CUBA — Cuba aldermen, after more than two months of deliberating, voted unanimously Dec. 9 to give a contract to a new youth football league, the Crawford County Youth Football League.

But the people who run the old football league, the Cuba Youth Football league, say that they still want to operate.

One of the reasons for the delay in the decision for which league would get the contract to use Hood Park’s football field and facilities was the dismantling of Cuba’s Parks and Recreation board on Nov. 18. The Parks Board had recommended giving the contract to the new league in their last meeting before being disbanded.

The idea for a new league began after a petition started circulating in early September that was signed by 200 community members requesting the removal of two board members of the old football league. About 40 people, led by Cuba resident Ciara Kitchen began the process of starting a new league, titled ‘Crawford County Youth Football’ for kids ages 3-14. 

Kitchen, who was the acting vice president of the old league’s board at the time, said that she formed the new league because numerous parents had come to her with complaints about the league’s leadership, finances, and lack of transparency.

“Crawford County Youth League wasn’t formed just because.” Kitchen said during the Dec. 9 meeting of the Board of Aldermen. “Parents repeatedly came to me with questions about funding, who was helping in concessions, why there was mold in the concession stands, why we weren’t doing more food in concessions, what our money was being spent on and why we bought adult-size jerseys for children, among other issues. We couldn’t even see their numbers on their jerseys this season for tackle because they were wearing adult-sized jerseys and their numbers were tucked into their pants. So after weeks of my phone ringing off the hook, day and night with questions, I decided to get together with these parents and have a meeting.” 

Kitchen said community members at the initial meeting talked for “probably about two and a half hours” before they decided that “our best option was to either find another program for our kids to participate in or build a new program.”

After the meeting, Kitchen and the board of the new league started filing the necessary paperwork needed to have a legitimate league.

“After that meeting, we immediately filed articles of incorporation, and we applied for a tax ID number,” Kitchen said. “We had to get a bank account. We had to create the bylaws without a conflict of interest. There were certain items we had to get done before we could go to city council. So we had from September 26 to October 3 to get that done. And there was a list of nine items, and one of those was bylaws. And the bylaws are 19 pages. They’re pretty detailed. They’re pretty extensive. So that was our biggest challenge was making sure that we included everything that was important to the parents like no family members on the board. That was a big deal. We didn’t want anybody, husband and wife, brother and sister, cousins. No nepotism.” 

Kitchen said she delivered all of the necessary information in early October to the City’s Board of Alderman.

Amy Jones-Halbert, treasurer of the old football league, made her case to the Alderman to keep the contract with her league.

“This new program was developed just because they didn’t like the way we were operating. I’m just asking that you renew our current contract,” Jones-Halbert said. “If you choose this new league, you’re saying that somebody else can create a new program and undercut us. Nobody was stealing money. There’s a police report that says that. Move on.”

Jones-Halbert said that the old league had the contract since 2004, but that was immediately disputed by Kitchen. 

“That’s not true. Cuba Youth Football has only been in existence since 2022,” Kitchen said. Kitchen later showed the Cuba Free Press that the original Cuba Youth Football League had administratively been dissolved numerous times and had been reregistered in 2022.

“The one created in 2004 was administratively dissolved,” Kitchen said. “The one they’re currently operating under right now is in good standing with the state. Their articles of incorporation are. But as far as the IRS goes, they’re not in good standing. They’re still revoked. This one created in 2022 has been administratively dissolved as well, because they didn’t file their paperwork on time.”

Jones-Halbert fired back at the allegations, saying, “We have an established program that has operated in the park for 20 years. Cuba football league started in 2004.”

She said that the league filed new paperwork in 2022 “to establish a proper bank account.” She added, “It’s the same program, it’s the same equipment, it’s the same everything.

Alderman Pitts Lesesne said that previous coaches in the old league didn’t properly teach and train their players to be able to compete at the high school level.

“Our football teams at the high school level have struggled in recent years and the youth programs have had a tendency of not reaching out to the high school football coaches,” Lesesne said. “Youth football is supposed to be a transition. That’s where you learn your plays and the fundamentals of the game. You need those coaches to start working with our high school coaches. Over the years, by the time the kids get to them, they don’t know the basics of football. I’d love for you to invite the high school coaches to work with the youth coaches.”

