A respected youth rugby coach and former firefighter faces leaving the game under a cloud after he “saw red” during an Angus interclub match.
Keith Richiardi, 59, was found guilty of assaulting a 13-year-old boy in Carnoustie, following a “stramash” between Montrose and Dundee Eagles players at a friendly festival.
However Sheriff Gregor Murray, in finding the former Dundee crew manager guilty of a “technical” assault, said he was “exercised greatly” over what sentence he could impose.
The junior section of Dundee High School Rugby was invited to play at Carnoustie High School on December 1 last year, facing Carnoustie and Montrose in a three-way contest.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard Richiardi sprinted on to the pitch because he believed a Montrose player had his son in a headlock during an off-the-ball incident.
Carnoustie coach David Christie, 41, said Richiardi picked the player up and turned him around to shout at him.
Depute fiscal Jim Eodonable asked whether he had seen an incident of this kind in his six years of youth coaching, and he said he had not.
In evidence, Richiardi, of Balmerino Place, Dundee, admitted helping the boy up from the ground by the collar and turning him around to remonstrate with him.
He also admitted to shouting “deck him” to his son as he ran towards the disturbance.
“I was immediately concerned about a neck injury,” he said.
“I ran on as I was concerned the referee had not seen the incident. I was angry the coach within me went for a moment or two I was just a dad concerned for the health of my son.”
The court heard evidence from two others on the Eagles touchline that day, Chief Inspector Conrad Trickett of Police Scotland’s Tayside Division, and former rugby official Matthew Smith.
Both witnesses spoke to Richiardi’s character and long service to the club.
However, Mr Eodonable summed up the incident as being beyond the boundaries of coaching.
“He’s telling his son to hit the other boy,” he said.
“To take hold of a 13-year-old boy, having run the distance he did, having issued the instruction he did, is an assault at the lowest level.”
Defending Richiardi, solicitor Paul Parker-Smith said the incident was a “flash that didn’t quite get to an explosion”.
“There’s no violence the intention is to give him a piece of his mind,” he said.
Sheriff Murray said: “The physical act of lifting up a 13-year-old boy had the hallmarks of an assault.”
Sentence was deferred for three months for good behaviour.
Sheriff Murray said his ultimate disposal will depend on whether a conviction, and its repercussions in terms of disclosure, would adversely affect Richiardi’s ability to coach.