OMG Football team murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones played for is disbanded after op

Football fanatic: Rhys Jones, 11, who was shot dead aged 11 after being caught up in gang violence as he walked home from football practice in 2007

The football team of murdered Rhys Jones has been forced to disband after opponents threatened to shoot his old team mates.
Steve Geoghegan, coach of Fir Tree FC in Liverpool, stepped down as manager of the team after becoming disgusted with on-pitch aggression and violence.
Mr Geoghegan, 54, who is a close friend of Rhys's parents Stephen and Melanie Jones, revealed his horror after an opponent threatened to shoot his players during a match.
Mr Jones, 49, described the comments on the pitch as 'appalling' and has supported the coach's decision to step down from his role.

Mr Geoghegan, a social care worker, told The Sun: 'All the current kids are coming up to 18 now and as they get older the arguments on the pitch get worse. I'm not doing it any longer.'
Eleven-year-old Rhys was shot dead by gang member Sean Mercer as he walked back from football practice across the car park of Croxteth's Fir Tree pub in August 2007.
Mercer, then 16, was firing at rival gang members when a bullet ricochet off a wall and struck Rhys.
Since the killing, Fir Tree FC have travelled across Europe to spread an anti-violence message, urging youngsters to 'join a team, not a gang'.
But Mr Geoghan says that despite their efforts problems have remained.
In one terrifying episode that occurred after a row over a tackle one team threatened to come back and shoot his players, he said.

 

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'They were about 14 or 15 and they ran across the pitch and hurled a volley of abuse at the parents and threatened to come back and shoot them,' he said.
'It wasn't taken lightly, given what happened to Rhys.'

'Appalling': Rhys's parents Melanie and Stephen Jones outside court after Sean Mercer was convicted of their son's murder. Mr Jones said he felt players were copying the violent behaviour from top-level football

Rhys's father, Mr Jones, added: 'It's such a shame that this is still going on and it's incredibly dangerous behaviour.
'Mainly because these youngsters can get out of control and end up carrying out the threats because of some sense of bravado - that's when it ruins lives.
'Steve's the man that's been running the teams and he's had to deal with some shocking and appalling threats and actual violence on the pitch.
'He's the man that was taking the brunt of it so it's ultimately his decision. They'll still be running an under-eights side but sadly these things come to an end.
'A lot of it stems from top level football and sadly we see it at these levels and it has forced our son's old club to close down.'

Rhys was shot dead by Sean Mercer as he walked the car park of Croxteth's Fir Tree pub in August 2007. Mercer, then 16, was firing at rival gang members when a bullet ricocheted off a wall and struck Rhys

Mercer was convicted of Rhys's murder in 2009, when he was 18, and sentenced life with a minimum term of 22 years before he could even be considered for parole.
He had been trying to shoot rivals from the Strand Gang who had strayed onto his turf.
Rhys was shot with a First World War Smith and Wesson revolver, and a gang-member was caught trying to buy a replacement weapon just weeks later.
Four other gang members were jailed for helping Mercer try to cover up his involvement in the shooting.
And Mercer's mother Janette received a three-year jail sentence for denying all knowledge of the distinctive mountain bike her teenage son was riding when he shot Rhys.