A school football game in rural Missouri last week was broadcast live to a huge audience and shared widely online, sparking a firestorm of criticism from students and parents.
The team of nine students from a small town in southern Missouri played a football game, which ended in a 4-4 tie.
The students and their parents said the game was not an organized scrimmage and they were not told to take it lightly.
A screenshot of the game, taken by a camera mounted on the wall of a home on Saturday.
A school district spokeswoman said that the game had been planned as a friendly game with no specific goals and that the students had not been told the team was to take the game as seriously as other football teams, such as a college team.
The game ended in the fourth quarter and the students did not start until after halftime, when they were supposed to take their final exams.
But the image that went viral showed the team and coaches wearing helmets, face masks and gloves with red visors.
The video of the play went viral on social media and the image went viral.
Students, parents and community members posted about the incident and questioned why the school allowed the game to be broadcast live.
The school district apologized for the broadcast and the district is working with the Missouri Department of Public Safety and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to determine how the school district was allowed to broadcast the game.
The incident has sparked outrage among parents, who said they were disappointed the district was not more careful when it came to the safety of its students.
“The kids were there to play and the safety protocols were followed,” said Nancy Hays, whose son, Tanner, was on the team.
“They were supposed in there to be watching the safety protocol, but they weren’t supposed to be wearing helmets.
That was not communicated.”
The video was broadcast by Fox 9 in Columbia, Missouri, and posted online.
The school district’s social media accounts and the Twitter handle for the school did not respond to requests for comment.
“I was very disappointed,” said Tanner’s mother, Kimberly, who added that she does not have an opinion on whether the school should have made the players wear helmets.
“We have a long history of being respectful of our students,” she said.
“It’s a very scary place and we’re all upset about this.
I’m sure it will be handled appropriately.”
In a statement, the school said that it “receives a wide variety of concerns regarding safety during football games.”
The school also said that students were told to stay inside the stadium and not leave.
“At the end of the day, students and families are responsible for their own safety,” the statement said.
“Students and their families are allowed to go about their business as normal and the football team has not been given permission to play outside.”