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The Alameda County’s District Attorney’s office Friday was looking into charges that a coach for the Pleasanton Junior Football League attacked and injured County Supervisor Scott Haggerty on the Foothill High School campus in mid-October.
The coach, ex-NFL tight end Jeremy Brigham, confronted Haggerty when the supervisor went to the school to pick up his son after practice. Brigham accused Haggerty, a former assistant coach for the pre-teen Cowboys team that Brigham coaches, of giving an opposing team coach the plays the team had planned to use in a game between the two teams.
Haggerty denied the claim and said he never knew the plays to begin with.
As the argument at Foothill continued, Haggerty claimed that Brigham shoved him over a low fence and struck him on the back. Haggerty ended up with injuries that had him wearing a neck brace at several public events that followed.
Pleasanton police were called, but Police Sgt. Jim Knox said he could not comment on the case whch is now before the distrct attorney.
Haggerty told reporters that he never acted aggressively himself and left (Foothill) as fast as he could, then called 911 before going to the hospital. For a while, both Haggerty and his son, who suffered torn muscles and a mild concussion that ended his season with the Cowboys, were wearing neck braces.
Mike Shevelson, vice president of the PJFL, told San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross that the incident was “an internal thing for the league” and “you’re doing a disservice to report it.”
Even so, the columnists published their story and the PJFL suspended Brigham for one game. He is now back coaching his 10- and 11-year-old boys’ team.
These younsters are too young for contact football and the coaches need to step back and realize these kids are just that, kids. Having advanced plays, game films, people arguing about play books, what the hell is going on around here. These foolish coaches are taking these games too serious and will either injure the kids or they will end up losing interest in the game all together. Get the kids started in contact football when the growth of the kids are at the stage where it is phyiologicaly safe for them to participate. And for god sakes get rid of these overly aggressive coaches who think they’re coaching college players. In case you think I’m just another pansy parent looking for an excuse to shut down these kiddie leagues, I played college football, semi-pro football, and a couple years of Canadian ball after leaving the Chicago Bears Taxy squad. My dad didn’t allow me to play football until I was older and the coaches were qualified with a college back degree as apposed to these over zealous knuckleheads who pretend to know what they doing with these kids.
Basketball injuries lead to the most emergency room visits per year for children and baseball/softball causes the most deaths from youth sports. Not your intuition maybe but that’s statistics for you. I think that most kids are put into organized sports too young, watch a T-Ball game or an under-6 soccer game and tell me some of those kids aren’t too young and seem to have no idea what’s even going on.
I plan on coaching my son myself and entering him at an older than average age but even by the time he’s about 8 or 9 I’ll probablly let him choose the sports he wants to play, knowing their is always risk of injury, as there is if he’s playing on a jungle gym at the park.
It’s my impression that American parents in general do not love their children enough to set very firm limits and prohibit them from participating in sports that are injurious to their bodies and to their emotional well being. Sports are just another way to find a babysitter so that busy parents can keep up with the rest of the world.
Poor poor American children…their parents are too much in a hurry that their kids are last on the list of what’s in their best interests. sad…
Dear Pleasanton Parents,
Stop being so darn overprotective while at the same time living your life through your children.
If they want to play a sport, let them play a sport. If they suck at it, stop filling them with false hope that one day they will wake up and magically be good at it. And for the record, the goal of playing a sport is to win. For some reason Pleasanton parents have come to think that not letting the other team win is poor sportsmanship.
Get a life, losers!
Clearly Matt did not get enough love as a child…
Haggerty claims he “didn’t know the plays”?
How is it that the Offensive Coach doesn’t know the plays?
What kind of crap is that?
What about the neck brace? Is it too much trouble to contact Haggerty’s doctor and see why he presribed it…if he did prescribe it?
Gosh, what a B’Ser….
Nobody mentions that Haggerty managed a Dublin Little League that Jeremy got for him, even tho Haggerty knows nothing about baseball and is only in it for his own kid. He got it because Jeremy put his rep on the line to get it for him.
Jeremy’s kids don’t even play sports, they are too young. He only is in it for the kids.
Jeremy runs a charity that helps out kids sports and doesn’t make any money doing it.
