When sports fans clash, it’s not always an easy sight, especially if you’re on the losing side. That much was evident after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup in 2011 to the Boston Bruins. Following the game, which was played in Vancouver, cars were overturned, fires were started and fights bled into the streets. Sadly, this is a common occurrence at sporting events.
For instance, At Candlestick Park in 2011 during a preseason showdown between the Oakland Raiders and crosstown rivals the San Francisco 49ers, violence was extreme. A man was beaten and left unconscious in the restroom, a huge fistfight erupted in the stands between opposing fans and two men were shot postgame in the parking lot.
On Opening Day of the 2011 MLB season during a San Francisco Giants-Los Angeles Dodgers game, another brutal incident occurred. Dedicated Giants fan Bryan Stow was pushed into the concrete and knocked unconscious by two Dodger fans while walking to his car after the game.
When the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL Conference championship in January 2013, a fan was stabbed in the throat after a brawl.
The cause of the fight remains unknown, but similar altercations are happening more frequently.
Trash talking is a major reason that these types of fights are occurring. People take it personally when their team’s play is criticized, and some are unable to control their anger. Some argue it is the responsibility of fans to ensure their own personal safety.
What is responsible for this growing trend in violence at sporting events? There are several contributing factors. 1) Many young fans welcome the camaraderie of a community rooting for the same team and feel more powerful when they do so. 2) The consumption of alcohol causes minor arguments to get out of hand and become belligerent, and 3) Fans wearing team colors strongly identify with their allegiances, giving rise to a gang-like mentality where they view the opposition as intruders. Some grow overly protective and threatened, so they fight.
Aware of these threats, visiting fans set themselves up for trouble by wearing their team’s colors. They feel it is their right to wear whatever they want in support of their team. Emily Warner, a former columnist and sports editor at Vidette, the Illinois State University newspaper, feels that visiting fans should be allowed to be “decked out” in team clothes and colors, because they travel and expend money just to see their favorite team play. “There is no need to be shy,” she said.
Visiting fans argue that stadiums should be made more secure. Increased security presence in the stadiums, patrolling of parking lots before and after the game and stadium designated sections for away-team fans to sit may increase the safety for all. Around the anniversary of the Bryan Stow incident, security was beefed up when the Dodgers hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates in their home opening game. Undercover LA police officers sat in random seats throughout the stadium wearing Pirates jerseys.
“The Dodgers are making increased security a visible priority.” said Brian Shields of KRON 4 news, a San Francisco based television network. Some feel there is nothing to fear when adequate security is present. One can still be a true fan by dressing neutrally. The likelihood that someone would try to start a fight with somebody in plain clothes is significantly lower.
Perhaps if Bryan Stow were not wearing a Giants jersey the hostile Dodgers fans would have walked on by.
The consumption of alcohol presents another safety debate. There are many who feel that drunken fans tend to become more rowdy, insulting, argumentative and aggressive and effectively change the scene of a sporting event for sober attendees.
Is it safe for stadiums to serve alcohol? Tom Kolbe, the Sports Information Director at the University of Tampa, believes that alcohol consumption creates more violence because it causes fans to make bad decisions. Kolbe also feels the lack of security at stadiums is to blame for wholesome environments being turned into dangerous ones. He claims that eliminating alcohol sales at sporting events is unrealistic because that will eliminate a large portion of the enormous profit that stadiums make. He asserts that rather than banning alcohol altogether, “stopping the sale of alcohol at a certain point in a game and using signage to encourage alternative transportation” could be a solution.
Is public safety more important than demonstrating team support and enabling fans to wear and drink how they wish? Should anything that threatens personal safety be avoided? Must stadiums do more to provide a safe viewing environment for spectators? The increase in violence at stadiums suggests that if safety is a concern, changes must be made.
Greg Praver can be reached at gregory.praver@spartans.ut.edu.