A Jeannette youth football coach was suspended Friday afternoon after the local league ruled out allegations of the team’s players being called racial slurs by some opposing players from Penn-Trafford during a game Sunday.
The Big East Youth Football League issued a statement to parents Friday, detailing the results of an investigation into the alleged verbal attacks. The league’s board of directors voted against the allegations. The representatives for Jeannette and Penn-Trafford were not allowed to vote.
“The findings of the (league) are that none of the allegations are true against Penn-Trafford’s coaches and players, (and) no racial slurs or expletives were confirmed as stated in the original allegations,” the league said in a statement.
Jeannette’s youth head football coach, Tim Moore, and Isaac Guest — a parent from the team who spoke with TribLive earlier this week — were suspended from the league.
“We at the (league) strive to maintain a healthy, family-friendly environment that breeds sportsmanship, ethics and integrity,” the statement read.
Moore, who pulled his players from the game Sunday, declined to comment on the suspension.
A petition against Moore’s suspension gathered nearly 80 signatures by 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Guest maintains that Penn-Trafford’s players used racial slurs against Jeannette.
“I still stand by everything,” he said. “I will always go to bat for my kids, especially on a subject like this. I will go to bat for anyone else’s kids on a subject like this.”
Guest said he does not know if his four children will continue participating in the Jeannette youth sports association following his suspension.
“I’m a single father. I’m all they got,” he said. “I’m the only one that shows up to their games, so to be banned from supporting my children, that was kind of a shot in the gut.”
The team is scheduled to play against Kiski on Saturday.
“We have a game tomorrow and nobody even knows if we have a team,” he said. “My kids are obviously let down by it, but they also understand that sometimes, you do have to take a stand for things. And if that’s what this needs to be, then that’s what this is.”