Jeremy just helps kids because he’s a good guy.
Haggerty just switched from being a republican to a democrat so he can get elected to another office.
I heard a Team Mom refer to Haggerty as “The Doucher”….does anyone know what that means?
and by the way….how can the alameda county DA be able to conduct an un-biased investigation regarding an alameda country supervisor?
this is such an Obama-nation.
Matt got plenty of love, and can say that his parents lived their own lives in the process. Amazing this is such a foreign concept these days.
Perhaps Obama will invite them to the White House lawn for a beer and “teaching moment”…:)
Hope they don’t forget to invite good ‘ol Joe Biden…:)
If it wasn’t for the kids witnessing what happened, this would be too funny…
Enough is Enough already!I find all these comments laughable. Unless you were there, as I was, you have no idea what you are talking about. As far as playing Football goes, the PJFL is an awesome league and the kids love playing in it. There is a reason it has been around for 40 years! Jeremy Brigham is an amazing coach and works extremely well with the team. I was at every practice, and every game, and he has taught these pre-teen boys how to play the game and play well. They took the Championship in their JV division and Mr.H’s son was very much apart of the team. As far as film and the plays, every coach in the upper levels, JV, Advanced, and Senior divisions all review film. It is a great way for the boys to see what they are doing and it holds their attention, but it is a small part of what takes place. I hope Coach Brigham comes back next year! It takes a big man stand up and own his part in what happened. I wish I could say the same for the other party.
To: Enough is enough resident of the Birdland Neighborhood,
You wouldn’t be laughing if your boy sustained a concusion, knee or shoulder injury while participating at this young age. This isn’t little league basball or soccer where there will be incidental contact and occational injuries. These kids run into each other as hard as they can every play…..on purpose!!! Even with the best equipement, these 10 year olds are not ready for that kind of contact and you shouldn’t be encouraging it. The kids play because of pier pressure and parents that haven’t intelligently thought this through enough to see the oburity of this whole thing. Coaches fighting over playbooks and game films ??? Now that’s what’s laughable.
Buddy Ryan: Scott Haggerty could not have known the plays because Scott Haggerty was not a coach- he came as a parent…Bottom line- GOOD GUYS DON’T ATTACK PEOPLE. Time to move on.
No one is laughing at kids getting injured. Not sure how you can interpret that from my comment. Kids can get injured playing any sport. My 12 year old has been injured playing sports and not just football. He loves sports I will not keep him out because of my fears. It is probably a good choice for you to hold your child out, but don’t judge others for not coming to your same conclusion or make presumptions about why our kids ‘choose’ to play.
Thank goodness we live in a free country!
My ‘Laughable’comment was meant for people not knowing the facts of the incident that was reported in the paper. The article was quite one sided. People will read into things what they will.
I can see how comments and emotions can easily spin out of control and I will not be contributing to this topic again.
Lulu- Look into it, he was a coach. Read, think, understand then type.
Gary – Look into youth sport injury stats as compiled by the U.S. census. You will learn cheerleading, baseball, softball and baskteball are more dangerous. You remind me of the type of person afraid to fly but drives everywhere. You just don’t know the stats or understand them, understand the benifits of sports, and would rather wrap your kid in bubble wrap. If I had your attitude I wouldn’t let my kid even ride a bike (with a helmet). Also don’t use the bathroom in your house, it’s where most injuries occur.
Is it taken into account how many children play basketball and those other sports compared with football? I’m also surprised at the suggestion that the US Census tracks youth sports injuries.
I looked up “us census youth sports injuries” and the first match was this link (http://www.ehow.com/about_5490064_youth-sport-injuries.html), which says basketball is number one, but football is number two. No mention of youth sports injuries being tracked by the US Census though, only whether or not a child plays sports.
Also found this: http://www.sportssafety.org/sports-injury-facts/
OK Ryan, whatever…still the bottom line is…
It’s irrelevant whether Brigham is a good guy or a good coach. It’s equally irrelevant whether Haggerty is a good guy or a good assemblyman.
Did Brigham injure Haggerty?
Sometimes, people lose sight of the basics.