Violence in sports

Violence in sports usually refers to violent and often unnecessarily harmful intentional physical acts committed during, or motivated by, a sports game, often in relation to contact sports such as American football, ice hockey, rugby football, lacrosse, association football, boxing, mixed martial arts, wrestling, and water polo and, when referring to the players themselves, often involving excessively violent or potentially illegal physical contact beyond the normal levels of contact expected while playing the sport. These acts of violence can include intentional attempts to injure a player or coach by another player or coach, but can also include threats of physical harm or actual physical harm sustained by players or coaches by fans or those engaging in the spectating of sports, or threats and acts of violence performed by fans or spectators upon opposing fans or other spectators.

Causes

There are two major theories on the cause of violence in sports. One theory holds that humans have an instinct for violence, developed during a time when early human ancestors had to resort to violence and aggressiveness to survive and reproduce. Another theory deals with the sociological aspects of violence in sports, stating that sports are "mock battles" which can become actual battles due to their competitive nature.

Violence by athletes

Through a "civilizing process", many modern sports have become less tolerant of bloodshed than past versions, although many violent aspects of these sports still remain.
Athletes sometimes resort to violence, in hopes of injuring and intimidating opponents. Such incidents may be part of a strategy developed by coaches or players.
In boxing, unruly or extremely violent behavior by one of the contestants often results in the fighter breaking the rules being penalized with a points reduction, or, in extreme cases, disqualification. Outlawed tactics in boxing include hitting the opponent on the back of the head, under the belly during clinching, and to the back. Other tactics that are outlawed, but less seen, are pushing an opponent with forceful intent to the floor or ground, kicking, or hitting repeatedly after the round has ended. Similar actions have also happened in ice hockey and Australian Football League matches.

Ritual violence

High school, college, and even professional sports teams often include initiation ceremonies as a rite of passage. A 1999 study by Alfred University and the NCAA found that approximately four out of five college US athletes experienced hazing. Half were required to take part in alcohol-related initiations, while two-thirds were subjected to humiliation rituals.

Fan violence

Violence may also be related to nationalism or as an outlet for underlying social tensions. It is often alcohol-related.
Violence by supporters of sports teams dates back to Roman times, when supporters of chariot racing teams were frequently involved in major riots, leading Roman authorities to frequently cancel sporting events. Usually, underlying political and/or theological issues helped fuel riots related to sporting events in the Roman era. The Nika riots of 532 were especially deadly, with tens of thousands reportedly killed.
In periods when theatre was considered a form of mass entertainment, there were phenomena of rival fans supporting rival actors or theatrical teams, occasionally leading to violent outbursts having many similarities to present-day violence of sports fans – the Astor Place Riot in 1849 New York City being a conspicuous example.
The actions of English football hooligans and firms in the 1980s caused English teams to be banned from European competition for six years after the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985. Although the level of football-related violence was significantly reduced in England after this event, in the Euro 2004 tournament, England was publicly warned that any violence by supporters at matches could result in their ejection from the tournament. Many known hooligans were prevented from traveling to the tournament in Portugal. There was a collective sigh of relief from security experts in the USA when England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Alan Rothenberg said:

