Elite teen soccer team suspended after ‘roughhousing’ video surfaces
Vaughan Soccer Club official says incident appears to have happened in a hotel room during the team’s trip to Italy earlier this month.

thestar.com
By Peter Goffin
April 25, 2017

An elite youth soccer team was temporarily suspended after video surfaced that appeared to show players beating a teammate.

The Vaughan Soccer Club suspended its team of 14- and 15-year-olds while staff tried to find out what happened and who was involved, said club executive vice-president Pat Di Rauso.

After meeting with parents and players Monday night, club staff determined that the incident began as roughhousing and “got out of hand,” Di Rauso said.

Club staff will meet Tuesday to discuss possible punishments for the individual players involved.

“They’re good kids,” Di Rauso said, adding that he does not want to see any of the players unfairly labelled as troublemakers.

The video shows several teenage boys laughing and mugging for the camera in a hotel hallway.

“Let’s get him,” says one boy.

The door to one of the hotel rooms opens and a shoving match appears to break out between a boy who was in the room and some of the boys in the hallway.

At least three of the boys end up on the bed inside the room. Punches appear to be exchanged. Eventually the boy from the room is pinned by one of the others. Near the end of the video, he is seen lying on the bed holding his stomach and groaning while the other boys leave the room.

Di Rauso told the Star that the incident took place while the team was in Italy for a tournament between April 8 and 18.

“When I left these kids, these guys were singing and hugging. These guys were a team,” Di Rauso said. “When I saw this (video) I went, ‘Where did this come from?’ ”

The trip was chaperoned by coaches and the players’ parents, said Di Rauso, who accompanied the team on the first half of the trip.

“All the parents were present,” Di Rauso added. “That’s why we don’t understand...Why did none of the children go to the parents?”

Club officials were first made aware of the video late Saturday night, after a media outlet showed it to them, said Di Rauso.

It seems that one of the players sent the video to a friend, whose mother saw it and notified the media, he said.

Di Rauso said that the club has not contacted police about the video and that, to his knowledge, no one else has either.

“If the parent wants to press charges, we welcome them,” he said.

The team seen in the video is part of the Ontario Player Development League, a prestigious program for teenage soccer players working their way towards college scholarships, a spot on provincial or national teams or even a professional soccer career.

Registration fees at the Vaughan Soccer Club are approximately $3,600 per year, said Di Rauso.