Sports lead to some crazy fights from time to time, but the brawl that broke out Sunday in Brazil stands out for the involvement of players, spectators and eventually military police. This brawl came around the 40th minute of a Campeonato Brasiliense (state league) match between Brasiliense and Gama, with the score tied 1-1. While it started with just a collision between on-pitch players, it quickly escalated beyond that:
Today's mental S. American football news – Too hard to describe this ludicrous series of events in 140 characters so just watch it. pic.twitter.com/HmGNwjFEzX
— Ball Street (@BallStreet) March 13, 2017
All three players there go up for the ball, with the Gama player (in green) going down first and either tripping an opponent or having the opponent fall over him. Both roll around on the ground as teammates come running in to argue, in what’s pretty standard for these situations, but a bit of pushing starts about 15 seconds in. It then gets more serious about 20 seconds in, with players from the Gama bench running in, and at 24 seconds, we get the first flying kick, from a Brasiliense player. It’s pretty good crane kick form.
Then the spectators get involved. Around 0:40, we see one ripping down an opposing supporters’ banner and try to run away with it. It looks like a fan (or maybe an official?) confronts him, but others then come running in to grab the banner, and then opponents come to fight them. There’s a good kick in the groin at 1:05. Then, the military police move in and start firing tear gas, and fans start fleeing, even climbing the walls to get out.
One military police officer was injured in the altercations, and the match was suspended. This could have been much worse, though, especially if more of the spectators had managed to get onto the pitch. We’ve seen fights between players and fans before, but they’re pretty rare, and this could have turned into a massive one. It’s a crazy video, and it’s fortunate that it didn’t lead to more drastic consequences.