Notable examples of fan violence

In AD 59, a gladiator show in Pompeii led to a riot involving residents of Pompeii and neighboring Nuceria, leading to numerous deaths. After an investigation by the Roman Senate, the town of Pompeii was banned from holding gladiator shows for 10 years.
In 532, the rivalry between supporters of the Blue and Green chariot-racing teams in Constantinople led to 30,000 deaths in the Nika riots.
The first meeting in the American football rivalry between Brigham Young University and the University of Utah took place in April 1896, when BYU was known as Brigham Young Academy. The two schools disagree to this day as to whether this game was official, but it mattered greatly to the spectators—at the end of the game, the two sets of fans fought one another.
In the second edition of the Tour de France in 1904, as the riders climbed the Col de la République in the Loire department, supporters of regional favorite Antoine Faure physically attacked several of his opponents. The repercussions of this incident continue to this day—the Tour did not return to Loire until 1950, and although the Tour has returned to the République 11 times since then, its appearances in the 1903 and 1904 Tours are no longer officially recognized as Tour climbs.
In 1972, Oregon pummeled Oregon State 30–3 in their annual "Civil War" football rivalry game, held this season at Oregon State's Parker Stadium. After the game, jubilant Oregon fans rushed the field and tore down the south goal post. They then turned to do the same to the north goal post, but were met by Oregon State fans who had come on the field, resulting in a major brawl.
In 1975, cyclist Eddy Merckx was viciously punched by a spectator as he climbed the Puy-de-Dôme in the Tour de France. Merckx, who had won the Tour de France five times previously and at the time was in the leader's yellow jersey, finished the stage barely able to breathe, and went on to finish the tour in second place overall.
The 1980 Scottish Cup Final between bitter Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers was marred by an on-pitch riot between rival fans. The result was the banning of alcohol from Scottish football and rugby matches.
After Marvin Hagler knocked out Alan Minter in three rounds to win boxing's world middleweight title at Wembley Arena in 1980, many of Minter's supporters began to throw beer cans, bottles and other objects into the ring. Both Hagler and Minter, along with their respective handlers, had to be escorted out by Scotland Yard.
On August 12, 1984, during a game between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres that degenerated into a beanball war:
* At least five fans were dragged from the field at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in handcuffs after participating in a bench-clearing brawl.
* One of the fans was charged with assault for throwing a full beer mug at the Padres' Kurt Bevacqua, hitting him in the head, as he was returning to the dugout.
* The game ended with police riot squads on top of both dugouts in an obvious attempt to keep fans away from the players.
At the end of the same season, violence erupted outside of Tiger Stadium in Detroit after the Detroit Tigers defeated the Padres in the World Series. A well known photo from the riot shows a Tigers fan holding a World Series pennant in front of an overturned burning Detroit Police car.
Heysel Stadium disaster – 39 people died when a wall collapsed under pressure of Juventus supporters fleeing from 'football hooligans' supporting Liverpool during the 1985 European Cup Final.
Dinamo–Red Star riot – a 1990 football match between Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb was abandoned after ten minutes with thousands of fans fighting each other and the police. One of the Zagreb players, Zvonimir Boban, was seen to kick a policeman, and after an hour long riot, the stadium was set on fire. Dinamo fans saw the riot as the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence.
In 1993, a mentally ill tennis fan stabbed Monica Seles during a changeover at a tennis match in Germany.
In 1994, Vancouver Canucks fans rioted in the streets of Vancouver after their team lost in the Stanley Cup finals.
During the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Colombian football player Andrés Escobar accidentally scored an own goal in a match against the United States, a match which Colombia lost 2–1. On his return to Colombia, Escobar was confronted outside a bar in Medellín by a gunman who shot the player six times, killing him. The gunman reportedly shouted "¡Gol!" for each bullet fired.
Rioting Indian fans at the Eden Gardens stadium in Calcutta forced the end of the semi-final match between India and Sri Lanka during the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Fans started rioting when the home team, seemingly on the way to victory, underwent a dramatic batting collapse. Match referee Clive Lloyd brought the teams off the ground for their safety, then attempted to restart the match. When the fans remained throwing projectiles and damaging stadium facilities, the match was called off and awarded to Sri Lanka.
