Brawl mars KSAFA Under-17 final

What should have a been a night of celebration for the Liguanea United under-17 squad ended in disaster as a fight broke out in the final minutes of their KSAFA Under-17 final against Boys' Town FC.

With just a few minutes left on the clock, Liguanea were well in control with a 4-0 lead before a series of rash challenges from Boys' Town led to a brawl on the field. The situation spiralled out of control for the match officials as spectators from the stands also rushed to the field and joined the ensuing brawl. Although there were still a few minutes to be played the final whistle was blown and Liguanea declared the winners.

Liguanea United's head coach Andre Virtue expressed his disappointment with how the match ended.

He felt the referees could have done more to stop the situation from escalating and said the brawl erupted due to missed calls from the referees.

"It is an unfortunate situation. The officials are humans and they'll make mistakes at times and they didn't get it right at times tonight.

"It is very hard for a team training and playing all season to come to a final and want to celebrate and this is the result. I just want to focus on the fact that it was a hard season and the boys wanted to come here and win convincingly and we did just that," Virtue said

A brace from Jabarie Howell and goals from Giovannie Taylor and Jayden Walters sealed the win for Liguanea.

Virtue said the victory is a testament to the work done by his players, several of whom also played in the Wray and Nephew-sponsored KSAFA Super League.

"We have a lot of quality but in the end, it was a team effort. These boys played for Liguanea in the Super League and they've been together for a while now. I think the convincing win comes from that the team was hungry and really wanted the title."

Virtue said the night marked the end of a successful generation for Liguanea as several of his players will now move on to new opportunities in their careers.

"This has been building for many many years. There are players on this team that have been here from Ballaz Academy four years ago. Many of them now are going away to school and to colleges so this is the end of a journey and we said we were going to win it."

He added, "That's what we hung on to from the beginning of the season until the end."