The National Arena League (NAL) posted one of the oddest press releases that we’ve seen in the past five years, even for the crazy headlines that the sport of indoor football is known to provide.
In the release, league commissioner Chris Siegfried states that the circumstances that occurred in New York last week were ‘extremely unfortunate.’
Well, those circumstances resulted in a regular season game being stopped at halftime, and according to Siegfried, Cobras head coach Billy Back was the man solely behind the decision.
In result, the NAL is suspending Back for the final regular season game, and giving the win to New York, who was down – get this – 46-0 at halftime, when the game was stopped.
Both teams were fined, but other than that, there was no disciplinary action taken on any staff members of the New York Streets.
The full press release can be found below.
The circumstances of Sunday’s Carolina Cobras vs. New York Streets game were extremely unfortunate. We take these matters very seriously. and as commissioner of the NAL, it is my responsibility to ensure our fans and sponsors that such mistakes will not happen again. The breakdowns that occurred Sunday were due to policies that were either not in place or not followed properly. I take FULL responsibility for these breakdowns. I addressed these issues with both teams, and the improved policies are to be implemented immediately.
We owe it to our fans to play a complete game, and we owe it to our teams to provide adequate security. Therefore, we have decided to level fines to both the New York Streets and the Carolina Cobras, as well as to Carolina Coach Billy Back, for their roles in the events of Sunday night.
The home team, the New York Streets are fined for conduct detrimental to the best interests of the league – for not providing adequate security, especially following a theft at a previous home game.
The visiting Carolina Cobras are fined for conduct detrimental to the best interests of the league – for not finishing the game.
Carolina Head Coach Billy Back has been suspended one game – tomorrow night’s game vs. the Columbus Lions – for his role Sunday evening. While coach Back’s intentions may have been to protect his players and the league, he understands now that his decision had an adverse effect on the NAL. No coach should be placed in the position to make such a decision, and additional procedures are being implemented so that teams do not make these types of mistakes in the future.
Finally, because the Cobras refused to complete Sunday night’s game, the New York Streets will be awarded a win by forfeit.
