The assistant coach of the girls U16 team of the Lakeshore Soccer Club has been indefinitely suspended following an allegedly racist outburst toward the end of a game on May 27th.
The Lakeshore team had scored a goal with a corner kick to tie the game against Longueuil, but a line judge ruled the play offside.
The assistant coach was allegedly enraged with the call and ran onto the field and verbally abused the line judge with racial slurs. He was given a red card by the game’s referee before finally leaving the field.
One parent whose daughter plays for Longueuil was at the game and tells Global News the assistant coach was very aggressive.
”He continued to push his point of view in a very aggressive way because he wouldn’t leave the field,” Karine Barbeau, told Global News.
The Lakeshore Soccer Club is investigating whether the assistant coach used racial slurs. The Director General told Global News an internal investigation is being conducted and following that a final decision will be made that could go as far as a permanent suspension. For now, the assistant coach remains sidelined.
The club issued the following statement online: “The coach has been removed from their coaching duties with our club. There is a zero tolerance policy on any form of racial discrimination, any form.”
Soccer Québec didn’t reply to requests for comment from Global News but also released an online statement: “Soccer Quebec and its regional associations strongly condemn any physical or verbal aggression towards the refereeing corps, whatever the context.”