COACHES of the Presentation College and Shiva Boys Hindu College football teams, Sean Cooper and Dexter Francis respectively, have openly expressed their sympathy towards assistant referee Kevin Charles, who was attacked by an unruly football fans Godfrey Adams during Monday’s South Intercol final between the school at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
Both coaches expressed displeasure with Adam’s actions and called for a swift investigation into the incident.
After 80 minutes of play in the zonal final, Adam unexpectedly ran onto the field and smashed a bottle onto Charles’ head after he refused to alert the referee on a supposed hand-ball decision in the Presentation penalty box. Adams’ action forced three officers to subdue him at the edge of the field.
However, when the officers attempted to escort the offender out of the stadium, a crowd of angry supporters wrestled Adam away from the officers to beat him.
The incident sparked a frenzy among the crowd and led to the game being called off. Secondary Schools officials have since said the remaining 10 minutes will be played today at a closed door match at the same venue. In response to the fan’s unruly actions, coach of the San Fernando-based team Sean Cooper, condemned Adams’ behaviour.
“Well I did not know what was happening until I saw the commotion on the side-line. Pertaining to this matter, a referee’s decision is final. We (Pres) have had several questionable calls that went against us this season and we were forced to accept them. You would never see one of our spectators doing such things,” he indicated.
But, the Presentation coach admitted that it was good the incident happened in the way it did, than upset spectators wait until the game concluded to violently display their thoughts on the field.
“It’s a sad thing but think about if this person and other irate supporters waited for the game to finish and then storm the field. Both team’s players and officials would have been at an even greater risk. This is not good for football, especially in the school’s division. I’m just happy that all my players and staff are Ok,” added.
Vice-principal of the prestigious south school, Preston Kissoon, expressed total dissatisfaction with the incident. He was particularly concerned for the player’s safety and advised the school to sit out any future match against Shiva Boys.
Kissoon boldly stated that Presentation will not succumb to this type of decision and has put forward a proposal to the SSFL that they (Pres) will either take full points or a win or forfeit the zonal final. Coach of the Shiva Boys team, Dexter Francis also condemned the violent actions undertaken by Adam.
“It’s unfortunate. To be honest this entire situation has spiralled out of control. What kind of example is this big man (Adam) setting for youngsters? Youths copy actions of adults, and to do such a thing at a school’s football game is very unacceptable. If we allow this to slide then are setting a bad precedent for our young players and spectators especially,” he stated.
Principal of Shiva Boys, Dexter Sakal expressed sadness toward Monday’s scenario and dubbed Adam’s actions as “unfortunate and unjust”.
16