Fratmen, Braves brawl

by Rob Benneian

It’s a rare occurrence when a football game parallels an Elton John song.

“…Saturday night’s alright for fighting, get a little action in..”

But that’s just what happened when the Windsor AKO Fratmen and the Burlington Braves locked horns at Windsor Stadium on the evening of Sept. 15.

A highly entertaining game, which saw the Fratmen cruise to a 22-7 win after falling behind by four points early in the first quarter, was spoiled by a bench-clearing tussle near midfield with nearly a minute left in the game.

Unable to separate approximately a hundred combative football players, the officials elected to let the fire put itself out and ended the game without finishing the final 50 seconds of play. It took several more minutes for the field of play to clear, and only then with the help of a select few cooler heads ushering teammates off to their respective locker room.

AKO head coach Mike LaChance didn’t have a definitive answer for what ignited the powder-keg. He did say it was a situation the officiating staff could have avoided with preventative measures. A chippy game featuring a lot of trash-talking, late scrums and even some punches thrown didn’t result in any ejections.

“The referees let it get that way,” LaChance said. “They didn’t ref a terrible game, but they were letting the game control them instead of them controlling the game. There were a lot of pushing after the piles and pileups and if they call it early it goes away. It was a rough game, that’s what happens.”

The fighting and trash-talking wasn’t limited to the men wearing uniforms. LaChance said he approached Burlington head coach Mike Samples, 62, as the post-game festivities were petering out. He was not greeted warmly.

“He said he wanted to punch me in the face, I told him to (expletive) off,” LaChance said. “I tried to settle it. All I asked him was ‘it’s probably not a good idea to shake hands with this thing going on’ and then he got in and bumped me and told me he was going to punch me in the face and we had a (crappy) team and a classless organization and our coaching staff is garbage. I kinda took that personally, and I told him to (expletive) off.”

Samples, a 1973 draft pick of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, backed off a little bit from his stance on the AKO Fratmen organization after taking some time to cool off. The 1982 CFL All-Star said he didn’t think the game was an accurate reflection of the Fratmen organization, but he was disappointed with their conduct nevertheless.

“That’s embarrassing to the league, it’s embarrassing to Windsor, I’m sure they’re not like that, but they were tonight,” Samples said. “The league officials, the referees have got to step in. We want an apology for some of the things that were said out there tonight.”

The apology the former Saskatchewan Roughriders star is seeking stems from the language he said was used by the Fratmen. He was particularly upset about racial remarks he said were made towards his players.

“Some of the vocabulary that…the Windsor team chose to direct at players that was racial was beyond what I’ve ever seen,” Samples said.

O-line changes pay big dividends

With the deadline fast approaching to add players to his roster, LaChance looked to make a big upgrade to his team. Emphasis on big.

Listed at 6’5″ and 325 pounds, it is difficult to miss the newest addition to the Fratmen offensive line. Ahmed Abusafeyeh played for the Fratmen three seasons ago but left after graduating W.F. Herman Secondary School to play American football collegiately. After two seasons at Tiffin University in Ohio, he has returned to the Fratmen in time for the stretch run.

“Ahmed is a kid who was a scholarship football player, he comes back from Tiffin (University) and it’s instant impact with our offence,” LaChance said. “He’s already the best offensive lineman in the OFC and he’s played one game. I knew that coming in. He was the best offensive lineman in the OFC three years ago when he was 19-years-old and he’s only better than he was then.”

After a telling loss in Hamilton a week ago, LaChance sent out an S.O.S. call to Abusafeyeh. His younger brother Adam is a reserve offensive lineman with the Fratmen. He said the opportunity to get back on the football field and play alongside his sibling was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

“It’s amazing,” Abusafeyeh said. “I missed it, I loved it, I can’t wait to play the next one already.”

LaChance also moved 6’6″, 350 pound defensive tackle Chris Dunbar to the offensive line. He said while Dunbar might not be the most polished guy out there, his brute strength more than makes up the difference.

“Moving Dunbar over to offence is significant,” LaChance said. “He doesn’t have a lot of experience at offensive line, but…even if he does the wrong thing, if he plays fast, if he plays 100 per cent, the wrong thing sometimes works.”

The offensive line has been a source of frustration for the Fratmen’s coach all season. With Dunbar swapping to the opposite side of the line of scrimmage and Abusafeyeh returning, LaChance appears to have turned a weakness into a big – again, emphasis on big – strength.