Junior soccer brawl hearing to probe role of adults in ‘escalation’

A FOOTBALL Gold Coast disciplinary hearing into a junior soccer fixture brawl will determine whether adults who got involved went “over the top”.

Both police and Football Gold Coast are investigating a brawl on the field involving spectators during an under-15s match, with police alleging a man in his 40s coward punched a 13-year-old. Police have appealed for witnesses to the drama at Mudgeeraba Soccer Club on July 10.

Both Mudgeeraba and Ormeau football clubs have now submitted written reports for a Football Gold Coast disciplinary hearing next week.

Football Gold Coast general manager Damien Bresic yesterday shed more light on the incident, saying he understood it started with two youngsters and “escalated from there”.

“Was that escalation warranted, was the intervention over the top, was excessive force used? I don’t know.

“I’m a parent, I have three kids and if I saw my son being laid into by one, two, three people – do I sit back and watch or go help him? That’s the grey area. Was it meant to assist or to exact more violence? Was it assistance or vengeance? That is something that hopefully our disciplinary panel will get to the bottom of.”

Mr Bresic said the threeperson panel comprised a Football Federation of Australia commissioner, an expolice officer and a former Football Gold Coast board member.

“We have the Mudgeeraba versions and the Ormeau versions and somewhere in the middle of all that we need to find out the truth,” he said.

Punishments available to the tribunal include life bans for anyone involved.