by recnal » Sun Sep 02 2012, 17:50
I played in the game, and as manager, player and committee member of Lancing United I am as dissapointed as anyone. However, the report from Sidney is way out of context. There was not a mass brawl, and we only had 2 sent off, neither for the incident he has commented on.
Our assistant manager was told to leave the pitch during the scuffle and that was it.
Facts are as follows.....
1) Our striker was sent off for 2 incidents of discent (no bad tackles or punches thrown). This was 10 minutes before the scrap.
2) Our sub was sent off for discent (as above)
3) As our sub was walking off, the young right back from Hunston (who looks a great prospect) squared up to him. Both players went head to head and their lad ended up with a bloody nose. This is inexcusable, and will be dealt with internally at our committee meeting tomorrow night. We are a family club and do not condone this behaviour. The FA will also have their official say and ban the player accordingly.
4) The next chain of events were caused by the Hunston 12 punching our sub full on in the mouth in defence of his player and leaving our sub needing 7 stitches in his chin. Unfortunately, the Hunston 12 picked on the wrong lad and he didn't flinch, and instead punched him back, with alot more effect.
5) Next the Hunston 7 had a dig, and once again, he got picked off by our sub.
Players from both sides then intervened and as things happened very quickly, nothing could have been done any sooner. There was no mass brawl, and it was an isolated incident from ONE of our players, simple as that.
After the game there were a few words exchanged and we offered to call the police in case anyone wanted to press charges for any form of assault etc. I think the fact that punches were exchanged between our lad, and a few or theirs stopped that from happening, especially as our lad copped a decent strike and had a trip to A&E for his troubles.
Whatever anyone has to say about this incident, the above are the FACTS> I saw it unfold 1st hand and was involved in splitting crowd memebers and players up. After the game I personally apologised to all of the Hunston boys, their manager and their staff, as did our Chairman and Vice Chairman. There were no further altercations and in my opinion we did well to control our player before he took any more of them out.
An experienced ref was in charge of the game (Bob Minty) and he will have the ultimate say in all of this. All I can do is apolgise, assure you all that this is not the kind of behaviour that we condone at Lancing United (we didn't have 1 player sent off last season!) and move on to the next game.
Admin might also want to lock this post now before it gets out of hand!
Bottom line is that Hunston spanked us 7-2 on our own patch and that is all that the record books will show, not any mention of a few players letting themselves down.
Cheers, and apologies once again to Hunston and the league.
Sooty
Form is temporary, class is permanent...
