Coaches hit hard in wake of ball brawl

Kevin Barrett

Telegraph-Journal

SAINT JOHN - The manager of the Saint John Little League All-Stars says he was never contacted by anyone during an investigation into a wild brawl during the Canadian Senior championship at Memorial Field in August.

And Tom Galbraith plans to appeal his indefinite suspension handed down by a Little League International Tournament Committee that also suspended Saint John coaches Richard Snow and Chris Bartlett as well as the coaches and managers of Les Elites des Valleyfield indefinitely as the result of melee between the teams.

"For anybody who is being disciplined, they should have the right to voice their opinion," Galbraith said Tuesday. "I was never contacted by anybody - not the tournament committee, not by Little League Canada, not by Little League International. Not one person called me, the manager of the team, to ask me what my opinion was, what I saw, what I thought."

None of the players on either team received any disciplinary actions by the committee, which is based in Williamsport, Pa., and rules on all matters relating to any Little League tournament.
In addition, Saint John is prohibited from serving as host of any national Little League championship until major safety and security improvements are made.

The ruling comes almost two months after the incident and following several calls to all parties to forward information in the process, says Little League Canada president Roy Bergerman.
"We never got any kind of a report back from any of those teams, even though we requested it. ?...?We needed to reach a decision," Bergerman said, adding the ruling is open to appeal.
"The indefinite means forever, until they make the next move."

But Galbraith says he was never contacted during any phase of the probe.
"For an individual discipline, I think my right has been kind of violated. No one asked me my opinion," Galbraith said. "For them to suspend me without even contacting me, in my opinion, is wrong."

He said it was not his responsibility to seek out those investigating the incident.
"Someone should have had the gumption to call me and ask me what my opinion was," Galbraith said. "I didn't feel it was my duty to go and find out who I was supposed to contact to voice my opinion. I assumed that would come to me."

The incident followed Saint's John's loss to Edmonton in the playoff round, a tight 1-0 contest where members of the Valleyfield team sat in the stands and heckled the host squad throughout the game.

The Valleyfield team celebrated Edmonton's victory and serenaded the Saint John team during the handshakes afterward. Almost immediately after that, several Saint John players went into the stands and the fight ensured.

That continued a conflict that arose when the teams met earlier in the tournament. The Valleyfield coaching staff was irate after the contest was suspended in the bottom of the fifth inning while they batted in foggy conditions. In clear conditions the next day, Saint John scored three runs to rally from a two-run deficit and earn the victory.

The friction ignited then and carried throughout the tournament, finally exploding with the fights in the stands.

During the brawl, a 70-year-old woman was trampled and taken to the Saint John Regional Hospital wearing a neck brace. She was later released.

"The issue there is training and a little bit of leadership that was lacking," Bergerman said. "You are dealing with a lot of volunteers, who may or may not have any expertise here. Leadership is critical, and that may have been lacking," he said.

He said that training includes the coaching staffs and tournament officials.

"Even though they are 14, 15 and 16, they are still minors and I think the general feeling there was if the adults had taken control of the situation and the coaches led the team like they were supposed to, none of this would have happened."