It was a blip on social media, posted by Bateaux FC on social media, “Refs abandoned the match in the 88th minute after @LobosFC8 players started bareknuckle boxing our players.” It’s the kind of post that makes a journalist do a double take, particularly when the rest of the timeline is filled with the standard fare of match scores, promotional material, and the rest of the normal fare on soccer twitter. For those that might not be aware of Bateaux FC, its a club that plays in the Wisconsin Primary Amateur Soccer League (WPASL), a regional league in Wisconsin.

Refs abandoned the match in the 88th minute after @LobosFC8 players started bareknuckle boxing our players.

We leave Bollinger with a few bruises from the brawl, but our pride is intact and three points are in the pocket.#ForTheValley 🛶🌲 pic.twitter.com/dTdZcx81IV
— Bateaux FC (@BateauxFC) July 11, 2021

Immediately, a DM was sent to the account for more information. The response was short on information but gave a note that the league was now investigating. “I'd be happy to discuss some about what happened but only really what is relevant to us, how we handled the situation, etc. I'd prefer the league release the findings of its investigation before discussing the whole issue more publicly.” That investigation has reported its findings today.

“The Wisconsin Primary Amateur Soccer League (WPASL) and the WPASL Disciplinary Committee has reached a verdict regarding the incidents which took place on July 11th in a match between Bateaux FC and Lobos FC. The WPASL condemns any physical altercations or incidents of similar nature and these types of events will not be tolerated in our league.”

The report goes on to list the players and fines issued by the WPASL.

#9 Alonso Romero (Lobos FC) – 19 game suspension (in addition to 1 game red card suspension) due to violent conduct and striking a player
#8 Israel Garduno (Lobos FC) – 2 game suspension (in addition to 1 game red card suspension) due to spitting on an opponent
#7 David Ripplinger (Bateaux FC) – 1 game suspension due to unsporting behavior
Bateaux FC – $50 fine due to publicly releasing information prior to league approval and using potentially detrimental language to the league on social media

The match suspensions are no doubt based on the actions of the players and, at least at this point, haven’t been viewed by our organization, so we’re taking the league’s word for it. As far as the $50 fine for Bateaux, it’s hard to justify this fine IF its based only on the club’s tweeting. Unlike the other club in this story, Bateaux is very active in soccer twitter, featuring over 500 followers and actively engaging in conversation online. The club is a credit to the league (and has 200 more twitter followers than THE LEAGUE account). As @BateauxFC put it in the same post chain as the earlier tweet, “We've been working hard to build a positive, professional culture within the club. How we play and how we conduct ourselves are equally important. The result speaks for itself, but the way everyone handled the incident in the moment is a good measure of our progress.” Punishing active engagement with fans is ridiculous and counter productive, from our perspective. But we weren’t in that meeting have no answers beside what the league is providing here.

We’ve reached out to both clubs through social media for comment. Lobos FC responded: “Lobos FC understands and accepts the ruling that the WPASL has given. Although we hoped and believed that #9 would have gotten a shorter suspension, all we can do is move on and learn from the mistakes that were made. We are also unhappy that the Bateaux player who instigated the fight only got a 1 game suspension, as he started the incident and should assume more responsibility for the events that unfolded. The league did a proper job of investigating the incident, and we do not feel that it would be proactive to argue or dwell on the decisions that were made.” Bateaux FC informed us that the club would be releasing a statement later today. We’ll add a link when that statement is released.

- Dan Vaughn