By STEVE KRAUSE
A proposed merger of the Northeastern Conference and the Greater Boston League cleared a hurdle Friday when the NEC, the larger of the two entities, voted 9-3 to formally invite the four GBL teams to join forces.
The offer was made on the condition that after four years, the arrangement can be reviewed by the NEC teams. Two other stipulations are that Everett, among the state’s premier football teams, would play an independent league schedule in that sport and participate in the merged league in all others; and that the two teams each from the GBL be placed in both the North and the South divisions of the newly-merged conference.
“There was concern,” said Classical principal Gene Constantino, an outspoken proponent of both this proposal and the one that failed to receive the required nine votes several years ago, “of losing the flavor of the NEC if all the GBL teams ended up on one division. So we proposed that we put two teams in each.”
A verbal offer has already been presented to the Greater Boston League. Should the GBL accept, the proposal would have to go before Districts A and B of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association for the approval of the principals and athletic directors in each.
Les Murray, secretary/treasurer of the Northeastern Conference, said that the earliest he sees the newly-merged league ready for full intra-league play would be spring of 2017.
“Most of the schools are already well into making fall schedules,” he said. “It would be very hard to get it done by winter, so the earliest I see it happening in the spring.”
Also, said Murray, the GBL, down to four teams, has relied on non-league scheduling for most of the last decade, and some of the schools may still have contractual commitments to honor.
The reason for the four-year review, Murray said, is that some NEC schools were worried about logistical issues involving scheduling and wanted to have the opportunity to adjust whatever arrangements are ultimately made.
Both Classical and English are in the Northeastern Conference as well as Swampscott, Saugus, Marblehead, Peabody, Revere and Winthrop. Also included in the NEC are Salem, Beverly, Gloucester and Danvers.
The four remaining GBL teams are Everett, Somerville, Malden and Medford. At one time, both the NEC and GBL had 10 teams each, and Revere and Peabody were in the GBL.
Currently, the NEC is divided into the North and South divisions, with six teams in each. Under the new arrangement there would be eight teams in each.
Murray said that it hasn’t been determined which GBL teams would go into the newly-configured divisions.