BEWARE BRYC NAZIS

Posted by: angry citizen ()

Date: June 07, 2016 12:13PM

My friends and I experienced an awful encounter with BRYC this past Sunday. This is the letter we sent to their administration detailing what happened.







To Whom It May Concern,



We reach out to you all this afternoon in hopes of gaining an explanation for the incredibly rude and disrespectful way that our cricket club was treated this past Sunday by your field director Trish Moxie. Furthermore, we hope by bringing this incident to your attention, BRYC as a whole can grow and improve by holding someone accountable.



Our club, formally called Robinson Cricket Club, was incepted in 2014 and has become a great outlet for many adults to participate in the great sport of cricket. Due to the informal nature of the club, we have never sought the need to register as a nonprofit. However, after recounting the situation that unfolded Sunday afternoon to legal counsel, this may be an avenue that we will pursue. Finally, our club has played on the Robinson Secondary School main field, upper turf field, and upper grass field many times without over the past two and a half years, beginning while we were students. Not once has there ever been any incident whatsoever. In fact, we have only received positive feedback from other facility users and community members.



The events of Sunday afternoon are as follows. Our club went to play on Robinson’s upper turf field due to the occupancy of all other fields. After about 90 minutes of play, a soccer team began to warm up to our right. The team seemed to have enough space to warm up regardless of our position. Despite the players and coach of this team warming up unimpeded, Ms. Moxie came angrily walking towards us. Without incident she began raising her voice and calling for us to leave in an extremely disrespectful tone. When one member spoke to her asking for clarification, she literally charged at him and raised her voice. She then made a snide comment about the university displayed on one of our member’s shirts. In addition she referred to our club in a very derogatory way by calling it “that” cricket group, as if we are a menace to the community. We take this very seriously, for our club aims to be nothing but constructive. Ms. Moxie then said that we had to leave because we were “damaging” the field, and she implied that our use of the field was inherently wrong, even though it is completely permissible per FCPS policy. We were completely taken aback by her actions and saw no reason to comply with Ms. Moxie’s request since she could not (or refused to) show us a field permit, but we tried to work out a compromise and asked if she would be satisfied if we shifted our match about 100 yards away from the soccer team’s warmup, into an empty field space. She rejected this request and said it would have us playing in a puddle. The puddle must have been invisible, because upon inspection the unoccupied area of the field was completely dry. We repeated to Ms. Moxie that despite her belligerent attitude and unprofessional side comments, we would still be happy to leave if she simply produced a field permit. She could not do so and refused to prove she had any right to use the field. The rules of FCPS sports fields indicate that the walk on public may use any field that was not in conflict with a permitted group. These rules are stated on the Fairfax County website:



"The scheduling of organized sport groups and the issuance of permits to those groups shall be in accord with guidelines provided by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Permits are issued by the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services. Permit holders shall have first rights for the use of the fields to which they have been assigned. A field not being utilized by a permit holder may be used by others, including the walk-on public".



Ms. Moxie refused to provide this permit even after we asked an additional three times. County guidelines clearly indicate that a permit must be obtained in order to reserve a field, but Moxie was unable to provide us with any documentation proving that she had obtained any such permit. Because of this, we had no obligation to suspend play and relocate fields, but were nonetheless forced to do so because of Ms. Moxie’s tactics of physical and verbal intimidation. Moxie also refused to give us her name, bluntly stating “I’m not giving you shit.” Luckily, finding her name on the BRYC website was not difficult. Finally, Ms. Moxie pretended to call security in order to get us to leave. However, it being a Sunday, and the fact that security never did show up gave us significant reason to believe that Moxie was being dishonest. Ten minutes after leaving the field, the soccer team left to play their game.



Our main grievance is the complete and utter lack of respect we were shown by Ms. Moxie. We were treated with contempt, as if we are not members of the community. We simply were trying to have a good time on a public field that our tax dollars pay for. This is not the image you want to set for your organization. Between us, we have participated in dozens of seasons of youth and VHSL sports. We have the utmost respect for Robinson and Fairfax County’s athletic facilities and for local youth sports. Many bystanders witnessed the way Moxie handled this situation, and I wouldn’t be surprised if any of them were to switch their child to a competing youth organization. We also would venture to guess that this is not the first time Ms. Moxie has acted this way. Finally, we recognize that there is a fair possibility you all will do nothing, but we really do hope you will do your best to take steps to correct this behavior in order to improve your organization as well as your relationship with outsiders.



Please respond to this message outlining what steps will be taken to ensure Ms. Moxie’s behavior is not encountered again. We did nothing wrong and expect to receive an apology from Ms. Moxie. We know our rights as community citizens and were simply following the advertised rules of field use, and we hope that Ms. Moxie will do the same in the future rather than be rude, disrespectful and threatening.



With Respect,



Robinson Cricket Club Executive Board