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Auckland Grammar may cancel tomorrow's midweek football final against arch-rivals Mt Albert Grammar, where Fallon now coaches, amid fallout from a game during a separate tournament last week.

A spectator said the match erupted into an "all-in brawl - like watching rugby league in the 1980s". But Mt Albert officials say an Auckland Grammar player assaulted Fallon, who has the school's confidence and remains on its staff.

Auckland Grammar headmaster John Morris said a "ruckus" flared up after a bad tackle on one of his players during the match at Napier's Park Island on Thursday. Fallon became involved.

"He has man-handled quite physically one of our players. I think he ended up on the ground himself because there was a whole lot of pushing and shoving."

The incident was videoed from the sideline but the footage was "not conclusive", he said.

School officials were meeting last night to decide what action to take, which could include a police complaint.

"As far as I know, coaches aren't allowed on the field and aren't allowed to man-handle players ... and to me that's fairly inappropriate behaviour," Morris said.

Fallon refused to comment yesterday. "I'm not interested in talking to anybody about it, okay? Bye bye."

Secondary Schools Football Association chairman Malcolm Cowie said the incident, which lasted just over a minute, had been investigated. Two players were sent off. Fallon had "simply restrained an opposition player, according to the referee".

"Mr Fallon and none of the other coaches or officials were cautioned or sent off. A letter is being written to both schools just pointing out our concerns about players being sent off and this sort of behaviour. We can't condone this."

A spectator said the incident brought the tournament to a standstill, involving on-field players and both team's benches. "It certainly erupted big time. Games on other fields stopped."

Fallon was in the midst of the brawl, the spectator said, "making loads of noise, grabbing people by the shirts and pushing them around".

Mt Albert headmaster Dale Burden said there were conflicting accounts, with claims that Fallon was assaulted by an Auckland Grammar player.

"Kevin was definitely hit. The difficulty is I've got people on both sides saying all different things."

Maybe the young schoolboy was giving Fallon s#*t about his 1982 world cup suit and he just couldn't take it any longer.

Hawke's Bay soccer stalwarts who were on the sidelines of last week's brawl at the premier secondary schools' tournament in Napier are unanimous that the situation wouldn't have flared up if coach Kevin Fallon hadn't stepped into the fray.

Speaking anonymously, one witness told SportToday he was standing only metres from the sideline at Park Island last Thursday afternoon when the incident flared after a crude tackle.

"It was an awful tackle from a Mt Albert Grammar (Mags) player on an Auckland Grammar boy and the Auckland player's teammate - a young, dark-skinned fellow - came from behind and lashed out," the stalwart said.

"All hell broke loose and Kevin ended up on his bum, mate. It was only one metre inside from the sideline in the middle of the field," the witness said, commending Auckland Grammar coach Jimmy Hogg, the father of Hawke's Bay United defender and Olympian Ian, for keeping calm.

"If a coach gets on to the park to defuse a brawl then I don't have a problem with that but Kevin actually inflamed the situation even more," he said.

Another stalwart said: "I'm a coach but I'd never contemplate touching a kid, let alone manhandling one.

"I mean we're not supposed to hit our own kids these days so to do that to someone else's kid is crazy."

Another witness said Fallon ended up on the ground, with his spectacles off and in a spot of bother as a player turned on him in the free-for-all brawl involving at least four players from each team.

That incident has led to the cancellation of today's showpiece finale to the Auckland season between the long-time rivals.

Auckland Grammar have pulled out of the Knockout Cup final with the blessing of their school executive and board.

Headmaster John Morris said on Monday: "This reluctant decision is the result of a most unfortunate incident involving the Mags coach Kevin Fallon in a semifinal game between the two schools in Napier.

"This decision has not been taken lightly. Indeed, the school left the decision up to the players, who felt the nature of this particular incident, as well as previous ones involving Mr Fallon, meant this was the most appropriate action."

Mt Albert Grammar won the semifinal game with both sides having a player sent off. They went on to win the final. Later that day, the NZ Secondary Schools Football Association suspended the two players for one match, but took no action against Fallon.

Mt Albert Grammar head Dale Burden said he had received varied accounts, including one that intimated Fallon had been assaulted.

Sport Hawke's Bay, who organised the event in conjunction with Central Soccer, denounced the onfield violence.

Secondary schools' development officer Tina Arlidge said: "We disapprove of violence in any sport."

Central Soccer CEO Milene Haakman said, while they were tournament controllers, the matter was for the secondary schools' council to deal with and it had done so last Thursday by handing out one-match suspensions to the schoolboys who had been red-carded on the field.