quote:
Originally posted by Coastal Soccer Club:
Well, I unfortunately attended the Bishop England / Barnwell game tonight and it was one the worst displays of sportsmanship I have witnessed in youth sports.

The Bishops won the game 7-1.

The first half was relatively clean, with a few exceptions. Unfortunately, the starting Barnwell forward challenged the BE Keeper near the end of the half and suffered a broken ankle, I hope he recovers, By the way, it was a clean play. It was 1-0 at the half, BE winning.

In the second half, the game turned ugly. Many cautions were handed out and the BE Goalkeeper was ejected for punching a Barnwell player. Then, with approximately 15 minutes to go, a Barnwell player was fouled and retaliated, the BE player who fouled him took exception to the retaliation and began throwing punches and both teams cleared their respective benches. In the end, two more BE players were ejected and one Barnwell player. Each team should be considered lucky that more players were not ejected.

In the end, 3 BE players were ejected and 1 Barnwell player. The number of cautions handed out for cheap/rough play was to high to count.

This was not the most “Shinning Moment” for high school soccer in our state….
MY God. Were you at the game?? Really? You couldn't have been watching, because no way could you really think you saw the keeper (Ricciardone) throw a punch. He was ran into way late, and responded by bumping the kid with his chest. While it was a stupid play, it definitely didn't warrant a red card. I understand that you probably don't like BE, but lets not post a bunch of garbage on a game you clearly weren't watching.

As for the game itself...the turning point where the game went sour was after the Barnwell forward broke his ankle. Again, as it says everywhere else, it was a great, CLEAN, play by Callandra and unfortunate that the kid was hurt. He was their best player and the only one pressuring up top, and some of the kids on Barnwell took exception and kids on both teams started talking trash to eachother.

Now for the fight:
A Barnwell player was tackled cleanly at midfield by a small freshman from BE. He then grabbed the kid and dragged him to the ground. Anyone reading this who says they wouldn't defend himself is a liar. I should add that the kid from Barnwell was atleast 80 pounds bigger and probably 3 or 4 years older, and really had no right to be anywhere near a soccer field to begin with. Just because there was a rush of players to center field does not make it a brawl. There were no other punches thrown, no wrestling, no more than some pushing and shoving in the midst of a fight. IT WAS NOT A BRAWL.
The other BE red card was in the aftermath of a fight for use of profanity...pretty stupid, I know.

As for Coach Khouri's quote, as much as it may bother you, it is completely accurate. I was next to the field most of the game and all you had to do was watch and listen. Sure it wasn't all of Barnwell, but I'd say the majority of the team completely gave up on winning and resorted to getting in as many shots as they could.
If you think it was BE who incited the whole ordeal, think about this:
How many red cards has BE had all season? None? OK.
The referee for the game was hands down the worst I've ever seen. After the game is reviewed, I think there's a good chance Ricciardone's red card can be appealed, and expect to see the same BE team in Lower State (Wednesday night, AT BISHOP ENGLAND). That's about it.