How bad have things gotten in youth sports? It’s gotten to the point that the coach of a football team of 10 to 12-year-olds would allegedly punch and kick the father of a rival player unconscious because he though the guy was trying to recruit one of his players: an 11-year-old! That’s right. Someone could go to jail for assault because they thought they might lose a boy who can still order off the kid’s menu at Denny’s to a rival football team.

And we wonder if there are shenanigans going on with football at the college level? Here’s the details from Fox 5:

A 32-year-old youth football coach faces felony battery charges for allegedly punching the father of a player on the opposing a boys’ football game over the weekend, police said.  The fight was reported at 1:54 p.m. Saturday at Lincoln High School in the 4700 block of Imperial Ave., as two National Youth Sports tackle football teams from Chula Vista played. The teams were made up of boys ages 10 to 12.

Football coach Saivaauli Savaiinea of the Islanders allegedly confronted 32-year-old Mark Cannon, the father of a player on the Panthers. The coach believed the father was trying to recruit one of his best players, Officer Dan Christman of the San Diego Police Department said.  Savaiinea punched the father in the shoulder and kicked him in the stomach, Christman said. The father stumbled, hit his head on the pavement and was bleeding from the back of his head.