GunScare @ Albion Cup?

[oh canada]

good work @ItsJustSoccer . So can we confirm that this is the team (below)? CalSouth has plenty of time to investigate and kick them out before February 8th. Someone earlier asked about punishment for the sucker-puncher. Victim's parents would need to press charges for criminal action, and I don't see that happening unless the Albion kid is severely injured. Sounds like he's fine from news reports. So, the sucker-puncher can go down as the kid who got his brother's team kicked out of State Cup--that's a pretty good "Scarlet Letter". Since they are in Prez division and ranked 2nd, and in the Final of this past game, it's likely a pretty good team with hopes to go far in State Cup. CalSouth...will you have the courage? Let's hope so.

Cal South Soccer - View Schedule

cysa.affinitysoccer.com

 

[Stryprod]

good work @ItsJustSoccer . So can we confirm that this is the team (below)? CalSouth has plenty of time to investigate and kick them out before February 8th. Someone earlier asked about punishment for the sucker-puncher. Victim's parents would need to press charges for criminal action, and I don't see that happening unless the Albion kid is severely injured. Sounds like he's fine from news reports. So, the sucker-puncher can go down as the kid who got his brother's team kicked out of State Cup--that's a pretty good "Scarlet Letter". Since they are in Prez division and ranked 2nd, and in the Final of this past game, it's likely a pretty good team with hopes to go far in State Cup. CalSouth...will you have the courage? Let's hope so.

Cal South Soccer - View Schedule

cysa.affinitysoccer.com

We know certain things but there is still a lot up in the air, so I wouldn't rush to absolve anyone yet.

Does anyone know which side was Albion and which side was Azteca?

The kid who ran out and attacked the player came from the right side of the field, but the "gun" guy was on the left side of the field. In other words, who belonged to who?

Also real cool that the "gun" guy had ~5 mins to run away towards parking to only come back. Was it all pretend? Did he ditch it or hand it off? We'll probably never know.

 

[Fact]

It's not a horrible response. It's an honest response. If you think your natural parental instincts would allow you time to stay calm and digest the situation as your 9/10 year child is being attacked by an older person blindly out of nowhere, then kudos to you but my natural instincts would have been to pull that kid off and knock him out so he can't continue beating up on my kid. I'd probably get my asked kicked though. Cleaning porta potties, although a fantastic idea, may not prevent another attack by this teenager in the future. That teenager learned a good life lesson - you don't attack a younger child during a soccer match with their parents watching. You'll bear the consequences.

As for the guy who pretended he had a gun to prevent four people from continuing to beat up on him, let the cops decide whether he was telling the truth or doing the right thing based on their review of the evidence.

Both sidelines and teams should be punished severely for this situation because it lead to a lot of emotional harm. There was no reason for anyone but the parent of the child being hit to run out to the field. That's right, I don't believe in waiting for a ref or anyone to protect my child when s/he is being attacked. If that concussion blow lands before I get there, I'll never forgive myself.

Both sidelines should not be allowed at state cup and a one year ban from all youth soccer games. The kids playing can't be punished because I'm sure they were also traumatized in all this. No need to further punish the children.

I don't know about that, quit a few people agreed with me. Liked you better as a lurker calling my posts dumb.

 

[Fact]

If we're going to unite as soccer parents for our kids, this incident should push us to do it. Hopefully everyone is contacting their DOC and Cal South to inquire about this matter. Give Cal South, Albion and Azteca a chance to do the right things regarding this matter. If it's inadequate, we should unite as parents to send a clear message that these sideline behaviors should not be tolerated and handled appropriately. I'm a fan of Cal South, but would unite behind this to make the youth soccer environment a safer place for our kids and future soccer players. Albion and Azteca should ban both team's parents from the sidelines for a year. Cal South should make it a mandatory rule going forward.