In 1996 during a night Australian Football League match at Waverley Park in Melbourne between Essendon and St Kilda, a pitch invasion occurred when the lights went out during the third quarter. Initially, a serious car crash into power lines in the nearby area was reported to have caused the blackout, although it was later confirmed to be a major electrical fault. In the midst of the chaos, fans rioted and stormed the ground, some lighting bonfires in the centre square, and removing two of the behind posts. The incidents were filmed on Network Seven, and the remaining quarter and a half was played three nights later.
In 1998, Denver Broncos fans rioted in the streets of Denver after their team won Super Bowl XXXII. Near-riots happened when the team won the Super Bowl again the following year and after the Colorado Avalanche's Stanley Cup wins in 1996 and 2001.
A similar incident occurred in Oakland, California in 2003 when fans rioted and destroyed property after the Oakland Raiders lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII.
In July 2000, 13 people were trampled to death in a riot at a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Harare, Zimbabwe after South Africa took a 2–0 lead over Zimbabwe.
In June 2000, Los Angeles Lakers fans stormed the streets of Los Angeles after the Lakers' victory over the Indiana Pacers in the 2000 NBA Finals. Fans briefly celebrated by starting bonfires, but it soon turned into a riot, with fans dancing and stomping on parked cars, and even turning a news van over.
In May 2001 during an Australian Football League match between Geelong and Carlton at Optus Oval, Geelong's Darren Milburn executed a very late and illegal bump on Carlton's Steven Silvagni, collecting Silvagni's head with his hip, knocking Silvagni unconscious and leaving him having to be carried from the field by trainers. Milburn then proceeded to clap towards the crowd after being substituted, further igniting the situation; Carlton fans threatened Milburn, attempted to enter the interchange box to assault him, and attempted to attack Milburn's police escort in the car park after the match. Milburn was suspended for three matches for the incident.
In May 2004 after an Australian Football League Friday Night Football match between Adelaide and St Kilda at AAMI Stadium which St Kilda won by 32 points, field umpires were booed and abused by Adelaide fans, and a drink bottle was thrown which hit a 12-year-old St Kilda fan. One fan was ejected and banned for one year from the arena.
In September 2004 in the Cairns Australian Football League Grand Final between the North Cairns Tigers and the Port Douglas Crocs at Cazaly's Stadium, a wild and violent 15 minute bench-clearing brawl erupted after Tigers players charged at the Crocs pre-match huddle at the end of the national anthem, and escalated when fans and team officials became involved. One fan was arrested and another five were ejected, while three Crocs players and a Crocs runner were left unconscious and having to be carried from the arena on stretchers. After a lengthy AFL investigation, the instigator, North Cairns Tigers coach and former VFL/AFL player Jason Love, was suspended for eight years, and the 22 North Cairns players were suspended for a total of 400 matches on a string of charges in relation to starting the brawl; the Tigers were forced to forfeit their first match of 2005 as a result of these suspensions. AFL Cairns declared the Grand Final a "no result" and withheld the 2004 premiership.
In October 2004, after the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, Red Sox fans rioted near Fenway Park in Boston. Police used "pepper guns" in some cases, and an Emerson College student, Victoria Snelgrove, was killed by a paintball-like projectile that hit her in the eye.
On November 19, 2004, near the end of an NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons, a brawl erupted between Pacers players and Pistons supporters.
On April 12, 2005, the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal between intracity rivals A.C. Milan and Inter Milan was abandoned after Inter fans threw missiles and flares on to the pitch at the San Siro stadium, with A.C. Milan goalkeeper Dida hit by a flare.
In May 2006 during an Australian Football League match between North Melbourne and St Kilda, a North Melbourne fan had a provocative confrontation with coach Dean Laidley, to which Laidley responded with a verbal barrage, inviting the fan to the club rooms to see how badly the players were feeling due to their consistently poor on-field performance. The incident was captured on Australian national television. The fan committed suicide by throwing himself in the path of an oncoming train the next morning.
On June 6, 2010, the final game of the Greek Basket League finals between ancient rivals Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, also respectively known as the "Reds" and "Greens" from their club colors, degenerated into what one commentator called a "night of shame" for Greek basketball. Panathinaikos entered the game, held at Olympiacos' home of Peace and Friendship Stadium, with a 2–1 lead in the best-of-5 series. The homestanding Reds fans were reportedly incensed at what they considered to be biased officiating in the Greens' favor in Game 3. The violence began even before tipoff, with police forced to use tear gas on rioting Reds fans; the game started 40 minutes late. In the third quarter, with PAO leading 50–42, the game was halted for about an hour after Olympiacos fans threw various incendiaries at the PAO bench, with one smoke bomb exploding next to the bench. By the time the teams resumed play, all but about 2,000 fans had left. Then, with little over a minute left in the game and PAO ahead 76–69, many of the remaining Reds fans began throwing objects on the court, leading the officials to suspend play and forfeit the game to PAO, giving the Greens the title. The new champions had to be escorted off the floor by riot police. The league organizer, HEBA, fined Olympiacos €111,000 and required them to play their first nine home games of the 2010–11 season behind closed doors and without live TV coverage.
