Santa Ana : Order Barring Discipline of Coach Is Extended

A judge extended a court order Tuesday blocking disciplinary proceedings against a former professional soccer player and coach after urging him to settle his lawsuit against the California Youth Soccer Assn.-South out of court.

Brian Halliday, a former professional from Northern Ireland, claimed that the association’s decision to ban him from youth soccer for 10 years for allegedly assaulting a referee at a youth league match will deprive him of his livelihood.

The decision jeopardizes Halliday’s international coaching license and threatens his occasional role as an announcer and television commentator for international soccer matches, his lawyer asserted.

Halliday faces separate misdemeanor assault charges stemming from the May 31, 1986, incident.

Halliday’s lawyer, Thomas L. Brown, said the youth soccer association’s original disciplinary action against Halliday is unfair because he was not allowed to call more than three witnesses and was denied the right to be represented by a lawyer. Halliday appealed his suspension to a national board of the U.S. Soccer Federation and won an order for a rehearing.

When the association scheduled a new hearing, however, Halliday went to court to challenge local procedures.

Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour delayed a hearing on a request for a preliminary injunction for one month and urged both sides to settle their differences out of court.