Central Methodist University has indefinitely suspended six football players and two have been charged with third-degree assault after what police describe as a locker room beating connected to an informal arrangement under which players who showed up late to practice had to fight a teammate.
The details come from a Fayette, Missouri police probable cause statement, first reported by ABC 17 News, and from the school’s own statement.
What the police statement describes
The incident happened around 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, in the team locker room at the NAIA school in Fayette.
According to the probable cause statement, the team had an informal rule that a player late for practice had to fight a teammate. The alleged victim said the player he was scheduled to fight, a wide receiver, was willing only to throw what he called “body shots.” Player Michael Hourel allegedly objected and struck the victim in the face, and a player identified as Ferguson and others then joined in. The victim said he fought back in self-defense.
The victim went to urgent care the next day and was referred to a concussion specialist over a possible brain bleed. Whether he was diagnosed with one has not been reported. He has not been named.
Hourel allegedly admitted taking part but told police he had only struck the victim with an open hand before others joined in. He said defensive players had problems with accountability for arriving late to walkthroughs and practices, and that the team, including the victim, had agreed to the fight rule.
What the school has said
Central Methodist told ABC 17 News that “the safety and well-being of” the victim “is our highest priority” and that “identified participants in the incident have been suspended from the football program indefinitely.”
The university says the arrangement was informal, involved a small group of players and was not an official team rule. It says an investigation is underway into how it started and who knew about it.
No coach or staff member has been named, disciplined or implicated by any named source. The school has explicitly said it is still determining who knew, which means nobody should be assuming staff involvement in either direction.
Hourel and Ferguson were the two players charged. Neither appeared on the team’s online roster as of Thursday. Ferguson’s first name has not been reported. The four other suspended players have not been named and have not been charged. Neither charged player has been convicted, and it has not been reported whether either has entered a plea.
The thing that should bother people
Strip away the charges and the suspensions and one fact remains: a college football team had a standing arrangement in which being late to practice meant getting into a fight, and it operated long enough for players to understand the rules of it, including which teammate you were scheduled to fight and what kind of punches were acceptable.
That is not a single bad morning. That is a culture somebody built, whether a coach knew about it or not, and a young man ended up being referred to a concussion specialist because of it.
The team is 2-5 and lost 52-14 to Benedictine the weekend before the story broke. The school says it is investigating how the arrangement started. That answer is the one that actually matters.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.