[MOD EDIT: THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT ANYTHING HAPPENING AT POP WARNER ON DISNEY PROPERTY.. IT'S SOMETHING ELSE FROM 2006]
You hear about football players getting into shoving matches but I guess it is not a new for PW parents to get involved in the fights. Listed below is an article from a Jacksonville newspaper 2006 article that talks about a near riot between two Florida PW teams. Seems that some of the parents were leading the riot and it got to the point that one parent stuck another parent with a down marker while another parent was reported heading to their car for a gun!
Crowd was ready for some footbrawl
A Keystone Heights Pop Warner football tourney ends in unsportsmanlike style.
By DANA TREEN, The Times-Union
There was no ruling Monday, but unsportsmanlike conduct was a strong contender after a passion for youth-league football turned to fisticuffs during the weekend in Keystone Heights.
In a midfield melee between Pop Warner football teams from the Jacksonville and Orlando areas, one man was beaten with a measuring chain and police said witnesses reported another man headed to his car for a gun.
No shots were fired and no one was seriously injured, but the fight near the end of a game Saturday between Junior Midgets teams emptied the benches and drew coaches and players' parents onto the field.
Clay County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to quiet the fight that observers said started over a close game between teams of 12- to 14-year-old players.
Stella Brown of Interlachen was at Little Rain Lake park when the fight broke out about 3 p.m. She said the shade had drawn her to the sidelines, where the South Orange Bears from near Orlando had its team benches.
She said she could hear parents cursing.
"They just got upset because they were losing," she said. "It was a tight game."
About that time, one player pushed another and a scrap started.
Coaches and adults poured onto the field, and one man grabbed a marker and chain used to measure distances on the field and hit one of the Forestview Tigers' coaches.
The victim was bleeding from his mouth and lips when deputies arrived, according to a police report.
Brown said one woman grabbed an umbrella and was threatening kids before striding across the field.
"She was threatening the Jacksonville side with the umbrella," Brown said. "There were so many people and players on the field the referees couldn't control it."
One team finally was pulled into an end zone and the other put outside a gate to restore order.
"Once the mamas and all got involved, it was a pretty tough situation," said Ronnie Thomas, president of the Keystone Heights Pop Warner Association. "It was kind of like a riot."
Each team has about 20 players, as well as coaches and parents, he said.
Thomas said his organization was one of the hosts of the Azalea Bowl tournament that included several games at the park Saturday.
Other games also were taking place in other areas, he said.
Thomas said his group is beginning to think there should be a deputy at future tournament games.
"We don't know if we want to have it again," he said.
Ricky Wright, president of the Putnam Athletic League, said his organization oversaw the tournament and is sorting out who was responsible.
Wright, who is a lieutenant for the Clay County Sheriff's Office and has 22 years in law enforcement, said he doesn't know what sanctions or restrictions will be placed on those found responsible.
"It does not send a good message," he said. "We do not want any adults to be a part of this if they cannot control their emotions."
Not all of us are privy to the information that you are somehow pulling up from somewhere...
