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Woburn police investigating after alleged fracas following youth football game
No charges have been filed against those involved.
A “scuffle” broke out after a Pop Warner football game Sunday afternoon, according to Woburn police.
Woburn Police Chief Robert Rufo emailed Boston.com to say that the game was between Pop Warner teams from Woburn and Roxbury, where 12- and 13-year-olds play tackle football and compete against other teams in the region.
Rufo wrote that the brief scuffle included “some interference from a Roxbury parent.” He said that the incident remains under investigation, and as of Tuesday afternoon, no charges had been filed against those involved.
Boston.com could not reach Woburn’s coach for comment. Roxbury’s coach, Lazar Franklin, has a different perspective on Sunday. He says that a player from the opposing team used racial slurs at one of his players.
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Lazar says the referees didn’t handle the situation correctly, and his player was pulled out of the game.
When the players went to shake hands at the end of the game, the same Woburn player repeated the slur, causing an uproar among them, he said.
Lazar said no parents were ever on the field, and the team left the field respectfully.
“This is a lot of nonsense,” Franklin said by phone to Boston.com, speaking of the reports that have come out on what happened.
However, one parent who attended the game to watch her 12-year-old son play on the Woburn team has a different account.
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“I definitely never had an experience like this,” said Keri Rodrigues, who watched the game from the sidelines, in a phone call to Boston.com.
Rodrigues says the game started around 12:30 p.m. on the field behind Woburn Memorial High School. She recalls that a few Roxbury players were aggressive from the start, resulting in one player being removed from the game.
“It was a tough game,” she said. But, “towards the end of the fourth quarter, Woburn pulled it out.”
Rodrigues said Woburn won the game by a small margin and cheered together in the middle of the field when the game concluded. But that was quickly dissipated when some players from Roxbury began to jump and grab at a few Woburn team members’ helmets, she said.
Then, three mothers escalated the situation further by running onto the field and “spitting,” “choking,” and “swinging” at some of the players, she said.
“I’ve never seen parents intervene and charge at kids who are 12 and 13 years old,” said Rodrigues, who immediately jumped onto the field to make sure her son wouldn’t be hurt.
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Rodrigues said the coaches were able to intervene and separate the players. The police also showed up to help de-escalate the situation.
“To see this kind of behavior from parents — it’s not a great example to set for kids,” Rodrigues said. “Kids are supposed to be learning commitment, taking responsibility, and being a part of the team.”
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