If Albion and Azteca choose to ignore the impact their sidelines' behavior affected all the children at Galway Downs, parents of both Clubs need to contact DOC and start speaking with their wallet. Move them to a different Club. There are plenty of great clubs in Southern California. If you choose to stay with Albion or Azteca, then you're a coward and we'll know that based on what your child is wearing and what sideline you sit on.

If CalSouth decides not to mandate serious penalties, then we need to remove our teams from CalSouth until they are willing to prioritize our children's safety. Any team choosing to stay in CalSouth would be accepting that their children can and will be subject to this type of harm.

As I am a fan generally a fan of these Clubs and CalSouth, I believe these Clubs and CalSouth will understand the severe harm caused to families and young children from this incident and remedy it. (Although Ziggy's comments didn't bring much confidence since he didn't address how discipline will be dealt out to his sideline, but I'm sure they are continuing to discuss this matter) Everyone who saw those videos can see the mass fear erupted by unnecessary actions of the sidelines. One spectator could have been controlled but an eruption of both sidelines created the mass fear.

I do more than gripe.

I went directly to the board of a club to address a toxic situation with the support of parents on the team. At the end of the day, a few families were willing to reveal their identities and confirm my reports. Unfortunately, the bulk of the families backed out for the fear of repercussions from the club. Despite well documented evidence of abusive behavior, nothing was done by the club. We left the club and couldn't be happier. That's what our family has done. Every family has to make the decision that's best for them and find the situation they're comfortable with. However, I know a lot of parents will accept a lot of misbehavior to play on the top or winning team. Unfortunately, for every family that's willing to take a stand there's 10 families that are willing to play the "game".

i knew you were a stand up guy ....hmmm.... wonder what club you left, no secret.
Unfortunately there are not enough people like you.

 

[Fact]

I If you choose to stay with Albion or Azteca, then you're a coward and we'll know that based on what your child is wearing and what sideline you sit on.

So for example, a family with a 16 year old boy on a top team at Albion that has played there since Ulittles and likes his coach, teammates and other families that are all respectful, should pack it in now or they are cowards? Get real.

 

[Fact]

Clarification - Which coach got the yellow card?

 

[Stryprod]

Clarification - Which coach got the yellow card?

The coach on the right if looking from spectators towards coaches across the field. I just don't know which side was which, so trying to figure that out.

 

[ajaxahi]

I will try to fill in the gaps as best as I can based on what I saw and was told. The Azteca side was the left side as you looked towards the team benches. Just minutes before the fight started, the Azteca coach received a yellow card after he argued a very questionable penalty call (my opinion) that resulted in Albion South getting a goal making the score 3-2 Azteca. Albion‘s first goal had also come on a penalty after Azteca had been winning the game 3-0. Both sides were very emotional at this point.

The teenage kid who ran out and sucker punched the Albion South player was an older sibling of an Azteca player. I don’t know why he ran out from the Albion side but probably because that was the part of the field where the skirmish started between the Azteca forward and Albion defender. As I understand it, after coming onto the field and participating in the melee, the backpack guy, who is an Azteca parent, returned to his seat on the sideline to retrieve his backpack. I don’t know if he ever left the scene. I was told that after making his gun threats he was calmed down advised by others to stay put so the Sheriffs Dept. could sort out his actions by looking at video. He complied with this and was cuffed and put into a car for about an hour while the Sheriffs looked at video and got control of the situation. He was then released and asked if he wanted to press charges against Albion South fans that had allegedly attacked him, which he declined.

And yes, these two teams are both very very good and consistently ranked in the top 5 in SoCal and top 10 nationally. Neither team has a reputation for bad behavior or dirty play that I am aware of.

We know certain things but there is still a lot up in the air, so I wouldn't rush to absolve anyone yet.

Does anyone know which side was Albion and which side was Azteca?

The kid who ran out and attacked the player came from the right side of the field, but the "gun" guy was on the left side of the field. In other words, who belonged to who?

Also real cool that the "gun" guy had ~5 mins to run away towards parking to only come back. Was it all pretend? Did he ditch it or hand it off? We'll probably never know.

