Adults rush to field, mar U-18 football match in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines—It may be called the Beautiful Game, but things can turn ugly once violence enters the pitch.

Adult spectators and teenage players engaged in a free-for-all on Sunday during an under-18 football match between Alcoy FC and Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu after alleged trash-talking erupted and were aimed towards the players from the former team.

According to a report from Sun Star Cebu, Alcoy Mayor Nick de los Santos said a town councillor’s son overheard someone trash-talk players from Alcoy FC saying that the athletes were poor and came from the rural areas.

De los Santos said that the players from Alcoy FC knew the game better than the SHC-AdC parents who allegedly took part in the brawl.

According to the report, three players from Alcoy FC were injured with goalkeeper Rodenel Binolirao Jr. sustaining a gash in the head after one spectator, an adult one, struck him, while the two others were on the receiving end of kicks from parents.

Binolirao and a player from SHC-AdC were wrestling on the ground when one spectator came in and mauled the goalkeeper before another adult spectator broke the melee.

“They are the ones who don’t know anything about the game,” de los Santos said. “They are the ones who are from the mountains and have no discipline.”

Alcoy FC coach Glenda Antig said that they would file charges against the parents who took part in the melee.

“We have the support of the Provincial Government, we will be sending a formal letter to the CFA and Ateneo,” Antig said in the report. “And (we) will file a case of child abuse against the parents who were responsible for the attack.”