Teams' rematch has cops on alert
January fight lands them on probation
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
By Jim Derry and Sandra Barbier
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau
When Andrew Jackson travels to play Abramson High School in New
Orleans in a District 8-I soccer game today, the scene will include
more than just players and coaches.
There also will be officers from the New Orleans Police
Department working there.
After a fight between players on the teams at Abramson in
January, both today's game and the rematch at Andrew Jackson next
month will be watched closely by security and administrators. Also
looking on will be the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.
The LHSAA, which directed the two schools to play both games
without spectators, fined both schools and placed them on probation
for one year, reprimanded both coaches and penalized three players.
If the Colonels and Commodores meet in the playoffs, spectators
will be allowed.
"We gave them a chance to work it out," LHSAA Commissioner Tommy
Henry said recently. When officials at the two schools were unable
to resolve the cause and effects of the incident, the LHSAA convened
a sportsmanship hearing in public in Kenner on March 23.
'Racial epithets'
"We kept getting conflicting reports. . . . I said, 'We're going
to have a hearing and get to the bottom of this.' " Henry said.
The committee was composed of Hahnville High School Principal
Barbara Fuselier and LHSAA executive committee representatives Gary
Duhe and Don Jones. The hearing was conducted by LHSAA Assistant
Commissioner B.J. Guzzardo Jr.
After looking at written documents and listening to witnesses
testify, the committee found that there was "too much 'trash talk'
and racial epithets, as well as threats" spoken and heard by players
and coaches of both teams at the Jan. 13 game, a report on the
hearing said.
Andrew Jackson was fined $200 and ordered to pay half the hearing
costs, $220.14. Abramson had the same fine, and it was fined an
additional $200 for failing to have either security or
administrators at the game.
Both Andrew Jackson coach Bob Gegenheimer and Abramson coach
Frank Mulé were reprimanded for allowing spectators and other
"nonteam personnel" on the sidelines during the match.
Andrew Jackson players Chris Dier, Eric Bastoe and Chase Nunez
were each suspended for the first three regular-season games, a
punishment which each has served.
Abramson players Laterrio Dickerson, Sean Smith and Leo Collier
served suspensions for the first two games.
Abramson principal praised
The committee directed Abramson officials to have at least one
uniformed security officer at all of the school's home soccer
matches, but it commended the school's principal, Kelvin Adams, for
his quick response to the incident.
After the fight, Adams disciplined about 12 Abramson students.
Gegenheimer had said he did not discipline any of his players
because they had defended themselves.
Both schools are on probation for a year from March 29, the date
of the committee's ruling, Henry said. That means if there is
another problem with the soccer teams, the teams can be suspended
from the LHSAA, he said.
Gegenheimer said he has put the incident behind him, and he
wishes others would do the same.
"The LHSAA made their ruling, and we have to abide by it, and we
have," he said. "We paid our fine, and we sat out our suspended
players for the required time, and now we're just ready to move on.
"We just want to play some soccer. My opinion on it is we had an
excellent team last year, and this year we have an excellent team.
And I'm really sorry that the only thing people want to talk about
is a 10-second episode."
Abramson Athletic Director Collins Woods said all the school's
security procedures are being re-evaluated, not just for its game
against Andrew Jackson but for all of its opponents in all sports.
He will be in attendance at today's game, and he said he expects
things to run smoothly.
Emulating the pros
To him, recent incidents at national sports events have set a bad
example, and he hopes that his student-athletes will refrain from
emulating what they see on television. Violence such as the fight at
an NBA game last month, when players from the Indiana Pacers went
into the stands at Detroit and struck Pistons fans, have only done
harm.
"We expect our young men to act properly," Woods said. "These
kids see their idols on the screen brawling in the stands during an
NBA game, and then there's (University of South Carolina football
coach) Lou Holtz trying to break up a fight on the field during a
South Carolina-Clemson game. It doesn't take much to spark a fire,
and kids seeing this stuff on television doesn't help."
Henry said the hearing was a good call.
"I've never known when we had a sportsmanship committee hearing .
. . that some good didn't come out of it," he said.
Sometimes, that's simply an opportunity to get both sides to the
table to air their anger and frustrations, and to get school
principals to recognize their mistakes, he said.
A hearing "is to fix responsibility, but the main thing is to try
to prevent it happening (again) in the future," he said.
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