City Section Tightens Transfer Regulations : Eligibility: Athletes must sit out one year of varsity competition if enrolled at a school outside attendance area.

The City Section has tightened its rules regarding transfer students in an effort to curb recruiting and prevent its coaches from “stealing from each other,” according to Commissioner Hal Harkness.

The new rule affects students who enroll at schools outside their attendance area by way of the City’s Magnet and Permits With Transportation programs. Both programs are part of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s voluntary desegregation system.

Previously, students who transferred from their residence high schools by way of the Magnet or PWT programs were granted immediate athletic eligibility at their new schools regardless of prior participation in other sports. Under the new rule, students who transfer to a school with a voluntary integration program would be ineligible for varsity competition for one calendar year in any sport the student had played at the previous high school.

However, students who reverse the process--those who transfer back to the school in their attendance area--would have immediate eligibility.

Junior basketball player Brandon Martin falls into that category. Martin played for two seasons at Cleveland High, which has a Magnet program, but has transferred to Washington. Because that is the school in his attendance area, he has immediate eligibility.

The City passed the new rule to discourage coaches from recruiting athletes at other City schools, Harkness said.

“This was prompted by movement of known youngsters with previous high school experience who are being encouraged to move,” he said. “Because these kids had played at a high school, they weren’t raw diamonds anymore. Our people are stealing from each other. We had to do something about people taking (athletes) from each other.”

Harkness emphasized that the rule is not intended to impede student movement between schools but is directed at students who are moving for athletic purposes. He pointed out that although the rule imposes a one-year loss of eligibility, the ineligibility applies to varsity competition only.

In the wake of the passage of the new rule, Harkness also expressed regret about his handling of a case involving John Walsh, a quarterback who led Carson to the City 4-A Division title last fall.

Walsh played baseball and football as a junior at West Torrance, a Southern Section school, then transferred to Carson last fall. In accordance with state rules, Walsh was granted eligibility because the transfer was accompanied with a change of residence. Walsh and his father moved to the Carson attendance area.

After Walsh passed for 48 touchdowns and a state record 4,223 yards last fall, he transferred back to West Torrance but the Southern Section denied him eligibility, claiming that although the transfer met the letter of state rules, it violated the spirit.

Harkness said he would invoke a similar interpretation if faced with a case similar to Walsh’s in the future.

“There’s no question that the only reason for the move was to play football at Carson,” Harkness said. “If I see another scenario as blatant as that again, my intent is to say it violates the spirit of the rule and declare him ineligible.”