Disney Kicks Out Some Pop Warner Teams After Fight

[yasmina]

Good for Disney, if the parents can't or will not take responsibility for the kids, then they will suffer the raft of the MOUSE!!!![/QUOTE]

I'm sorry, this one is too good. I couldn't let this one slide. Talk about a Freudian slip! Good thing that team from Hawaii now has a way to get home! LOL LOL LOL LOL!

Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm only pointing out the error, and a funny one at that. I mean no implied racism or criticism of the groups involved. I have an opinion about this, but it's been pretty well voiced on this thread already.

 

[Shutterbug]

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/NEWS01/712130365/1001

Hawaii teen teams may be suspended for brawl

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

An investigation being conducted by Pop Warner football's national league could lead to suspensions and probation for two Hawai'i teams involved in a brawl with a Maryland team at a Walt Disney resort in Orlando.

Sam Mutz, the national football commissioner for Pop Warner, said the teams could be suspended from postseason participation. Pop Warner officials are in the "preliminary stages" of the probe and are sorting through exactly what happened.

The three teams were participating with 61 other teams in the Pop Warner Super Bowl, which was held Dec. 2 to 8 in Orlando. Disney officials ordered the three teams and their families to check out of the resort at 3 a.m. Saturday after the fight.

"It's disappointing because it was a tremendous week of competition, great games and thousands of families out enjoying the event," said Mutz from Philadelphia, near the Pop Warner headquarters in Langhorne, Pa. "We take this very seriously and they (the three teams involved) could incur penalties based on what's taken place.

"We discuss this with all the coaches and players prior to the event and we address sportsmanship and how to conduct themselves at the event and while on the resort property. The Hawai'i teams are typically well behaved and it's uncharacteristic for events like this to happen."

Mutz said he was called to the resort at 1:30 a.m. and met with administrative members from all three teams involved in the altercation. However, he was not told exactly what happened other than a large fight broke out.

Team administrators were not clear about what happened and could not provide a detailed explanation, he said.

The league is collecting statements from each team and will speak with Disney officials and the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Mutz said Pop Warner Super Bowl attendees had claimed the Baltimore team had been involved in other incidents during the week but nothing could be substantiated.

KAHALU'U BOY INJURED

The fight involving more than two dozen players and at least three chaperones from three teams sent a 15-year-old Kahalu'u boy to the hospital with a broken nose and prompted the eviction of about 70 Hawai'i residents from the Walt Disney All-Star Resort.

Jerry Neuman, president of Pop Warner football in Hawai'i, did not return several messages seeking comment yesterday. Administrative directors for the Kahalu'u and Wai'anae Pop Warner associations also did not return several messages seeking comment.

EYEWITNESSES

Hawai'i parents and witnesses who were at the Walt Disney All-Star Resort on Saturday morning said that people with the Westport Patriots of Baltimore, the Kahalu'u He'eia Broncos and the Wai'anae Tigers got into a fight near an arcade in a hotel courtyard.

They said the fight broke out after members of the Baltimore team taunted, then attacked, a group of boys from the Kahalu'u team, prompting members of the Wai'anae team to get involved. The incident escalated into an altercation involving at least 30 people, according to parents on the trip.

Shortly after the fight, at about 3 a.m., the 70 players and family members from O'ahu, as well as families from Baltimore, were given written notices from the Walt Disney resort informing them that they had 20 minutes to vacate the property or Orange County sheriff's deputies would be called to remove them.

"My son was sick. He had kidney stones and was running a fever and we got kicked out of the place," said Chris Fowler, father of a Wai'anae player.

 

[Belle1962]

Sam Mutz, the national football commissioner for Pop Warner[/COLOR], ...
Mutz said he was called to the resort at 1:30 a.m. and met with administrative members from all three teams involved in the altercation. However, he was not told exactly what happened other than a large fight broke out.QUOTE]



And where was he staying? Obviously not with the riff raff in the values.

 

[Camster0307]

...The participants should have been removed from the premises..but if there were families in their own rooms...not involved...they should not have been kicked out in the middle of the night......

Really? How was Disney supposed to determine who the "participants" were? According to all news reports, NO ONE was accepting any responsibility for the brawl. There were too many conflicting reports that charges couldn't even be filed! So too bad - they ALL had to go! As I said earlier, the fault lies with those that were in that arcade - that's who those families should be upset with.

