Rhode Island youth league kicks out team after adult plays in football game

PROVIDENCE, R.I.  - The founder of a Rhode Island youth football team says its season is ending early after the coach put a man into a game against 13- and 14-year-old players.

Capital City Buccaneers founder Alexandra Diaz said she had stepped away from the Sunday game in Scituate when the coach let the young man believed to be 19 years old take part in several plays before getting kicked out.

“He wasn’t thinking, and that’s all that he could tell me was that he was not thinking,” Diaz told CBS Providence affiliate WPRI-TV.

WJAR-TV reports the Providence team had been losing when the incident occurred. Parents spotted the man suit up on the sideline.

Diaz said the coach took full responsibility and has been fired. She said the varsity team has been stripped of the remainder of their season.

The league’s vice president tells WLNE-TV the decision has been made to remove the team indefinitely.

WPRI-TV reports that the coach and the man involved in the incident both said they regret it. The coach apologized for letting his ego get in his way.