 

[focomoso]

Children are a direct reflection of their parents. If they lack sportsmanship, it’s because of their parents. If they’re respectful and good citizens, it’s because of their parents... The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I'm not sure how wrong a statement can be. Parents can guide their kids and provide the best conditions they can, but everyone is different and deals with stress / conflict differently. For evidence, see any family with one "respectful good citizen" and one not so respectful good citizen.

 

[Stryprod]

I will try to fill in the gaps as best as I can based on what I saw and was told. The Azteca side was the left side as you looked towards the team benches. Just minutes before the fight started, the Azteca coach received a yellow card after he argued a very questionable penalty call (my opinion) that resulted in Albion South getting a goal making the score 3-2 Azteca. Albion‘s first goal had also come on a penalty after Azteca had been winning the game 3-0. Both sides were very emotional at this point.

The teenage kid who ran out and sucker punched the Albion South player was an older sibling of an Azteca player. I don’t know why he ran out from the Albion side but probably because that was the part of the field where the skirmish started between the Azteca forward and Albion defender. As I understand it, after coming onto the field and participating in the melee, the backpack guy, who is an Azteca parent, returned to his seat on the sideline to retrieve his backpack. I don’t know if he ever left the scene. I was told that after making his gun threats he was calmed down advised by others to stay put so the Sheriffs Dept. could sort out his actions by looking at video. He complied with this and was cuffed and put into a car for about an hour while the Sheriffs looked at video and got control of the situation. He was then released and asked if he wanted to press charges against Albion South fans that had allegedly attacked him, which he declined.

And yes, these two teams are both very very good and consistently ranked in the top 5 in SoCal and top 10 nationally. Neither team has a reputation for bad behavior or dirty play that I am aware of.

Thank you, this was the one unknown I had and was baffled why an Azteca kid ran in from the Albion side. What the heck was that kid doing over there? SMH

It feels like it is coming down to pre and post breech of the field.

Both spectators pre-breech are guilty of horrible behavior towards each other and the officials, and both teams deserve to be aggressively punished on that alone, e.g., State Cup ban.

Post-breech, for individuals, we should be talking at a minimum multi-year (minor assualter) to permanent bans ("gun" guy) as well as additional responsibile team punishment, e.g., 6 month ban from Calsouth sanctioned tournaments.

We need to recognize that current punishments are not deterrents as behavior is only getting worse.

 

[Bri’s-DAD]

I'm not sure how wrong a statement can be. Parents can guide their kids and provide the best conditions they can, but everyone is different and deals with stress / conflict differently. For evidence, see any family with one "respectful good citizen" and one not so respectful good citizen.

Small percentage to support your evidence. I’m steadfast on my opinion of children being a reflection of their parents.

 

[Emma]

,
So for example, a family with a 16 year old boy on a top team at Albion that has played there since Ulittles and likes his coach, teammates and other families that are all respectful, should pack it in now or they are cowards? Get real.

It takes a little sacrifice to make a change for the better. If that's too much to grab your team to go to a different Club - then you are saying comfort and the status quo is sufficient.
To your get real point - It doesn't take every player to make the change, just a decent amount. People have changed clubs for a lot less reasons - we see it all the time on this board. There are plenty of players at Albion that are not in this situation and would be able to make that change. Surf Point Loma & Blast are right around the corner for the youngers. Rebels & Sharks ECNL would like some great players from the girls programs. NOMADS DA would love some boys from Albion DA programs.

I hope there are enough parents from Albion who care enough to take action and reach out to Noah Gins.

(619) 279-2812 (cell) ngins@albionsoccer.org


I hope there are enough parents on this forum who will reach out to Cal South.



