It's kind of old news at this point, but last week during a Raiders 49ers pre season game, fights and brawls broke out through out the stadium and parking lots between fans. One man was shot, and another was beaten to within an inch of his life and left unconscious in a bathroom. Basically it was chaos, and 49ers security and San Francisco police did their best to try and keep order. I would like to discuss in this article how and why this happened and what we can do to prevent such an episode from occurring in the future.
The fights and brawls broke out for a number of different reasons. The fights were mainly due to the fact that it was a pre season game and by second half fans are bored and left with a seemingly meaningless football game to watch. With no real entertainment, the two rival fans probably started barking back and forth which eventually lead to physical confrontations.
Also alcohol played a huge role in the childish actions of these fans. Even though it was a pre season game, fans still love to tailgate. Some fans look forward to the tailgate more than the game itself and will be out in the parking lot for 3-5 hours before a game. And while some fans may be innocently tailgating by cooking burgers, having catch, and drinking a few beers, others are deliberately getting trashed in an effort to enhance the enjoyment of a pre season match.
When the second half rolls around, some fans are trashed, bored, and a fan of the team they hate yells something that rubs them the wrong way. Basically it was a recipe for disaster and security and police were left ill prepared for such a violent outbreak.
Sadly sports violence is a growing problem. Fights in the stands and parking lot are breaking out too often and something needs to be done.
The main cause of the growing sports violence is the emphasis that is being placed on the pre-game tailgate. Fans are spending 3-5 hours getting hammered in the parking lot and when they are all nice and intoxicated come into the stadium. Teams need to limit the amount of time fans tailgate by opening up their parking lots closer to game time. If teams start opening the gates maybe two hours before kickoff, it will limit the amount of time they have to drink and ensure a safer stadium.
As of right now NFL teams stop serving alcohol after the third quarter, and MLB stadiums don't sell alcohol after the 7th inning. Maybe it's time to make the final call for alcohol sooner. For football make it the second half, for baseball make it the 5th inning. It's a shame that so many fans have to suffer because of the immature actions of a few. But something has to be done to ensure the safety of the fans.
Back in the days of the Phillies Mets rivalry, I actually enjoyed when Mets fans would come down to Philadelphia for games. It was fun to go back and forth with a Mets fan as rivalries can be extremely fun.
But when fans begin to take things too far and start getting into physical confrontations, it becomes the opposite of fun as people are put in extreme danger.
Action has to be taken primarily by the MLB and NFL before things get any worse.
No comments:
Post a Comment