Both Jones-Halbert and Kitchen said that they’ve spoken to Cuba head football coach Kaleb Cason, and Kitchen added that she’s been in contact with Steelville superintendent Steven Vetter about helping the flag and tackle coaches in the new league with training sessions. Three of the coaches in the new league were in attendance and immediately said that they would want to work with the high school coaches. 

Heath Stoutt, who’s a member of the new league’s board and had a son play in the old league said that his son’s eighth-grade coach this past year missed three games, eight practices and was getting drunk at a practice.

“That’s the kind of league we’re leaving,” Stoutt said. “We can’t have these boys going into freshman year coming off a season like that. Can’t. Won’t. We’re putting our heart and soul into this.” 

Mayor Kevin Copling implored the board members of both leagues to reconcile their differences and come together to form one league. “I wonder if you can sit down and talk this out, otherwise, the board will vote on it,” Copling told them. “All we have is the field, we can’t do nothing else. I’d love to see these two groups get together for the sake of the kids.” 

But after hearing board members from both leagues say that they couldn’t come to an agreement, Alderman Jeff Bouse motioned to give the contract to the new Crawford County Youth Football League.

“There was obviously a problem with the other league, and maybe it’s time for a change,” Bouse said.  The motion was seconded by Lesesne before the rest of the board unanimously approved the motion, which received a resounding round of applause from numerous audience members.

Moving forward

A day after the decision, the new league created a Facebook page and updated the community on its plan to move forward. The league announced it would have spring flag football, fall flag football, and fall tackle football available to student-athletes from anywhere, not just Crawford County. The new league will be a part of the NFL youth flag football league in the spring and the fall. It also announced that it will not be a part of the Four Rivers Conference, in hopes of creating ‘fair and competitive matchups.’ One of the complaints from parents of student athletes in the old league was that it was a part of the Four Rivers Conference that has schools such as Helias Catholic, Blair Oaks, and Washington, who have historically dominated the Wildcats. Kitchen said that the new league hopes to bring back the confidence of participating student-athletes.

“I personally feel like, if we build their confidence now, they’re going to go onto the high school field with that same confidence,” said Kitchen. “And maybe they won’t win, but they’re not going to walk out onto the field knowing they’re going to lose. Every game this last season, the fifth and sixth graders played and the seventh and eighth graders played; they walked out into the field knowing they were losing. They had no confidence. They knew they were going to lose the game. So they did. They weren’t putting in full effort. You know, you could just see it.”

Kitchen added that the new league is in the process of deciding on a team name and colors, but wants to get the community involved in the decision-making process.

“I want to involve the community. I want to involve the children. I think that’s important for us to do,” Kitchen said. “We should get the opinion of the kids. They’re the ones that are going to be playing and wearing those colors, so I think that they deserve a say so and whether we stick with black and gold or we expand and do something different. But I also think that it’s important that we try to be inclusive, because we have kids that play from Cuba, Steelville, Bourbon, Cook Station, Viburnum, Davisville, and Cherryville.” 

Despite the decision in favor of the new league, the old league also posted on Facebook that it would still have activities for the 2026 season and is still a part of the Four Rivers Conference.

“Even though some unfortunate events occurred at the Cuba City Council on Tuesday evening, I wanted everyone to know that the Cuba Youth Football Program is alive and well and will have activities for the 2026 season,” said one board member in the Facebook post. “We are still working out all the logistics, but wanted to make sure that the youth of the community would be able to participate in football for the upcoming year. So stay tuned to see what is in store with the Cuba Youth Football Program.”

The Cuba Free Press reached out to multiple board members of the old league for comment on their plans, but didn’t receive a reply.  

Signups for both leagues will begin in January, and time will tell if both leagues will have the numbers to operate throughout next year.

Earlier in the evening the Board of Alderman also voted to award new contracts to the existing Cuba Ball Program at the Cuba Sports Complex for softball and baseball along with the Cuba Soccer Program at Hood Park.