NYC High School Soccer Game Cancelled After Migrants Refuse To Leave The Field

New York City has long been out of space, but the constant stream of migrants arriving in the Big Apple is truly making it clear just how much of a premium real estate really is on the island. And those who pay for it are apparently no longer entitled to it. 

A New York City high school soccer game, held on a public field in East Harlem, had to be cancelled this past week after a group of migrants reportedly refused to leave the pitch, according to the NY Post. 

The match was slated to be the Manhattan Kickers versus FA Euro New York.

Even after the police showed up, the group of migrants refused to leave the field, the report says. There were about 30 migrants, who “appeared to be African” and “spoke little English”, according to the report. 

Erik Johansson, the coach of the Manhattan Kickers 17-year-old boys travel team, told the Post: “I directly asked them to leave and some of them kind of took it into consideration, but then four or five of them said, ‘You know what, f–k it, we don’t have to leave, we can do whatever we want.’”

The police asked to see the teams’ city permits, prompting Johansson to say: “When you show up with two teams in uniform, a ref and two coaches, usually nobody is asking to see your permit.”

The game was delayed 30 minutes as a result of waiting for permits to be forwarded and, by then, “the teams didn’t feel safe”, the report says. 

“Even when the game is over, you don’t know if they’re waiting for you, so even if the cops kicked them out, it may not be over. So we just all agreed, this is too dangerous,” Johansson said.

He told the Post that in his home country of Sweden, “clashes” with migrants on public pitches were “all too common”. 

“I have seen this before, I know how bad it can get,” he concluded.

Maud Maron, a mother to a boy that plays on the Kickers, said: “It’s so frustrating that the guys who refused to follow the rules won.”

She said New York City is becoming “lawless”.