https://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/25/parents-brawl-in-the-stands-during-ontario-minor-hockey-game
Parents brawl in the stands during Ontario minor hockey game
BELLEVILLE, Ont. — A brawl between parents during a minor hockey game in Tweed, Ont., is an “embarrassment” says the president of the Tweed Minor Hockey Association.
The brawl broke out Saturday during the final minutes of the third period in a provincial Bantam C playoff game between the Tweed Hawks and the Six Nations Hawks, visiting from Ohsweken, near Brantford.
A two-minute video of the fight has been posted on YouTube and shows parents from both sides yelling obscenities back and forth before escalating into fisticuffs. In one scene, a man wearing a white baseball repeatedly punches another man in the head until another jumps in, only to be pulled off by another man swinging punches.
The brawl and the video, which had almost 51,000 views by Monday night, have caught the attention police.
The Ontario Provincial Police have begun an investigation and are viewing the video for information.
No charges have been laid.
Though he was not at the game, Tweed Minor Hockey Association president Ken McKichan said he has watched the video and was “disappointed” to see parents acting in such a manner.
“It’s sad that stuff like this does happen in minor hockey because there’s so many great things that could come out of it, but a few bad eggs spoil the whole bunch,” he said.
“People are passionate about their kids playing hockey and tempers can get out of control, but it’s an embarrassment,” McKichan said. “There’s no need for this.”
Blaine LaForme, president of Six Nations Minor Hockey Association, was at the game and said the brief video fails to show the whole story.
LaForme alleges Tweed fans were drinking in the parking lot prior to the afternoon game harassed Six Nations players and fans throughout the game.
LaForme can be seen briefly in the video – wearing a red baseball hat with a toothpick in his mouth – holding back a woman who yells toward Tweed fans.
From the beginning of the game, he said, the writing was on the wall that things were not going well. He said he approached officials four minutes into the game to express concern that the referees seemed to have lost control.
“I was neutral because it was going both ways and I was concerned about the safety of both teams,” he said. “It was the refereeing that escalated everything because there was a lot of stuff not getting called.”
