The Avonworth Football Boosters are asking the district's school board to reconsider its ban on away game jerseys that bear each player's name, or cough up the $2,600 the boosters spent to buy the nameplates.

Although home game jerseys will continue to feature players' names across the back, the school board voted earlier this summer not to allow the same treatment of away game jerseys, as recommended by the board's athletic committee. Some board members said that nameless jerseys promote the idea of "team" as opposed to the individual, and noted that neither other Avonworth teams' jerseys nor other football teams' jerseys bear player names.

The nameplates on all jerseys are paid in full by the boosters, who present each senior with his jersey at the end of the season and pay to replace the shirts. They also pay to replace any jerseys damaged by removal of the nameplates.

The boosters have retained an attorney who, on Monday, sent a letter to the Avonworth School Board asking for the nameplates to go on the away jerseys, or the refund of the approximately $2,600 already spent on the name tags.

Attorney Sean Carmody said that the boosters had complied with the district's published policy before actually buying the nameplates. The purchase was approved by the athletic director and football coach, as well as a member of the athletic committee and the parents of the players, he said.

"The Avonworth Football Boosters reasonably relied upon the representations of the athletic director and athletic committee members in this matter," Carmody said in the letter.

The board's refusal to allow the nameplates "clearly breaches the agreement between the booster club and the school district and violates the district's own booster procedural policy for upgrading uniforms," he wrote.

Carmody said that the booster organization wanted to work with Avonworth's athletic department, "but is unwilling to absorb a $2,600 loss under these circumstances."

A copy of the letter was sent to the district's solicitor.