Brawl Causes Outcry Fight After Kids Game Brings Banishment For Coach, Dad

A Little Devils Football Club coach and the father of a player have been banned from team activities after a drunken brawl that injured four coaches and an 11-year-old player from a rival team.

The pair allegedly led a mob of Little Devils coaches and supporters who attacked a small group of Collinsville players and coaches after a game last Sunday at Citizens Park.

Officials from the Tri-County Football League said they are awaiting the results of a Belleville Police Department investigation before deciding whether to make the suspensions permanent.

One of the men suspended Thursday - Jeffrey J. Gintz of Belleville - was arrested and charged with battery. Gintz, who weighs 285 pounds, allegedly grabbed the 11-year-old boy and threw him to the ground.

The boy was trying to stop another man from beating his father, Terry Mitchell, one of the Collinsville coaches who was beaten during the melee.

Witnesses said 25 to 30 supporters of the Belleville team converged on five Collinsville Raiders coaches, five players and a female cheerleader after the game in the division for 12- and 13-year-old boys. The Little Devils won 24-0.

Testimony during a special league board meeting Thursday night indicated at least several members of the mob screamed racial slurs at the Collinsville players, four of whom are black.

“Tri-County will not condone the conduct of adults when it comes to being prejudiced,” said Jim Counsell, league president, who said he has received many calls from upset parents of Raiders players.

Counsell said the league is considering a ban on the sale of alcohol at league games. The Little Devils Football Club, which has a Belleville liquor license, is one of the few league members to sell alcohol during home games.

Counsell said the episode was especially tragic because the children who play in the league - more than a third of whom are black - are entrusted to the care of adults who are supposed “to teach them to get along.”

During the hearing, Little Devils members claimed they were defending themselves after the Raiders provoked the attack.

Counsell declined to say whose story he believed, but he noted that everyone who was injured belonged to the Raiders, while the Little Devils side was unharmed.