AITA Playground drama

would really like feedback because This is my first time raising a boy. My son is seven and he was playing a scrimmage during a World Cup fan fest with kids his age except for a dad and a 12. Well, the 12-year-old was kind of playing rough with the younger kids and wasn’t skilled. So he was bothering the boys a lot being rough with them and using his hands to get the ball. Finally, when my son got the ball that kid slide tackled my son and my son called a foul along with his team. The kid said no, and started walking away, so my son ran to him and randomly slide tackled into his ankles. The kid grabbed his ankle and then started crying about 20 seconds after.

The dad then yells at my son to get off the field and I saw everything. So I tell him I’ll handle my son and I talk to my son in his ear. I motion for him to go back on the field and the dad gets mad. I told my son to tell him sorry even if I didn’t agree or disagree with what happened. But as he was walking back the boy exited the field because his dad started saying that the kids are mean and he doesn’t want him to play with them. He then yells that my son has anger issues and that he’ll never get far in soccer.

I’m not saying that hitting is OK but I told my daughter about what happened and she said that sometimes kids have to learn how to play right. So regardless of what happened I am talking to my kid about how to handle situations when they’re upset. Mind you he’s a really good kid and never gets in trouble. But at the same time I feel conflicted because of how the boy was playing with the younger kids. In my experience almost always the older kids are cautious with the younger kids and if they hurt them, they apologize.