The St. Clair Dacon Secondary School (SCDSS) has lodged reports with the Ministry of Education and the police after players, parents and other relatives of Georgetown Secondary School (GSS) allegedly attacked their footballers after a match on Tuesday.
Keon Peters, the physical education teacher at SCDSS, told iWitness News that the Inter-Secondary School Senior Division football match between his students and their GSS counterparts at Chilli Playing Field was very physical “as in tackles from players from Georgetown Secondary School.
“The referee failed to address the tackles,” he said, adding that GSS won the game, 5-2.
Peters told iWitness News that he was informed that after the game the mother of a GSS player said something to one of the SCDSS players who responded.
“And then the son of the parent and his friends came and pushed him (the SCDSS student),” the PE teacher further explained.
The GSS player allegedly shoved the SCDSS player, who responded similarly and a fight broke out.
Peters said that about four fights broke out after his other players rushed to help their teammate.
“And then the spectators, players, students came in and fought with my players — like four, five of them.”
Peters said no one suffered serious injuries, “just headache, couple bruises and what’s not.”
He noted that it was a school game, adding that while the fighting was unacceptable, it would have been more understandable if it was only among students.
“But adults who were in the park fought with my students.”
Peters said the fight was broken up when he and two other coaches held off the different people from Georgetown and tried to get the SCDSS players into the stand.
“All of this happened on the field when the game finished,” he said.
He said the matter was reported to the Ministry of Education on Thursday.
Peters told iWitness News that he also contacted Georgetown Police Station, which had an issue with its telephone.
He reached Biabou Police Station, which advised him to go to the Stubbs Police Station, which is the closest to the school.
Peters told iWitness News that Stubbs Police Station took reports from him and the coach but not from the students because their parents were not present.
“And seeing that we (he and the coach) witnessed the fight, we couldn’t be there when the students were making their reports. So, they would be going to the Calliaqua Police Station. The Police told them to take their parents and go to the Calliaqua Police Station as soon as possible.”
He responded to the view that the fighting represented a level of ill-discipline that athletes should not have.
“It sells badly to the public, seeing it was a school game. I also think they should have strict security in place so that spectators can be away from players,” Peters told iWitness News.
“It would have been more understandable if it was a fight among students. These things tend to happen in football, but it is a bad look when spectators attack players from a different school,” Peters told iWitness News.
“It is school children; it is not acceptable but it would have been easier to control where their coach can control them,” the PE teacher said.
“But when it is spectators, it is very difficult to control spectators of that sort because you are really fighting against adults, trying to fend them off of the students. So, in terms of control, it is much harder. That is what I mean.”
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How these parents expect these children to behave in life ? very shamefull.
This can soon evolve into an every three months happening where you have village against village fighting each other to blow off steam from the ULP/Gonsalves pressure. Is blows galore!