Alleged disturbing behaviour witnessed on sidelines of kids’ soccer game in Windsor, Ont.

Parents are calling for action after alleged disturbing behaviour on the sidelines of a girls’ soccer game. CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco reports.

Parents allegedly hurling verbal shade, including racial slurs, at house-league soccer players as young as seven years old were seen over the weekend.

“I was really hoping I was wrong,” Alicia Culley told CTV News Tuesday afternoon. She looked back to a game at Ford Test Track on a day when Environment Canada issued a heat warning. Culley said she heard a racial slur doled out by a parent of an opposing team.

“Why can’t people like that play properly in the heat? If they can’t, then they shouldn’t be playing,” Culley said she heard unrelenting comments during the game and water breaks.

“Continuing on in the game, however, there are multiple other kids that are of colour on the team and anything that she had to say, and any racial slur or comment slandering, was towards a child of colour.”

Tianna Commisso and Aliya Haidous are members of the Sky Blue Windsor Soccer Club team and felt the negative energy on the field.

“They’re saying people who are Black, saying there’s something wrong with them being Black and it really hurt,” said Commisso.

Haidous was just as disappointed.

“I didn’t like it when the person said, like, I was red,” the seven-year-old explained.

“He said stuff, like rude and stuff, so that makes me weird, and (it’s) hurtful.”

The Windsor Soccer Club offered this statement to CTV News Tuesday saying, “We are aware of the incident, involving parents, that occurred during a recent nine-year-old girls’ house league soccer game. Although we have not received an official complaint, Windsor Soccer Club takes allegations of inappropriate behavior very seriously. We are currently investigating the incident.”

Team coach Cassandra Commisso said she made numerous phone calls to the club, but has yet to receive a return phone call. She said she plans to lodge a formal complaint.

Commisso stopped the game after feeling the comments were affecting the players.

“My daughter said to me, ‘Mom, is there (a) problem being Black?’, and when your kid says that to you, it’s heartbreaking. I was like, you know what? I’m done with this. Like, everybody round up,” Commisso explained.

Angelo Gertsakis, president of Elite Soccer Referees Academy in Essex County, said referees operate under the governance and guidelines of the Ontario Soccer Association.

“They’re all learning and language like this and any kind of abuse, racial slurs, is not tolerated at all, nor should it be and it needs to be dealt with,” Gertsakis said.

“Hopefully after an investigation there’s justice dealt out and it’s swift. We’ve got to remember, we got to treat everybody fairly. Everybody came to the soccer field to have fun, to have a good day and play with their friends.”

The incident was allegedly followed by another blow-up between two teams after a game at Mic Mac Park on Monday night. A parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said a comment was misunderstood as being racist, contributing to some of the post-game flare up.

Joe Barile, president of the Essex County Soccer Association, felt disappointed hearing about the incidents.

“When something happens in the game, we rely on a referee report,” Barile explained.

“I want to stress there’s no one person who’s going to be determining whether a person’s complaint is valid or not. We have independent bodies that evaluate any complaint, whether it’s at the provincial level or at the district level.”

One parent said they plan to file a human rights complaint with the Ontario Soccer Association (OSA).

“We encourage people to bring those complaints forward so an independent body can assess the validity of their complaints,” Barile said.

The complaint will be forwarded by the OSA to a third party to investigate. A decision will be made and shared by the OSA with the Essex County Soccer Association. The grievance will likely not be addressed before the end of the season and could take months to process.

“It bothers me a lot. That’s my baby over there. She’s seven years old,” Commisso said.

“She’s done this (played soccer) since she was three and we’ve been in this league. I don’t make commotion at all, so I expect when it’s something that’s serious, to be heard.”