STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Instead of cheering for their young boys, parents attending a Catholic Youth Organization basketball game Saturday night had to break up a courtside fight.
A video posted to social media and sent to the Advance/SILive.com captured the physical altercation, which broke out just after 9:20 p.m. in the gymnasium of St. Teresa’s in Castleton Corners.
The 43-second clip was taken from a camera positioned in a corner of the facility, looking down diagonally on the court.
The footage shows a woman wearing a gray sweater and holding a camera approach another woman in red who was seated at a table beneath the camera.
Although it is not clear from the video who began the verbal exchange, the woman in gray can be seen speaking to the seated woman before turning away. The woman in red leans forward in her chair and the woman in gray sharply turns back.
The two can then be seen gesturing with their hands as the woman in red rises up out of her chair.
As all this goes on, the young boys in uniform can be seen filtering back onto the court.
The woman in red then approaches the woman in gray, who sets her camera down on the table. The woman in gray appears to point out at the court before shoving the woman in red, who at that point was face to face with the other woman, the video shows.
The two then begin to grapple as some concerned spectators in the bleachers step forward.
The woman in red grabs the other woman’s hair, then the latter begins swinging her arms.
By this point, several individuals rush to try and split the pair apart. Meanwhile, other adults corral the boys on the court.
Several men throw themselves into the mix in an apparent attempt to break the women apart. During this chaos, the woman in gray can be seen connecting a couple glancing blows to the head of the woman in red.
After a few seconds the group is able to separate the women. Simultaneously, a man in a baseball cap comes in and grapples with one of the men in the mix.
At this point, some of the other men begin to grab at the man in the cap, who struggles to break free. The group of men find themselves back at the corner of the gymnasium and the man in the cap is subsequently pinned against the wall.
The woman in gray then grabs two of the men pushing the man in the cap by their arms. While she is doing this, the woman in red approaches from behind and smacks her in the back of her head a couple times, as seen in the video.
The video then stops amid this altercation.
An extended struggle
A parent who witnessed the melee in the gym told the Advance/SILive.com that despite efforts from officials, the entire struggle continued for several minutes and resulted in the cancellation of the 6th grade boys’ game.
“Boys were crying, they were so upset, they didn’t know what was happening,” the parent said.
The parent said the woman in red was collecting money at the door for St. Teresa’s, while the woman in gray was a parent from the visiting St. Clare’s team. The witness explained that the two women were involved in a verbal dispute that escalated.
The parent said that this was not the first time she’s witnessed bad behavior among adults at youth sporting events on Staten Island.
“It’s like a disgrace, it really is,” the witness expressed.
“You come to watch the kids’ sports game on a Saturday night,” the witness added. “Everybody kind of gets riled up in the game, right? You know, you have your comments, people say things or whatever, but it just shouldn’t be. I think it’s getting to a point where they’re not going to let spectators in the gym anymore because parents just seem really to be out of control.”
The witness said a priest from St. Clare’s R.C. Church was in attendance Saturday night and witnessed the shocking behavior.
According to the Archdiocese of New York Catholic Youth Organization Code of Conduct, participating teams and their coaches are responsible for the conduct of their spectators. Moreover, a spectator who displays poor sportsmanship may be removed from the facility.
Those who interfere with the conduct of an organization activity may be barred from attendance at subsequent Catholic Youth Organization activities.
A request for comment was made to Catholic Youth Organization officials, the Archdiocese of New York, the parish sports coordinator for St. Clare’s and the Catholic Youth Organization director for St. Teresa’s. No comments were returned by the time of publication.
A person who answered the phone at St. Teresa’s Church declined to comment. A person who answered the phone at St. Clare’s did not provide any information on the conflict.
