Youth football league cancels rest of season due to threats

A youth football league near Pittsburgh, Pa., canceled its season this week because of “continued threats” against the referees, coaches and league administrators.

Dr. Timothy Gabauer, superintendent of Mount Pleasant Area School District, which leases Hurst Field to the league, decried the threats. Ammunition shells marked with the names of league officials were discovered at the field where teams play. A box of ammunition with names of league officials was left outside the gate of a Mount Pleasant, PA stadium.

One of the teams from MPAJF football league posted this message after the incident, notifying everyone of the decision to cancel the season.

The league sent a letter to parents saying the cancellation is happening “with the advice of the state police, FBI, school administration and league officials”.

He referred further questions to the league statement.

The league serves about 150 boys between second and eighth grades, plus about 50 girls who participate as cheerleaders, Whipkey said.

“The league’s future and our children’s continued participation in future seasons is what is in jeopardy”, league officers wrote, pleading with the community to “agree with this decision”. According to Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV, one recent game featured a fist fight between parents and another game was postponed because of a separate threat. “The kids have more sense than the adults here”.

Joey Blaszkowski, a 12-year-old player, said parents and players were mad but that his teammates in particular were mostly sad.

“We are looking at why they are there and who put them there”, Trooper Steve Limani, a spokesman at the Pennsylvania State Police’s Greensburg barracks, told Reuters.