GunScare @ Albion Cup?
- Thread starter PruritusAniFC
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futboldad1
PREMIER
Had a real crazy dad way back during when my DDs were u littles at surf....coach was great but couldn't do anything when a parent ran on the field....if they are doing it often then it's on the coach but seems hard to see how the coach could have stopped this from what I've heard....
futboldad1
PREMIER
Scary, unacceptable and glad nobody, especially kids, was hurt....
That's why I said players AND coach. A coach doing his job seeing his players collecting yellows will intervene and deal with his players. If the coach is getting a yellow also, then it is time to end the game and refresh perspective. What happened yesterday should not happen. Police at every field where kids are playing soccer is unrealistic. We need to treat the disease and not the symptoms. This is just one idea. I am sure there are better ones, but there needs to be something where people can see they are approaching significant consequences and settle down.
I‘m not with either team but I was there and also have sources close to the situation. The facts reported in this thread are for the most part correct. The situation started with pushing and shoving by players from both teams but exploded when a teenage Azteca sibling ran onto the field and punched an Albion South player. What has not been reported here is that Albion South player‘s dad then ran onto the field and started beating on the Azteca teenager. Both sidelines immediately emptied and it was chaos. From what I have been told during the melee the Azteca parent with the backpack was jumped by four Albion South parents and was getting beaten up badly enough that he decided to say he had a gun, which put an end to all the fighting. He was detained but later released by the Sheriffs Dept. after they reviewed the video evidence which supported his story and was actually asked if he wanted to press charges on the Albion South parents that beat him up. From what I was told the Sheriff Dept. have identified the Albion South parent who got physical with the teen. It was a fast moving chaotic brawl in an already emotionally charged environment that escalated very fast. It was ugly and shameful. Plenty of blame to go around. Lots of people behaving badly on both sides. And I had one very freaked out 10 year old to talk down on the ride home.
Good coaches warn parents not to even talk to refs or the opposing team. If it keeps happening, the parent should be banned. If it still keeps happening, the kid should be cut. Coaches have a lot of power in these situations and they need to be dealt with early - before it comes to running on the field. (Though it sounds as if in this case it was a "brother" that started everything. Harder to control, but still the coach has some influence.)
Yes, but it's home...
I'm telling you - If they put a UFC cage at tournament venues and let upset parents fight it out - They could make a ton more money for the club.
Anyone lays a finger on someone outside of the cage is an automatic life time ban.
But once you get in the cage, it's Ready to Rumble!!!!!!
If you win your fight - your kid gets to stay in the league and continue to play. If you lose your fight, your kid gets a lifetime ban.
People will shut the hell up when they realize there is an actual chance that someone can legally punch them in the mouth.
Anyone lays a finger on someone outside of the cage is an automatic life time ban.
But once you get in the cage, it's Ready to Rumble!!!!!!
If you win your fight - your kid gets to stay in the league and continue to play. If you lose your fight, your kid gets a lifetime ban.
People will shut the hell up when they realize there is an actual chance that someone can legally punch them in the mouth.
Most people will shut up, but a few will get worse (because they think they're tough).
futboldad1
PREMIER
"if they are doing it often then it's on the coach" is what I said and stand by......a crazy parent or kid running on a field out the blue from 70 yards away.....not seeing how this is on the coach.....and I'm no fan of most coaches.....
True
This sounds like the most objective - and probably accurate view of what happened. Thanks for posting.
BTW - is there a video of the game posted somewhere? Link?
yafooligan
BRONZE
It appears nobody was physically hurt, but mentally I’m sure there are plenty of kids having issues processing this incident. Albion should not claim the threat was “harmless” like they did in their statement.
That's what the red is for. The yellow is a caution. Not that I CR a lot, but I don't hesitate to use the yellow. Get a ref in a bad mood or one of the tyranical ones on a power trip and you'll be having a lot of teams suspended. For the remainder of the refs (whether let em play or by the book), if refs aren't willing to use the red against coaches (because they know it will affect their livelihood potentially and it's a small community) I can't see them doing the yellow....the unintended consequence will be just more ref abuse because you've taken away a management tool to caution. But sure, issue a red to a coach, end the game and have the suspension reviewed by the league at that point...think that's fair.