The next meeting between the two teams, this time hosted by Panathinaikos on January 12, 2011, saw Olympiacos win 65–61, followed by a rain of incendiaries from Greens fans at the Reds.
The 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot immediately followed the loss of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team to the Boston Bruins in the deciding Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in June of that year.
Later in the same month, major violence broke out involving supporters of historic Argentine football club River Plate during and after their promotion/relegation playoff with Belgrano. The first leg on June 22 in Córdoba was delayed for 20 minutes after River Plate hooligans tore through a fence and stormed the field to verbally and physically attack River players. The second leg, on June 26 at El Monumental in Buenos Aires, had what was reported to be the largest security presence for any match in the country's history, with over 2,200 police called in. However, it was not enough to keep River hooligans, angered at what became the club's first relegation from the top flight in their history, from rushing the field. Violence quickly spread, with fires set in the stadium, pitched battles between hooligans and police, and looting in nearby areas. At least 35 police and 55 civilians were reported to have been injured.
On December 21, 2011, a fourth round match in the 2011–12 KNVB Cup between Eredivisie clubs Ajax and AZ at Ajax's home of Amsterdam Arena was marred by a violent fan incident. In the 36th minute, Ajax held a 1–0 lead when a fan ran on the pitch and launched a karate kick from behind at AZ goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado. The player responded by kicking the fan several times before security arrived. When Alvarado was sent off for retaliating against his attacker, AZ left the pitch, and the match was abandoned. The KNVB rescinded the red card and ordered the match replayed in its entirety behind closed doors on January 19, 2012. Ajax was also fined €10,000 for failing to prevent the fan—who was supposed to be serving a 3-year stadium ban—from entering the pitch, and given a suspended one-match spectator ban. Ajax accepted the penalties, and announced that it had given the fan a 30-year stadium ban and a lifetime ban from the club and its season ticket list.
In 2021, fans of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens rioted on the streets of Downtown Montreal after the Canadiens defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of their best-of-seven series by a score of 3–2 in overtime to advance to their first Stanley Cup Finals since the 1992-1993 season. Fans set off fireworks, flipped and vandalized police cars, assaulted police officers, threw projectiles, and broke other municipal bylaws in the process, which forced the Bell Centre into a lockdown, locking down the 3,500 fans who saw the game live until police gave the all-clear. The situation was also notable for the fact that it happened on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, Quebec's national holiday, in addition to happening less than one month following the end of the first province-wide curfew in Quebec imposed by Premier François Legault in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, which lasted from the beginning of January to the end of May of that year. The Canadiens would eventually fall to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals in five games, and would finish in last place in the NHL the following season.
In 2024, following the AFC Divisional Round NFL playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York where the Chiefs defeated the Bills 27–24, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was pelted with snowballs from the fans as was star tight end Travis Kelce and star linebacker Drue Tranquill. Coming into the game, Buffalo had two previous postseason encounters with Mahomes and Kansas City, both of them resulting in losses, in 2021 and in 2022, albeit at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The Buffalo region also had to deal with heavy snowfalls in the days leading up to the game, a situation that also occurred prior to the Bills’ previous playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers the preceding week. In both situations, the team had to hire fans to shovel snow out of the stadium’s walkways and paid them $20 per hour for doing so. Following the game, Tranquill took to social media, calling out the fan who threw a snowball at him, claiming that he caught the snowball and was ready to retaliate had it not broken in his hand upon catching it.