CAL SOUTH EMAIL:

Cindy Quan
President and Chairman
760-887-0131
cquan@calsouth.com

Roy Carlson
Executive Vice President
858-603-5402
rcarlson@calsouth.com

Jerry Selby
Vice President of Youth
jselby@calsouth.com

District 5 Commissioner
(San Bernardino/Riverside Counties)
Louie De La Cruz
760-244-6878 – ldelacruz@calsouth.com

District 1 Commissioner
(San Diego/Imperial Counties)
Robert Pennoyer
619-988-5499 – rpennoyer@calsouth.com

 

[ItsJustSoccer]

Still no official statement from Albion or Cal South?

I understand that the investigation is still on-going but it is in poor taste to not release anything. As someone that was at this event, I have personally received no communication or acknowledgement that something happened.

Has anyone else received anything?

 

[LMULions]

with all the emphasis everyone places on winning, I sincerely doubt anyone is going to walk-away from a top 10 nationally ranked team to start over with another program.

Has been a lot of good info here about what happened, I think we're at a point where most of the reports support the others. Its really clear that the fault lay with one older brother, and one adult who despite being released by the police, escalated it with his acting skills. My question: do either of these teams have a history of previous issues? If yes, then I consider leaving. If not, a six-month suspension of the teams, and a lifetime ban for the brother (entire family?) and the bad-actor seem the appropriate response.

 

[Dof3]

Still no official statement from Albion or Cal South?

I understand that the investigation is still on-going but it is in poor taste to not release anything. As someone that was at this event, I have personally received no communication or acknowledgement that something happened.

Has anyone else received anything?

I haven't either. I understand the urge to deflect and minimize, but that is not going to work here. Albion may not, at least institutionally, be responsible for what happened. But it was their tournament and a coach wearing their patch contributed to the issue, did not act to deescalate in any effective way and has tolerated conduct from parents on that team this year that he should not have. And I know this from a parent with a kid on the team. The trouble with deflecting and minimizing is the affected people start to think that the institutions are not getting it, that affected people are not being heard, that the institutions don't really understand what happened. They need to. What happened on Sunday should never happen again. And people can be held accountable for what happened, or - I think more productively - they can be held accountable to take steps to try to keep it from happening again. What happened was not OK. So yes, call Cal South. Call your clubs. Speak up and encourage them to seize the opportunity to lead. And to do it now, rather than announcing new initiatives a year from now as part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit. I don't care about our team's tournament fees. I don't want anyone's money. I do want institutions to take ownership of this problem and demand better from themselves, their staff and their customers. Some people are angry. Some people are motivated. Deflecting and minimizing is not going to work with angry and motivated people.

 

[outside!]

After thinking about this for a while, it still seems to me that the backpack gun guy should be charged with a crime. Is it legal to threaten someone with a weapon? Whether or not he actually had a gun, he said he did and threatened people. He should be charged with a crime and prosecuted. It goes without saying that he should be banned for life by CalSouth.

 

[ItsJustSoccer]

Could not have said it better. As parents we can't let this blow over, our kids deserve better.

I haven't either. I understand the urge to deflect and minimize, but that is not going to work here. Albion may not, at least institutionally, be responsible for what happened. But it was their tournament and a coach wearing their patch contributed to the issue, did not act to deescalate in any effective way and has tolerated conduct from parents on that team this year that he should not have. And I know this from a parent with a kid on the team. The trouble with deflecting and minimizing is the affected people start to think that the institutions are not getting it, that affected people are not being heard, that the institutions don't really understand what happened. They need to. What happened on Sunday should never happen again. And people can be held accountable for what happened, or - I think more productively - they can be held accountable to take steps to try to keep it from happening again. What happened was not OK. So yes, call Cal South. Call your clubs. Speak up and encourage them to seize the opportunity to lead. And to do it now, rather than announcing new initiatives a year from now as part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit. I don't care about our team's tournament fees. I don't want anyone's money. I do want institutions to take ownership of this problem and demand better from themselves, their staff and their customers. Some people are angry. Some people are motivated. Deflecting and minimizing is not going to work with angry and motivated people.

