Coach Marcus Burkley Sr. is proud of his Woodland Hills Wolverines midget football players for showing exceptional resilience and focus after fans of the opposing Bethel Park Hawks shouted racial remarks during last week’s game.
“I started playing when I was 5, and I’ve been called names. But all through high school, college and the arena league, this may have been the worst I’ve seen,” he said. “And these are 12- and 13-year-old kids.”
Burkley said the language started from the crowd of Bethel Park parents right after some of his players asked him if they could take a knee during the national anthem before their Oct. 8 game.
“Then a guy shouts, ‘If that little nigger wants to take a knee, he shouldn’t be able to play,’” he said. “And then the players started using the ‘n-word’ too, and it went on and on.”
In addition to the epithets, Burkley said parents were chanting “Hurt number 2” and the public address announcer even got into the act.
“He had the roster,” said Burkley. “But instead of calling our players’ names, he called all our running backs ‘Le’Veon Bell.’”
Burkley said many of those guilty of shouting the racial slurs had been drinking. He said it got even worse when the Wolverines began scoring a lot in the second half.
“It was 6-6 at halftime, but then we started scoring and the stuff really flew,” he said.
But Burkley also said it was a valuable experience for his players.
“I told them to ignore the stuff outside the field, to focus,” he said. “And the stuff coming from the other team’s players—they’re just trying to get a rise out of you, to get you off your game. You go ahead and knock them down. Knock them down hard—but always help them up.”
His team did just that. They won 20-6.
“The kids handled it so well. It was one of my proudest moments ever,” said Burkley.
Burkley posted a message about the incident on Facebook and received nearly 200 comments—it was shared to other accounts 300 times. Many of the comments were from White people shocked by the behavior, like Jessica Ambler, who wrote:
“I can’t even express how angry I am. I cannot even describe the level I have reached. I know our children Deserve Better. I will take a knee with you any day. I may not understand, but I try to educate myself, I try to learn I try to be a better friend, a better part of our community. And I am damn sure going to raise my son up to know that the whole point is to do better, be better, create better, for his son one day. I am so so sorry. And I am in awe of you, my man.”
An email sent to Bethel Park Junior Football did not receive a response by New Pittsburgh Courier deadline. Woodland Hills Youth Football and Cheer Association Treasurer Roland Saunders said he and the other board members would refrain from commenting until after they meet with league officials next week.
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