Coach given 'travesty of game' penalty during children's championship lacrosse game

A championship lacrosse game in Whitby, Ont., earlier this month was marred by violence during the game and one of the Whitby team's coaches raising his middle finger to an eight-year-old player on the opposing team.

A team from Six Nations, a Haudenosaunee community near Hamilton, faced the Whitby Warriors in the U9 box lacrosse provincial championships (for players ages seven and eight) Aug. 8 in Whitby, 40 kilometres east of Toronto.

The Warriors received two travesty of game penalties and a Whitby player and fan were ejected from the game. The team was also handed four other major penalties not counting the travesty of game calls. The team from Six Nations was handed two major penalties, one an equipment violation.

Now, instead of celebrating their gold medal win at the game, players and parents from Six Nations are wondering if there will be consequences at an upcoming hearing by the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) to determine whether disciplinary actions are necessary. 

"There's kids that didn't even want to play anymore," said Brooke Simon, whose eight-year-old son Grayson Powless, plays defence on the Six Nations team.

"That shouldn't happen for our kids."

Simon shared a video with CBC Indigenous of one incident, which was also posted to social media. In the third quarter, her son was tackled to the floor and kicked while he was down.

She said the Whitby player involved was eventually ejected from the game after a major penalty in the third quarter — but not when her son was kicked.

Powless, who's played lacrosse for four years, said he was sad about what happened.

"You don't kick, you play with your heart," he said.

In an emailed statement to CBC Indigenous, Whitby Minor Lacrosse Association president