Pop Warner team rebels against possible merger BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer OLD BRIDGE - The Sayrewoods South Rebels may be reaching their own type of end zone after 46 years as a township Pop Warner football team. Central Jersey Pop Warner officials have pushed for the Rebels to combine with the Old Bridge Rams, and announced in January that it will no longer recognize the Rebels as a team in the Pop Warner organization, according to Rebels parents. "We don't want to leave Pop Warner," said Jana Barnett, a team parent. "We just feel we're really getting a raw deal. It has just been a nightmare." Central Jersey Pop Warner President Jim Simmons said he would rather not comment on the matter because of potential litigation stemming from it. "We're here for the kids, and I think we need to leave the personal stuff out of it," Simmons said. For some of the concerned parents, the situation seems very personal. According to Barnett, Central Jersey PopWarner officials said the Rebels were chosen to merge with the Rams because the Rebels' rosters showed lower numbers than those of the Raritan Bay Cougars, another Pop Warner team in Old Bridge. However, requests by Rebels supporters to see the numbers from Cougars' rosters went unmet, she said. When they finally saw the rosters, the numbers were the same as those of the Rebels. "We're a viable organization," Barnett said. With 210 players on last year's roster and higher numbers as of registration two weeks ago, Barnett said the Rebels' numbers warrant being recognized by Central Jersey Pop Warner. In September 2007, Central Jersey Pop Warner shut down the Rams due to low sign-up numbers, according to Barnett. While she said it is unfortunate that the team could not go on, and that the Rebels are willing to accept Rams onto their team, shutting down the Rebels is not the answer. Further, if the teams merged, the Rams would be in charge of the newlyformed organization, according to Rebels secretary Kim Bell. Mike Bell, her husband, is president of the Rebels. The Rebels Executive Board, along with concerned parents, met with the Central Jersey Pop Warner leadership to discuss the issue, to no avail, Barnett said. Barnett, along with other Rebels supporters, created Savetherebels.com, a Web site with the goal of spreading the word and garnering support for the decades-old team. The site claims 752 supporters for the cause. "The SWS Rebels have two requests of Central Jersey Pop Warner: Let us back in or let us go," it is stated on the site. "You see, not only does Central Jersey maintain they have the 'right' to tell the 46-year-old Rebels organization they can no longer play Pop Warner football in Central Jersey, but apparently they also say they have the 'right' to keep the SWS Rebels from going to another Pop Warner Organization, Jersey Shore Pop Warner." Barnett said Jersey Shore Pop Warner has said it will accept the Rebels, but that the Central Jersey group threatened to take the Rebels organization to court if it attempted to leave for another organization. A few years back, talk of merging all three Old Bridge teams was never realized. According to the Rebels' Web site, the Cougars were uninterested in combining, and the Rams and Rebels came to the conclusion that their teams were run differently. As a result, the two teams surmised that a merge would not work well. Barnett said the situation might not seem so bad if all three teams were to be merged, but as it stands, some feel the Rebels are being singled out. "We've got a great deal of pride in our organization," Barnett said. "This isn't something you can just cast aside. This is something that has been going on for generations. It's a part of Old Bridge."