 

[akhenaten]

Really? How was Disney supposed to determine who the "participants" were? According to all news reports, NO ONE was accepting any responsibility for the brawl. There were too many conflicting reports that charges couldn't even be filed! So too bad - they ALL had to go! As I said earlier, the fault lies with those that were in that arcade - that's who those families should be upset with.

I figured that the security and the police called to the incident would have found the participants at the scene..... Thats how.......

 

[disneykid4ever]

"Both Hawaii and Baltimore have high levels of poverty and atrocious schools. I knew of several parents in Hawaii who sent their kids back to the mainland to live with relatives b/c attending school there (even private, IF they could afford it) was so detrimental to their educations. Reading levels of Hawaiian students are consistently a few years behind those of average mainland schools... Also, one thing I will always remember about Hawaii is going to the Wal-Mart in Waipahu and noticing the kids that just run free, all over the store! You could walk in at 2 am any day of the week, (and we frequently did) and the place would be PACKED, and there would still be kids running around like chickens with their heads cut off!! You just got used to kids bumping into you while you shopped. The culture there is very different from "mainstream" culture. A vast majority of natives don't really push their kids to get an education, and there is a lot of gang issues with the "kids"."


Okay, Princess this is where you have lost me. Your generalizations about education and schools in Hawaii (both public and private) are just plain wrong. I can tell you that there are great private schools in Hawaii, top notch in fact. Ever heard of Iolani, Punahou, Sacred Hearts, Le Jardin, Academy of the Pacific? And that is just on Oahu. My brother and I were lucky enough to attend private school, so kudos to our parents for that. My brother is working on a Masters degree and I already have my Masters in Elementary Ed, so obviously our Hawaiian private school education did not hinder us at all. While not everyone has the kind of resources it takes to give a private education to their children, we also have blue ribbon public schools in Hawaii. That's right, you heard me, blue ribbon. I did my student teaching at one of them, so I know first hand that they exist. Your generalizations are not only incorrect, but frankly ignorant. There isn't a state in the union that has 100% blue ribbon public schools; there are struggling schools everywhere, and to imply that kids who live in Hawaii are somehow grossly behind everyone else in their education is a claim you are not qualified to make.

Secondly, as far as unsupervised kids running around like maniacs in stores is concerned, that happens EVERYWHERE. In fact, I just went to two Ross Stores in Orlando a month ago and there were at least a half dozen kids at either store running around, screaming, and basically wreaking havoc while their moms calmly and casually looked through clothing racks. I about lost my marbles because I could barely hear myself think with all the mayhem. There weren't any locals/Hawaiians around at those stores.

To say that the culture in Hawaiian is not "mainstream", is hilarious to me. We aren't aliens from another planet. Just because the way some things are done in Hawaii are not the way you are used to doesn't mean they aren't mainstream. Who says your way is mainstream?

 

[grlpwrd]

...

"Both Hawaii and Baltimore have high levels of poverty and atrocious schools. I knew of several parents in Hawaii who sent their kids back to the mainland to live with relatives b/c attending school there (even private, IF they could afford it) was so detrimental to their educations. Reading levels of Hawaiian students are consistently a few years behind those of average mainland schools... Also, one thing I will always remember about Hawaii is going to the Wal-Mart in Waipahu and noticing the kids that just run free, all over the store! You could walk in at 2 am any day of the week, (and we frequently did) and the place would be PACKED, and there would still be kids running around like chickens with their heads cut off!! You just got used to kids bumping into you while you shopped. The culture there is very different from "mainstream" culture. A vast majority of natives don't really push their kids to get an education, and there is a lot of gang issues with the "kids"."