ItsJustSoccer
BRONZE
This is the definitely the most accurate description of what I witnessed with my own eyes as well as others stories. Although the guy did not act or look injured from getting jumped, he seemeds very put together still.
My question though is why is it ok that the guy threatened to have a gun with hundreds of children around receives no consequences?
Imagine if this guy did this at Disneyland, a threat is a threat. We now have hundreds of traumatized children because of a threat.
I was there.
What happened in the melee, too hard to tell in the moment as there were too many bodies to focus on one.
Was the Azteca "gun" dad jumped? I'd not be surprised although I can tell you from ~15' away he showed no signs of bleeding, appeared to have no major signs of grass stains (then again no grass there #galwaysucks), clothing not torn or disheveled, and still had his hat on.
I can unequivocally state the individual (Azteca parent) who grabbed his bag was under no immediate threat when he went to get his bag. He left the vicinity of the fight on the right side of the field, walk to the left where his bag was, grabbed it, unzipped it, place his hand in, and put on his show.
I have 2 pictures of this individual taken a minute apart and never is anyone within 10' of this guy. Only as he continued to stand and move back and forth did some individuals approach him, and I'm not sure whether they were Albion or Azteca.
Keepermom2
GOLD
I hope somebody called trauma specialists to be available to talk to families and especially the kids that were impacted. While the threat ended up not being real, it was real to the kids and parents running for their lives and can have lasting consequences.
I'm not sure why everyone is so upset at the dad that beat up the teenager or why he's being charged. I'm quite certain most moms and dads on this site would do the same. Imagine your 9/10 year old kidding being attacked by another male (you don't know how old he is but he's bigger than your kid and has no reason to beat him up). How many of us could calmly assess the situation and not beat up that teenager? Any reasonable parent would have ran out and protected their 9/10 year old son. This is the teenager's fault and hopefully the beating by the dad prevents him from beating up on another 9/10 year old kid. The rest of the parents should stay put and let the refs and coach deescalate the situation.
SoccerFan4Life
PREMIER
As parents we also need to inform our coach or manager if we have a trouble maker in our team. The best way to avoid this is controlling our own parents.
Not a criminal lawyer, but California does have a self-defense of others law. The danger has to be imminent (seems to have been based on the description), reasonable (this is an open question), and proportionate (we don't have the facts). There's going to be an argument about the reasonableness (were the refs doing anything to stop it, how young was the minor, was it his kid) and the proportionate (how big was the teen and could they have been separated and how much of a beat down was taking place on the minor attacker as opposed to trying to separate them). Also don't know how the involvement of a minor attacker affects things.
The guy with the backpack is a bigger problem and much trickier. Was he really being assaulted and threatening in self-defense or was he disturbing the peace? If people got injured on the way out and fleeing, there might also be civil liability. If someone got injured on the way out, I also wouldn't be surprised to see a lawsuit for negligence against the tournament organizers (e.g., failure to provide adequate security, problem with the evacuation routes with people climbing over fences, failure to notify people of the evacuation routes)
You raise some good questions. From what I was told after reviewing the videos, the police released the backpack guy and asked him if he wanted to press charges on the Albion South parents. If this is in fact true then he probably was assaulted but maybe the Albion guys just didn‘t land any serious punches.
In my personal opinion regardless of the threat he might have felt, the backpack guy should still be held accountable for creating panic in a crowded event. In this day and age with so many mass shootings people are already on edge. You shouldn’t be able to just go around threatening that you have a gun. Imagine if it were in an enclosed space and kids got trampled to death trying to get away. As it was this guy traumatized a bunch of kids and seems to have gotten off scott free.
The Albion South dad who roughed up the teen will have to face the consequences. Hitting a minor obviously goes way over the line.
But all of this unfortunately shows how one thing leads to another and how quickly things can get out of control.
In my personal opinion regardless of the threat he might have felt, the backpack guy should still be held accountable for creating panic in a crowded event. In this day and age with so many mass shootings people are already on edge. You shouldn’t be able to just go around threatening that you have a gun. Imagine if it were in an enclosed space and kids got trampled to death trying to get away. As it was this guy traumatized a bunch of kids and seems to have gotten off scott free.
The Albion South dad who roughed up the teen will have to face the consequences. Hitting a minor obviously goes way over the line.
But all of this unfortunately shows how one thing leads to another and how quickly things can get out of control.