Video shows ref and coach fighting at youth flag football game in Revere

A physical altercation between a ref and a coach broke out in Revere on Saturday at a youth flag football game.

The two men can be seen being pulled apart by a crowd of adults at the Massachusetts Outlaws flag football game in a video of the incident obtained by WCVB.

The referee, Jeff Etienne, has taken to social media to apologize for the incident. Etienne said the dispute with the coach began over whether or not the other team had a blitz. 

When the other team won, Etienne said the coach started yelling expletives at him. The coach rushed over to him, Etienne said, and got “in his face,” so he shoved him out of the way. 

Then, Etienne said the coach charged at him and he “protected himself” in response, before the other adults broke them up. 

After the altercation, Etienne said he was asked to leave, and he apologized to several coaches, players, and parents as he gathered his things. 

“As I was walking over to go grab my stuff, the team that just won was still there, [and] one of the parents was talking to them, [saying] that’s not how you should act,” he said.  “I overheard it, and I said, ‘She is absolutely right, kids, you shouldn’t act like that. I lost my cool, I shouldn’t have done that, and I apologize.’”

Etienne said as he was leaving, he also shook hands with the coach involved in the altercation and they apologized to each other.

“The worst part of that was, it shouldn’t have happened in front of the kids,” he said. “We have to set a better example.”  

Etienne, who’s been a referee for 20 years, said he loves the flag football community and is disappointed in his actions. 

“I’m sorry; that’ll definitely never happen again,” he said. “That is not a representation of me as a person, as an adult, a human being, a man, and as a referee.”