Benches-clearing youth indoor lacrosse brawl leads to 15 suspensions
It’s probably safe to say that any debate over the most ridiculous youth sports fight of the year is over. The feat was surely accomplished in British Columbia, where a British Canadian Intermediate A league indoor lacrosse game devolved into a street brawl that was practically taken directly from a video game.
As you can see in the video above, and covered by the Nanaimo Daily News, the Nanaimo Timbermen against the Coquitlam Adanacs became embroiled in a nasty fight when Cody Reed scored to give Coquitlam a nearly insurmountable 15-4 lead before halftime.
Rather than let Reed celebrate his goal with his teammates in peace, a Timbermen player attacked, in part of what the Daily News chronicled would later lead to suspensions for a whopping 15 players.
BLOCK: Reed was hit by the Timberman’s Jordan Kuziuk, who two seconds later was crosschecked by the Adanacs’ Zachary Hartman, who was playing in his first game back after missing time to a concussion.
Those early incidents eventually led to both benches clearing, inciting a fight the likes of which the Intermediate A league had never seen.
“It’s the first time this has happened to me as a commissioner,” B.C. Intermediate A league game Gene Regier told the Daily News. “I’ve seen them at senior games, but this is the first one I’ve had to deal with.
“Tempers are hot and fiery and someone might have said something to them and there you go. Things happen in an instant, there’s a lot of testosterone flowing on the floor.”
That there had never been a fight of anywhere near this size is a fairly remarkable feat in itself. That the fight would involve nearly every member of two teenaged teams is even more unbelievable.
Given how brutal the actions of both teams were, its fairly incredible that only 15 players received suspensions for the brawl.
For his part, the Nanaimo team governor — essentially the team’s general manager charged with maintaining contact with the league — was “horrified” when he was made aware of the brawl while out of town with his family.
“It has been our practice to both win and lose with dignity,” Timbermen’s team governor Bruce Clark told the Daily News. “Young men don’t like to have lopsided wins or their noses rubbed in it. This is not an excuse. What happened was appalling and a black mark on our game.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/benches-clearing-youth-indoor-lacrosse-brawl-leads-15-150118092.html
Note- Listen to those filming the fight and how upset they are. Incidents such as this can quickly turn a docile crowd into a hostile crowd.