Enforcing safety in children’s sports starts with verifying that all of the players are fit to be playing on the field. This includes behavioral problems. Yesterday, my own children partook in a flag rugby jamboree in Canton, MA where one seemingly disturbed child kept incurring in fouls by blocking (not allowed), biting, punching and ultimately putting an elbow to my son’s back while he did not even have a ball. After the game I went to speak to the organizers about this child, as many of the players on my team were dumbfounded by the lack of enforcement with this child and a brute coaching the host side told me to “drop it” and proceeded to spew lies about what the our kids were doing and spoke to me in a demeaning way and aggressively. I was on coaching and line judge duty and saw nothing he stated except that child that insisted on playing contact and in a dirty way. When I clarified that this was not about the game, rather that as a parent I am concerned and that two of my boys were playing, he stated “I don’t give a shit“, and that set me off. No need to indulge in the language I used with him (I am ashamed, but never say you do not give a shit about my kids). I am just shocked that somebody involved with children would condone that type of violent behavior and then try to create a situation with me for expressing concern.
