges Group promised that the Cunningham household would have a house, transportation and meals in California,” the submitting states. “A promise was even made that the Ranges Group would offer a separate residence in Georgia for [Cunningham’s] mom.”

None of that materialized, in keeping with the submitting.

When Cunningham moved to California, he and his youthful brother stayed on the residence of Ranges co-founder Chris “Coach Frogg” Flores, who was later arrested on Aug. 8 on a number of counts of sexual assault of a minor.

“After Flores was arrested, the Ranges Group went utterly darkish and failed to reply to [Cunningham] and his household,” the submitting states. “Finally, [Cunningham] requested that his contract with Ranges be rescinded. Ranges complied this this request.

“Now, [Cunningham] is homeless. He didn’t obtain the NIL offers that had been promised by the Ranges Group. He has been victimized.”

Caspino instructed ESPN that after he offered attorneys for the CIF-SS with a declaration to show Cunningham’s hardship on Wednesday, the CIF-SS moved the goalposts. In accordance with Caspino, a consultant for the CIF-SS instructed him that whereas the group not objected to Cunningham’s hardship declare, it had opened an undue affect investigation, throughout which Cunningham would stay ineligible.

The CIF-SS has a number of guidelines associated to undue affect outlined in its bylaws, amongst which pre-enrollment contact with coaches previous to a switch is prohibited, as are athletically motivated transfers. Traditionally, these guidelines have been laborious to implement and are utilized inconsistently all through the state and part.

CIF-SS commissioner Rob Wigod declined remark about Cunningham’s switch in an e-mail to ESPN, citing coverage to not touch upon pending litigation.

“T.A. Cunningham is being handled otherwise,” Caspino mentioned. “He actually is.”

As a part of the submitting, Caspino included the physique of an e-mail addressed to Wigod, amongst others, on Sept. 6, complaining about Cunningham’s switch to Los Alamitos. The unknown writer wrote, partially, “In soccer, constructing unlawful mega groups turns into harmful for gamers they face. Our concern is primarily centered on the potential of publicity to devastating accidents whereas enjoying vs gamers comparable to TA Cunningham.”

It later linked to a narrative by which Cunningham was quoted as saying he took a go to to Los Alamitos and felt like he might belief the teaching employees, indicating pre-enrollment communication occurred.

Caspino mentioned he expects to current Cunnignham’s case earlier than a decide Thursday afternoon.