The homecoming football game, a time-honored tradition on a high school’s Homecoming Week calendar, won’t happen for Kaiser High School this year. And that’s a real shame.

It’s a shame because Kaiser’s football players, especially the seniors, will miss a game that should have been a highlight of their high school experience — and after so many hours of hard and dedicated practice.

It’s a shame because the players, along with the rest of the students who cheer them on, will miss the rest of the football season. School administrators, citing safety concerns, on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the remaining games for Kaiser’s varsity and junior varsity (JV) teams.

But mostly, it’s a shame because of the circumstances surrounding the cancellation.

As Star-Advertiser sportswriters Nick Abramo and Billy Hull reported on Wednesday, Kaiser’s football season imploded on Tuesday as the school struggled to maintain a safe, competitive program.

This year, the Cougars forfeited four of their first five games because there weren’t enough players. In the only game it played, the team lost to Campbell, 71-0.

Then there were the bitter disputes between head coach Arnold Martinez and some Kaiser parents, which reportedly led to police intervention, a restraining order against at least one parent, and HPD officers escorting the coaching staff off the field after practice.

The last straw came when an altercation erupted that involved Martinez and some parents of players on Monday.

Sources told the Star-Advertiser that police were called after reports of shouting, pushing and shoving, with possibly a punch or two thrown in.

Monday’s incident occurred before a planned meeting to decide if members of the JV squad should be brought up to fill out the undermanned varsity team for Friday’s homecoming game against Moanalua.

Instead, the school forfeited the remaining games for both teams.

It was absolutely the right call.

For adults to turn violent over school athletics is simply wrong. It sends a terrible message to the kids that resorting to such antics in tough situations is acceptable; it is not.

Moreover, the school has an obligation to ensure the education, safety and security of its students in all its activities. That extends to its athletics programs — and especially football, a dangerous sport where a growing knowledge of concussion injuries has led to calls to restrict or ban the game altogether for minors.

It appears that this year Kaiser simply couldn’t field football teams that met minimum safety requirements.

A normal roster for a varsity football team can vary from about 40-80 players; some teams have even more. Kaiser had between 19 and 24 qualified team members at any given time. With numbers that low, some players could end up on the field for the entire game, playing both offense and defense — an exhausting pace that leads to mistakes and injuries.

Kaiser also competes in Division I, which includes powerhouses like Kahuku. Bringing up JV team members — inexperienced freshmen and sophomores — in mid-season to fill out the varsity roster, even for one game, heightens the risk to players.

How did Kaiser get into this mess? It’s complicated. Martinez is Kaiser’s fourth head coach in seven years, and inherited a faltering program just weeks before the start of the 2016 season.

It takes time and talent to build and sustain a successful football program at the high school varsity level. It also takes perspective.

The ultimate goal is not to win. It’s to teach young people the value of working together toward a common goal that’s hard to reach, through patience, hard effort and good sportsmanship.

Brawling with the coach is not only the opposite of those values; it’s a disgrace. Kaiser’s school administrators, coaching staff and parents need to find a way to work together to rebuild the football program. They should behave as they expect their children to behave — like a team.