Time Out

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Claude Robillard Sports Complex on Friday night. I went to see a couple of soccer games and a fight broke out. Or was it the other way around? I can’t really remember. Most of my brain cells froze that night.
No, seriously. A fight did break out. At the end of the first half of the men’s soccer game between Concordia and UQAM, right as the referee blew the whistle for half time, a mass of people pushing and shoving crowded around midfield.
“I thought it was between the two teams,” said Stingers goalkeeper Daniel De Palma. “Then I saw there were no white jerseys and just UQAM players – so I let them deal with it.”
UQAM players Maxime Pharand and Mourad Bentouati started-off by yelling at each other, then escalated when one of the players threw a punch, after which the fight continued to the ground.
“I just saw the guy punch two people at the same time and then take out his feet,” said Stingers captain Bryan Bourbonnais.
The result was red cards to both players, leaving Concordia with a two-man advantage for the entire second half.
“It’s really disheartening,” said Stingers head coach Lloyd Barker. “Even though they are opponents, they are just kids. I’ve never seen that happen in a game before.”
“I just saw two guys beating the crap out of each other. At first, I thought one of our guys was in there – especially because we’ve had a problem with discipline the last three to four games, and have had to play short,” Barker said.
“I’ve seen guys argue before, but to that level that was crazy,” said Bourbonnais.
“I saw it start so I got my guys and I said ‘To the locker room now.’ I didn’t want us to get involved in it because as soon as hands start flailing and one of my teammates gets hit by accident, everything will hit the fan,” he said.
In the second half, the Stingers scored twice to take the game 2-0 for their first win of the season. It was a successful weekend for both soccer teams as the women’s team had their first undefeated weekend of the season earning draws in both of their games: 2-2 against UQAM and 1-1 against Bishop’s on Sunday.
Personally, it was a reminder of years past (yes, being here for five years allows me to talk about the “good ol’ days”).
In fact, I went back to my first ever articles in The Concordian and saw a pair of 1-0 wins for the men’s and women’s Stingers over UQTR.
Melanie Poirier scored the winning goal in the women’s game. Poirier, if you remember in a Time Out from earlier in the year, now plays for UQAM and started for them on Friday night. Sometimes life works in cycles. Kind of like this column, which will end how it started with the brawl in Montreal in this Friday’s game.
“I didn’t want anything to do with it,” Bourbonnais said.
“That was a disgrace. It’s not only unsportsmanlike, but it’s insulting. It’s disrespecting your school. This team is going to be known as . . . I don’t know what . . . Ultimate Fighting Championship or something.”