Okay, Princess this is where you have lost me. Your generalizations about education and schools in Hawaii (both public and private) are just plain wrong. I can tell you that there are great private schools in Hawaii, top notch in fact. Ever heard of Iolani, Punahou, Sacred Hearts, Le Jardin, Academy of the Pacific? And that is just on Oahu. My brother and I were lucky enough to attend private school, so kudos to our parents for that. My brother is working on a Masters degree and I already have my Masters in Elementary Ed, so obviously our Hawaiian private school education did not hinder us at all. While not everyone has the kind of resources it takes to give a private education to their children, we also have blue ribbon public schools in Hawaii. That's right, you heard me, blue ribbon. I did my student teaching at one of them, so I know first hand that they exist. Your generalizations are not only incorrect, but frankly ignorant. There isn't a state in the union that has 100% blue ribbon public schools; there are struggling schools everywhere, and to imply that kids who live in Hawaii are somehow grossly behind everyone else in their education is a claim you are not qualified to make.

Secondly, as far as unsupervised kids running around like maniacs in stores is concerned, that happens EVERYWHERE. In fact, I just went to two Ross Stores in Orlando a month ago and there were at least a half dozen kids at either store running around, screaming, and basically wreaking havoc while their moms calmly and casually looked through clothing racks. I about lost my marbles because I could barely hear myself think with all the mayhem. There weren't any locals/Hawaiians around at those stores.

To say that the culture in Hawaiian is not "mainstream", is hilarious to me. We aren't aliens from another planet. Just because the way some things are done in Hawaii are not the way you are used to doesn't mean they aren't mainstream. Who says your way is mainstream?

Excellent points.... and hello! I have the impression that Princess spent her 3 years "outside looking in" or maybe just making racist, stereotypical observations rather than really knowing the 'aina. (= the land and its people)

I went to a rival school, but Sun Yat Sen (Chinese revolutionary) attended Iolani Steve Case (AOL). Pierre Omidyar (eBay), and Barack Obama went to Punahou. These are just extreme examples....there are public and private schools there whose graduating students became successful in their own right. I think overall private schools are pretty good there. I think it's bad to generalize that all the schools are horrible no matter what the state.

Anyways, has anyone heard of any updates?

 

[nebo]

Imagine if you were some unsuspecting guests of the hotel who couldn't sleep late at night because kids are fighting outside your room. It's unlikely that the kids would have been fighting if they were properly chaperoned.

I don't have to imagine. let me tell you, we stayed at asmu from dec 6-10 and there were disturbances all week!. (now before I get flamed, I am sure there were SOME groups who behaved and whose chaperone's did their job.)
these kids roamed in packs, the girls loudly chanting their cheers at all hours of the morning, they and the boys , at all hours. were running up and down the resorts, screaming, constantly swearing, very loudly.. (even the tavern I used to work at did not allow major swearing! I don't need to be subjected to these words at disney!) we complained in person and on the phone a few times to castmembers. when you are getting up very early to take advantage of early entry, sleep would be nice! I did see groups of parents gathered on the "balconies" outside the rooms, drinking and partying themselves while the kids ran amock, IN THEIR view, and the adults did nothing.

If disney is going to subject "unsuspecting" guests (and we were, CR did not warn us at all) to such groups, they should have extra security guards to enforce curfews.
(sorry if I repeated anything others have said.) as Dory would say "glad I got that off my chest!"

 

[akhenaten]

If disney is going to subject "unsuspecting" guests (and we were, CR did not warn us at all) to such groups, they should have extra security guards to enforce curfews.
(sorry if I repeated anything others have said.) as Dory would say "glad I got that off my chest!"

So sorry you had that experience on your vacation! I have never experienced that at disney, but I have seen the issues about these groups talked about on the DIS for years.
ITA with you Disney needs to have better security when they have these youth groups.... to prevent the problems. Kicking people out in the middle of the night , after the fight , is like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. They have a responsibility to the other guests to PREVENT these incidents!
I feel sorry for the families who may have scrimped and saved for their only vacation at Disney if it coincides with one of these times.....

 

[smidgy]

(first, I acccidentally posted under hubby Nebo's name - sorry honey!)

now that I hve read the entire thread, I reiterate: this fight was NOT one isolated incident, or as the baltimore parent said, "one" moment. there was RAMPANT misbehavior, disruptions, disturbances and BLATANT disregard of others, by the teams AND the adult chaperones ALL WEEK. while I definietly applaud Disney for dealing with the groups the way they did, I do wish they had dealt with them earlier, BEFORE a brawl broke out. It would have made our stay much more enjoyable. the night BEFORE the fight AND the night before that I called the front desk in the middle of the night to ask that something be done.