 

[watfly]

Small percentage to support your evidence. I’m steadfast on my opinion of children being a reflection of their parents.

I think sometimes its too easy just to blame the parents. Generally kids reflect their parents behavior, but its not at all unusual for kids to be wired differently from their parents. I know crappy kids that have great parents, and great kids that happen to have crappy parents.

I'm not condoning anything the older sibling did, but it not unusual for kids to lack impulse control. Likely the sibling is just a bully, but its also plausible that the sibling is overprotective of his little brother (who may have been a bullied himself). Regardless the child should be punished and if the sibling is also a soccer player he should have his Calsouth card suspended.

The sad thing is that certain adults that have power to do something about it are publicly laying the blame at the feet of what appears to be a young teenager. Effectively excusing bad parent behavior because of something a kid did is really pathetic.

Emma your takes are usually spot on, but I disagree that most parents would put a beat down on the sibling (assuming that that actually happened and the minor was just simply restrained). Would I want to put a beat down on the kid, sure, but I would hope most adults would have the impulse control to know that its not OK to smack a minor. Personally, I would check on my kid first.

Still no official statement from Albion or Cal South?

I understand that the investigation is still on-going but it is in poor taste to not release anything. As someone that was at this event, I have personally received no communication or acknowledgement that something happened.

Has anyone else received anything?

Albion (NG and ZK) have already made their public statements. "Siblings fault and somebody should really do something about what is happening in youth soccer...and come check out our tryouts."

If Calsouth were an effective organization they would release a statement now that they are taking the incident seriously and are performing a thorough investigation, the results of which will be announced upon completion. While some of the facts are unknown or in dispute, what can't be disputed is that parents and children were running in fear for their lives resulting from an incident at a U11 game between Azteca and Albion at an Albion tournament.

 

[Desert Hound]

Does anyone know if any of the people involved in the fight spent any time at the “Silverlakes Field House”?
I like a drink as much as anybody. But I don’t think a bar belongs at a youth soccer complex.

You are entirely off base here amigo. It is about the only thing that makes going to Silverlakes bearable. Nice setup in there. Nothing better than watching a little football, sucking down an IPA and then heading out to the field to watch your kid play.

Parents at games have been fighting for a long time. The vast VAST majority at fields without any onsite bar.

 

[Fact]

It takes a little sacrifice to make a change for the better. If that's too much to grab your team to go to a different Club - then you are saying comfort and the status quo is sufficient.
To your get real point - It doesn't take every player to make the change, just a decent amount. People have changed clubs for a lot less reasons - we see it all the time on this board. There are plenty of players at Albion that are not in this situation and would be able to make that change. Surf Point Loma & Blast are right around the corner for the youngers. Rebels & Sharks ECNL would like some great players from the girls programs. NOMADS DA would love some boys from Albion DA programs.

I hope there are enough parents from Albion who care enough to take action and reach out to Noah Gins.

(619) 279-2812 (cell) ngins@albionsoccer.org


I hope there are enough parents on this forum who will reach out to Cal South.



CAL SOUTH EMAIL:

Cindy Quan
President and Chairman
760-887-0131
cquan@calsouth.com

Roy Carlson
Executive Vice President
858-603-5402
rcarlson@calsouth.com

Jerry Selby
Vice President of Youth
jselby@calsouth.com

District 5 Commissioner
(San Bernardino/Riverside Counties)
Louie De La Cruz
760-244-6878 – ldelacruz@calsouth.com

District 1 Commissioner
(San Diego/Imperial Counties)
Robert Pennoyer
619-988-5499 – rpennoyer@calsouth.com

Hey Emma - Why don't you write a letter to CalSouth, using your real name, and say that you are pulling your kids out of soccer unless they hold the clubs accountable?

 

[Emma]

Hey Emma - Why don't you write a letter to CalSouth, using your real name, and say that you are pulling your kids out of soccer unless they hold the clubs accountable?

Quite a few of us have Fact. I hope you join in.