UPDATE: Coach, Dad Who Tackled Him Both Ejected By Youth Football League

The coach of a Toms River youth football team who was tackled by the father of one of his players has been removed as the team’s coach and ejected from the league, according to an official from the Jersey Shore Conference of the New Jersey American Youth Football league.

The father who tackled him -- Joseph Oleske, 46, of Toms River -- and the player also have been removed from the league, Dave Schlendorf, counsel for the league who identified himself as the football commissioner, said by phone on Monday afternoon.

“The coach used inappropriate language in his postgame speech to the players,” Schlendorf said. “But that in no way is an excuse for what this parent did.”

“This is a simple case of two grown men behaving badly,” Schlendorf said.

Toms River Police Department spokesman Ralph Stocco said police were called to Toms River High School North’s football field about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday for a report of a fight after a game between the eighth-grade unlimited squads of the Toms River North Little Indians and the Toms River South Raiders. The AYF teams use the high school fields for their games nicknames do not match the high school teams’ nicknames.

According to the police report filed by Officer Joshua Pedalino, the fight between Oleske and the coach, a 45-year-old Toms River resident, broke out after the coach informed the team after the game that its season was over and told the players to turn in their uniforms, Stocco said. The coach told police he had made the announcement as a disciplinary measure, because players had been continuously displaying poor sportsmanship and bad attitudes, Stocco said.

Oleske, who had been videotaping the game from the stadium’s broadcast booth, told police he only went to talk to the coach about his comments to the players after the game after hearing that the coach announced the season was over, Stocco said. Oleski said he acted in self-defense when the coach “took an aggressive stance,” Stocco said.

The coach told police Oleske ran across the field and tackled him without provocation or warning, Stocco said. The two men fought until bystanders pulled them apart, according to the police report. Pedalino interviewed several people and determined Oleske was the sole aggressor and arrested him, Stocco said. Oleske was released on his own recognizance pending a court hearing.

Schlendorf was present at Toms River North when the fight occurred, he said.

“I was aware of the melee but I didn’t see it start,” he said, because he was trying to talk to the parents of the football team to let them know the season was not going to be cut short.

“I am the football commissioner; only I can make that determination” about terminating a season, Schlendorf said. “We will be playing the remaining two games of the season, and hopefully end on a positive note.”

Schlendorf said he and the deputy football commissioner will coach the team for the rest of the season.

Schlendorf also said the coach had been warned on previous occasions about using inappropriate language toward the players, which, according to at least one parent who refused to give her name, included the coach calling players vulgar names. Schlendorf declined comment on the nature of the inappropriate language, reiterating that the coach had been warned.

“The season will go forward,” Schlendorf said. “Hopefully it will be positive from here.”

Neither Schlendorf nor Toms River police would identify the coach.