I was at the playoff game last year between these two. The incident as described above is partly fiction. Broome's GK was red carded. I spoke with him after the game and he told me what happened. It was not for anything that was mentioned above and I didn't see him make that type of gesture.
If we are going to call out each other's programs, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that several of the fans from Palmetto were not only obnoxious to both Broome's players and fans but also lacked basic self control (and I'm not talking about regular fan heckling). This was made worse by the fact that Palmetto did not have any law enforcement personnel present to keep control of the situation. Without this presence a situation after the game was allowed to build until the Broome team and fans feared for their safety. I witnessed a large group of fans (and some members of the team) from Palmetto surround the Broome team as they attempted to board the bus and continue to jeer and heckle in an attempt to gain a response. The Broome players and some of the fans (including older family members who only came by to speak to their sons/grandsons) were threatened and asked by several of the "best" Palmetto High School's student body had to offer to stop by the local McDonald's to settle things in a physical manner. I understand how these young "men" might have thought that was the only resolution open to them. I was young once too and have been involved in similar situations. But what I didn’t agree with was the adults (both male and female) from Palmetto goading them on and offering to back them up if needed. Overall I was disappointed in the lack of control shown by some of the Palmetto team, some of its fans and most of its athletic department (none of the coaches would even admit that anything had happened or do anything to stop it). The only voice of reason from Palmetto was one of the members of the team who wrote on this board after the game how he understood it was what it was...a hard fought playoff game that the refs allowed to get too physical (on both sides). If Broome's #12 did what you said he did last night (I wasn't there this time because I actually feared for my family's safety), he was punished correctly by receiving yellow then red cards. That is what they are for. If you want to chastise a kid for making a dumb mistake (in his last soccer game, since he is a senior) then you need to chastise all of them (including members of your own team such as your GK from last year that was red carded for punching another player). Soccer is an emotional game. The players and fans both can allow that emotion to consume them and cause them to do things they will regret later. But, we as adults need to try everything to prevent that from happening.
Lastly, I don't agree with questioning the class of any school's program. You don't know the kids or the coaches from Broome just like I don't know the ones from Palmetto. A lot of these kids are good atheletes, students and role models that happen to be young, male and human. If we can't accept the fact that our own team's members are capable of making the same mistakes and lapses in judgment, then we are living in a fantasy world. It's how we as adults handle ourselves after the fact (and show these young men how to handle themselves) that is truly important. And questioning the class of another program on a message board while hiding behind an alias (whether intentional or not) is not the way to do it.
