 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Local News
|
Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 11:31 AM
Official says referees should have stopped fight By Michael Lindsay | Daily Times Staff Writer Physical play in any high school playoff game is pretty normal. But a fight between two players and a spectator running onto the field to break it up is not. Saturday's incident involving Hunt High School's football coach Randy Raper and two opposing players, including Raper's daughter, during the overtime of a state soccer playoff game between the Lady Warriors and Gray's Creek at Hunt High has sparked a key question: What should have happened to break up the fight? Rick Strunk, the associate executive director at the N.C. High School Athletic Association, said the normal protocol for incidents like the one Saturday is for the referees to handle it. "Usually, the officials are instructed to break up fights on the field," Strunk said Monday afternoon, "while the coaches are instructed to keep their players off the field. "Two kids, (the officials) can handle. But when there are players coming off the bench and when there are spectators concerned, that's when it can get dicey." But after several moments of fighting between the two players and none of the three game officials intervened, Raper left the spectator area and went onto the field. In a Wilson County Sheriff's report taken after the incident, Raper said he was trying to break up the fight. Raper knocked down the Gray's Creek player, but he told sheriff's deputies that it wasn't intentional and that he wasn't trying to hurt anyone. According to North Carolina law, a person may intervene to prevent a breach of the peace or a crime involving physical injury to another person. No charges were filed against Raper. Strunk said that in his experience, the Saturday altercation would be an exceptionally long time for a fight to go. Both players were ejected from the game and given a red-card, meaning an additional one-game suspension for the Hunt player, but they were uninjured in the altercation. Despite the overall physical nature of the playoff match, in which there were several injury stoppages for both teams, the two red-cards resulting from the incident were the only cards issued during the game. An ejection report that officials file with the NCHSAA was not filed yet as of Monday and are generally not made public, Strunk said. While sheriff's deputies were called to the field following the altercation, they weren't staffing the game. "For football and basketball, it's mandatory," Hunt athletic director Stevie Hinnant explained. "For all other sports, it's recommended, but you don't have to." Because of the prohibitive cost of hiring deputies for every event, Hinnant said that usually the decision to staff an event depends how deep into the playoffs a team is and the money that brings in. "The farther you go in the playoffs, the more money you bring in at the gate," he said. He said a deputy will be at tonight's third-round game against Jacksonville due to the large crowd that's expected. The game will be at Hunt at 6 p.m. Officials from Hunt are continuing its ongoing investigation and declined to release the names of the game officials. A similar request to the NCHSAA also went unreturned. Both schools will file reports with the NCHSAA, then the association will decide whether to act, Strunk said. Hunt, the champion of the Eastern Carolina Conference, won the game 2-1 in overtime and advanced to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 1999. mlindsay@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807
Add Comment:  (All comments must be approved)
View Comments: (0 comments)
|
|
|
|
