St-Leonard Cougars Junior OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE re: ‘brawl in stands’

Montreal October 21, 2010 – The St-Leonard Cougars Junior Football Corporation would like to apologize for the unfortunate incident which transpired last Saturday October 16th, 2010, in Hamilton during a Semi-Final game.

We would like extend our most sincere apologies to our fans in Quebec, our sponsors, who have supported us over the years as well as to the City of Hamilton and the real fans of the Hamilton Hurricanes.

The Corporation fully intends to assume its responsibilities in this matter. We are
currently waiting on the Ontario Football Conference (OFC)’s disciplinary committee’s ruling regarding this incident. Concurrently the organization is conducting its own internal investigation of the incident in order to take the proper disciplinary actions against the players and coaching personnel involved.

First and foremost, the Corporation’s Executives have accepted the resignation of Head Coach Mr. Jeffrey Rached effective October 20th, 2010.

At this point, the Corporation would like to clarify the following:

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[*]The Hamilton Hurricanes organisation did not abide by an OFC rule which states that spectators are not to be allowed behind the visiting team’s bench. Proper security was not provided.
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[*]During the game, in the second quarter our head coach informed the head referee as to what was going on behind the players’ bench (verbal harassments as well as objects being thrown at our players) and askedhim to intervene however no concrete action was taken thus allowing the situation to degenerate.
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[*]Finally a plea was made by our Operation Manager to Hamilton President, Mr. Mike Samuel to intervene in this situation; he chose not to.Rest assured that the St-Leonard Junior Football Corporation will take all necessary measures to prepare for next season as well as proper precautions to avoid a similar incident in the future.
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