Video of a high school football game Friday night is making its rounds on social media, and not in a good way. The video shows a referee seemingly pulling a helmet off of a player. NBC 5’s Tahera Rahman reports that the University Interscholastic League says they’re investigating.
It's not the kind of game highlight Whitney High's football coach David Haynes wanted: Video seemingly showing a referee grabbing one of his players and ripping his helmet off during Friday night's game against Dallas Madison.
“Just to see something like that happen to our kids, it’s upsetting," Haynes said.
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This kid also happened to be his biological son, David Haynes lll, and was ejected from the game.
Haynes said he didn't see the incident unfold.
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“The official, I see he has a helmet in his hands and I don’t know what’s going on. I’m asking him, and then he said that, you know, we had somebody — one of our players tried to maliciously run him over," Haynes recalled.
Haynes' wife caught the incident on camera, which they both say shows their son bumped into the referee by accident. They want him to be able to play their next game on Friday.
"When you get kicked out of the game, you get suspended for the next game," Haynes explained. "He’s a great kid, so I don’t want him to be suspended his senior year for playing football the right way.”
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Haynes' wife caught the incident on camera and posted it to X, saying, "@uiltexas how is this allowed from a ref!!!!!!! And then you eject MY SON and you literally assaulted him!!!!!!!"
Haynes said they've sent the incident video to UIL (University Interscholastic League) and the Texas Association of Sports Officials.
UIL posted a statement on X on Saturday: "The UIL is aware of an incident involving a sports official and a student-athlete during the Whitney vs. Dallas Madison varsity football game last night (Friday, 9/29). This situation is of great concern to us, and we are actively looking into the matter."
Haynes said he doesn't know what the consequences for the referee should be.
“I’m a coach’s kid, my son’s a coach’s kid; he’s a second generation, and I love the game of football and what it’s done for me, what it’s done for my family. And I just want the game respected. So, whatever UIL decides to do with him, that’s UIL," Haynes said.
He said he doesn't want this incident to be a distraction for the rest of his team and wants to keep them positive and motivated.
"I have 35 varsity football players, and all those kids are my babies, and I love them all," Haynes said. "I want our kids to understand that we’re a family and we’re going to protect each other, but 5 and 0 at Whitney, that hasn’t been done in a long, long, time, and so that’s our main focus."
On Monday, the UIL addressed the incident:
"In cooperation with the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO), the UIL has taken action to reverse the game ejection of the student athlete from Whitney High School. Additionally, the official involved has been removed from officiating UIL games pending the completion of a thorough investigation."
"I want our kids to understand that we’re a family and we’re going to protect each other but 5 and 0 at Whitney, that hasn’t been done in a long, long, time and so that’s our main focus."
David Haynes, Whitney High School head football coach
Another video shared with NBC 5 shows the incident from a different vantage point.
