REVERE, Massachusetts (WCVB) -- Tensions escalated during a youth flag football game in Revere on Saturday when an argument between a referee and a coach became physical.
The incident was captured on video by a grandparent of one of the players at the game. It showed the two men getting pulled apart by a crowd of adults, as several children watched the scene.
“I was outraged. I was totally outraged. I said, ‘what the heck is going on here?’” one grandparent, who did not want to be identified, told NewsCenter 5.
Jeff Etienne, the referee, identified himself as the official involved in the altercation with the coach. Etienne, who has been officiating flag football games for two decades, said that in all his years, an incident like this has never happened.
“In the 20 years that I’ve been officiating, that’s the first time it happened, and it will be the very last,” Etienne told NewsCenter 5.
According to Etienne and multiple witnesses who were at the game, the two men had become involved in an argument about a disagreed upon call. The coach of one of the Mass Outlaws teams began yelling in Etienne’s face about the play, witnesses said, and when the coach refused to back off, Etienne said that he defended himself and pushed him away.
“I do take responsibility and just like many other times that I’ve had coaches yell at me - I’ve walked away from it, and that’s what I should have done,” Etienne said.
Mass Outlaws, the organization whose coach was involved in the altercation, confirmed that one of its coaches became frustrated by a call.
“Our coach was frustrated with calls being made and was questioning a call about blitzes that were originally in our favour and then flipped to the other team’s favour within the course of one play,” the organization wrote in a statement. “The situation unfortunately escalated quickly and got physical. The game was stopped at that point.”
The organization stressed that the incident does not reflect the standards that it tries to uphold for its athletes, nor does it represent the character of the two men who were involved.
“This sort of situation should never happen in youth sports... sometimes a negative situation arises in the heat of the moment in a game, and it overshadows many of the more positive moments and outcomes that come from youth sports,” the organization said. “These two people are generally level-headed and positive around players and strive to present a positive influence and this situation is not indicative of their character.”
According to Etienne, after the game, he and the coach came together to discuss their frustrations and apologized, adding that they even hugged before they went their separate ways.
“It should never ever be that serious. We’re not playing for millions of dollars. We’re not playing in the NFL. It’s youth. At the end of the day, these kids are learning. They should have fun. Let’s not make it about us,” Etienne said.
By Arielle Mitropoulos
