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The 5 Greatest Sporting Mass Brawls
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Dan Fitch /
03 November 2008 /
3 Comments
Athletes are always full of testosterone, aggression and the will to win. So it's little wonder that occasionally fair play takes a back seat to a little physical confrontation, as tensions rise in top level sporting events.
In a team game, players have to be close to one another and watch each other's backs, so when a fight breaks out there's always the potential for a mass brawl.
Here are the five greatest sporting mass brawls.
5. Soccer players are used to using their feet, so it's no surprise that when a brawl breaks out, they tend to favour kicks over punches.
Ecuadorian teams LDU and Barcelona were involved in a vicious fight that left four Barcelona players needing hospital treatment.
The 2006 game resulted in eleven players receiving suspensions, with three LDU players being hit with year long bans.
4. It's dangerous when a brawl breaks out in baseball, especially with there being such easy access to bats.
However, it was a ball that was used as a weapon in this minor league game between affiliates of the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs.
Things were getting heated out on the diamond, causing the Dayton (Reds) manager Donnie Scott to complain to the umpire. The Peoria (Cubs) manager Carmelo Martinez entered the discussions and a shoving match ensued between the two coaches.
Soon both sides were involved in a mass brawl, during which the Peoria pitcher Julio Castillo threw a ball towards the Dayton bench, only to hit and injure a 17 year old fan.
3. So this is why football players wear so much protective gear. A 2006 college football match between Miami Hurricanes and Florida International University Golden Panthers, turned out to be far from cerebral when a bench-clearing brawl broke out.
Miami's Matt Perelli was set upon by Florida's Chris Smith and Marshall McDuffie Jr. Perelli's team-mates leapt to his defence and before long everyone was involved in the on-field carnage.
31 players received one game suspensions and FIU's Smith and McDuffie were kicked off the team.
2. The most notorious brawl in Basketball history saw the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons battle it out in what came to be nicknamed 'The Malice at the Palace'.
A routine on court fracas escalated to legendary proportions, after Detroit fan John Green threw a cup of beer at the combustible Pacer player, Ron Artest. The NBA All Star launched himself into the crowd to attack Green, but ended up mistakenly hitting someone else, before a full scale riot broke out involving both fans and players.
Subsequently nine players received suspensions, with Artest the hardest hit with an 86 game suspension.
The beer throwing John Green was banned from attending Pistons home games for life.
1. Unsurprisingly it's an ice hockey brawl that tops this list. In 2004 the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators were involved in a brutal clash that made World War II seem like a minor tiff.
A fight between Ottawa's Rob Ray and Philadelphia's Donald Brashear sparked a mass brawl which set an NHL record for the total penalty minutes in a game (419).
Just when you think things are calming down, another battle breaks out on the ice, in this bloodiest of brawls.
Burento | 06 November 2008
Best fight ever - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZMEE7tlq6A
M Khan | 09 November 2008
With this rundown excluding any petulance from the English Premiership it's safe to say our domestic reputation remains...amazingly...intact.
IFChris | 17 November 2008
This is one of the best sporting event fights I've ever seen. Rivals the Palace Malice stuff.
It's two Kentucky high school teams from the 90s. Great stuff.
http://www.vidilife.com/video_play_413149_Paintsville_vs_Prestonsburg_KY_1992.htm