Youth football league hopes to move on from parent brawl

The head of Bothell’s youth football association says he hopes the controversy over a brawl between parents from two leagues will soon subside, for the sake of the kids.

“The parents made some really bad choices that day and I feel really horrible about it,” Greg Fisherkeller, President of the Bothell Cougar Jr. Football Association, told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “It’s just a bad situation when you’re talking about kids playing a football game.”

The 9 and 10 year old kids had nothing to do with the recent melee between some parents from Bothell and the Renton Five Stars during a game at Bothell’s Pop Keeney Field Oct. 4.

The fight prompted the Greater Eastside Junior Football Association to ban both teams from the upcoming playoffs. It’s a decision that’s drawn widespread criticism, since the kids are being punished for something they had nothing to do with.

Fisherkeller didn’t speak specifically about the brawl or the fact that his team wouldn’t have qualified for the playoffs while Renton would have. While he says he disagrees with the punishment for both teams, his big motivation is moving on as quickly as possible.

“We still have a lot of little kids that are playing a lot of football and worked really hard to get where they’re at. We have a lot of great coaches, we have almost 99.9 percent of our families, are fantastic on both sides,” he says.

Fisherkeller says he has had a number of discussions with representatives of the Renton league and he is hoping to continue building bridges with all of the clubs in the league, parents and the community.

“This has been a big deal and we’re really looking forward to moving forward and being positive about the rest of the season, that’s for sure,” he says.

Dori, a long time high school and youth basketball coach, continues to argue while the parents should be banned from attending games, the kids should not be punished. And he worries all of the negative publicity will tarnish the reputation of the vast majority of parents who give tirelessly to youth sports.

“That’s one of my other frustrations with this story is it allows all these other morons in the media to say ‘yeah these adults, they’re just in it for themselves and they are living vicariously.’ No they’re not. Most adults who are involved in stuff like this are involved because they love building a community of kids and families,” he says.

Bothell police have cited two parents of a Bothell player for assault, KOMO TV first reported. Charges are expected.