Coaches and players violently attack youth football referee (Florida)

[Blue_Tires]

In one of the most disturbing youth sports incidents in recent years, coaches of a Sarasota, Fla., youth football team instigated a brawl with a referee which eventually led to the coaching staff and a player violently attacking the referee in question during a massive brawl which embroiled both teams.

As reported by Sarasota Patch, quickly followed by a variety of Tampa Bay news outlets, details of the incident were first gleaned from an amateur video of a game involving the Sarasota Gators and North Port Huskies on Saturday. The video was eventually turned over to the Sarasota Sheriff's office, which has since opened up a full criminal investigation into the proceedings from the game. While it's unknown whether charges will be filed against the coaches and player who attacked the referee, battery against a game official is classified as a felony in the state of Florida.

You can see how the entire incident unfolded above, but the basics from the violent attack are this: Gators coaches were upset by what they deemed to be a harsh penalty call against their team, one of what they considered was among a number of poor decisions by the officials. They went onto the field and loudly and dramatically remonstrated against the official who made the penalty call -- a man identified by ABC Action News in Florida as Jamie Reed -- with one coach eventually crossing the line of physical contact by pushing the ref.


http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Coaches-and-players-violently-attack-youth-footb?urn=highschool-wp5326

http://sarasota.patch.com/articles/video-shows-youth-football-coaches-player-attacking-referee#video-7585595

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/aug/31/11/sarasota-youth-football-referee-attacked-by-player-ar-254407/

of course the vast majority of the comments are unreadable...

[patrick t. cakes]

1. sports are gross

[blueamy66]

2. No, adults that coach/parent children that play sports

are out of control these days.

[patrick t. cakes]

3. that too

[Initech]

11. Yeah seriously. It makes me wonder if someone put something in the Gatorade.

[blueamy66]

12. My nephew has just moved up from flag football to tackle...

my guy, his "uncle" is trying to coach him....and teach him well....hope none of this crap happens in his league....

[seabeyond]

4. sons 4th gr football team. i was reading a book on the sidelines, being drawn away by adults

ranting on the sidelines at the refs.

not a year prior, there had been efforts by state laws to reign in parents. i really thought it absurd. what parent is going to misbehave with kids sports. but i sat there listening to these grown men lose their tempers not only with their own kids, but with the refs saying totally inappropriate things. my mouth hung open. one was a cop. another was a well known attorney in town that ran for office as a democrat.

the coach on the other hand, handled it well, restricting the parents and finally kicking them into the stands, off the lines. he only got away with it because he also is part of that "cliche". he was a good influence on the kids. i later talked to him and thanked him, but told him, that behavior of the adults was totally out of bounds and not what i want my child to bring away from sports. and talked to every mother i knew about how disgusting the men were, shaming one mom that had participated in it.

it was a good lesson for my son. we had good conversations from those mens behavior.

[Fumesucker]

5. Winning isn't everything..

It's the only thing.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[habitual]

7. Update: 4 were just charged in this attack:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/sep/02/1/youth-football-referee-attack-fueled-by-emotions-ar-254871/

[Taitertots]

8. "While it's unknown whether charges will be filed against the coaches and player"

What is there to be unsure about?

[reggie the dog]

9. looks racially motivated to me

they only jumped the white ref

[Rainbowreflect]

10. What the hell is wrong with people.

I am so saddened by the violence and hatred that seems to be so prominent in society today.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[Hugabear]

14. I would strongly discourage reading the comments on the Yahoo story

It gets pretty ugly very fast - doesn't take much for the racists to come out of the woodwork

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[Hugabear]

16. Oh, I see - because the attackers were black, it must have been racially motivated

They attacked him for no other reason than that he was white. Scary black people, right? Had nothing to do with anger and frustration over what they perceived as a series of bad calls or possible bias against their team. The attack was inexcusable, but there's nothing to show that the attack was racially motivated.

I was referring to the comments that followed the article. If you don't see a bunch of blatant racism in those comments...well, enjoy your stay here on DU.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[sabrina 1]

20. Seems to me that you, as a new member, wouldn't be in a position

to make the broad, sweeping judgements you just made in your post. Maybe you should hang around and wait to learn a bit more about the board before acting like you've been here long enough to know what you're talking about.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[sabrina 1]

21. The OP deals with crime. And lots of posts get no traction on DU.

Got any proof of what you are saying, or is it just your opinion based on your short time here?