A youth girls' flag football in Massachusetts had to be paused after a coach and the referee got into a physical altercation.
According to The New York Post, the coach, who has not been named, became frustrated with calls being made and was questioning a call about blitzes that were originally in his team's favor and then reversed within the course of a single play.
The coach, who leads the Massachusetts Outlaws, began yelling in long-time referee Jeff Entienne's face. Entienne then pushed the coach.
“The situation unfortunately escalated quickly and got physical,” the team said. “The game was stopped at that point.”
Parents were able to restrain the coach and pinned him to the ground before leading him away.
“I was outraged. I was totally outraged,” one grandparent, who didn’t want to be identified, told WCVB.
The scuffle unfolded in front of girls taking part in the Ghost Town Showdown tournament, which was held at Harry Della Russo Stadium, known as “The Boneyard.”
The tournament was open to girls divisions starting at six and under.
Etienne admitted his fault in the matter.
“I do take responsibility,” he said. “Just like [the] many other times that I’ve had coaches yell at me, I’ve walked away from it. That’s what I should have done. This sort of situation should never happen in youth sports. It should never ever be that serious. We’re not playing for millions of dollars. We’re not playing in the NFL.”
Etienne and the coach did apologize to one another once things had cooled off.
