Violence in sports usually refers to violent and often unnecessarily harmful intentional physical acts committed during, or motivated by, a sports game, often in relation to contact sports such as American football, ice hockey, rugby football, lacrosse, association football, boxing, mixed martial arts, wrestling, and water polo and, when referring to the players themselves, often involving excessively violent or potentially illegal physical contact beyond the normal levels of contact expected while playing the sport. These acts of violence can include intentional attempts to injure a player or coach by another player or coach, but can also include threats of physical harm or actual physical harm sustained by players or coaches by fans or those engaging in the spectating of sports, or threats and acts of violence performed by fans or spectators upon opposing fans or other spectators.
In rare cases, baseball games are forfeited, usually when a team is no longer able to play. Although not uncommon in baseball's early days, forfeits are now rare. There have been only five forfeits in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1954; the last forfeit was in 1995, and prior to that, 1979. Since 1914, there has only been one incident where a team deliberately made a decision to forfeit a game, by the 1977 Baltimore Orioles.
Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting constitutes violence and other destructive behaviors perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism typically involves conflict between pseudo-tribes, formed to intimidate and attack supporters of other teams. Certain clubs have long-standing rivalries with other clubs and hooliganism associated with matches between them can be more severe. An example of this is the Devon Derby . Conflict may arise at any point, before, during or after matches and occasionally outside of game situations. Participants often select locations away from stadiums to avoid arrest by the police, but conflict can also erupt spontaneously inside the stadium or in the surrounding streets. In extreme cases, hooligans, police and bystanders have been killed, and riot police have intervened. Hooligan-led violence has been called "aggro" and "bovver".
The "Malice at the Palace" was a fight involving both players and fans that occurred during a National Basketball Association (NBA) game between the Indiana Pacers and the defending champion Detroit Pistons on November 19, 2004, at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Associated Press called it "the most infamous brawl in NBA history."
A pitch invasion, also known as field storming or rushing the field/rushing the court, occurs when a person or a crowd of people spectating a sporting event run onto the competition area, usually to celebrate or protest an incident, or sometimes as a publicity stunt. Consequences for participants can result in criminal charges, fines or prison time, and sanctions against the club involved, especially if they cause a disruption in play, although they may sometimes be more welcomed if a large portion of the spectators invades the pitch simultaneously outside of playing time.
In sports, an ejection is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending upon the sport, but common causes for ejection include unsportsmanlike conduct, violent acts against another participant that are beyond the sport's generally accepted standards for such acts, abuse against officials, violations of the sport's rules that the contest official deems to be egregious, or the use of an illegal substance to better a player's game. Most sports have provisions that allow players to be ejected, and many allow for the ejection of coaches, managers, or other non-playing personnel. In sports that use penalty cards, a red card is often used to signal dismissals. In some sports, another player is permitted to enter the game in place of the player who has been ejected, but in others the team is required to continue the game with a reduced number of players.
In rugby union at the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, United States won the gold medal, beating France in an upset in front of a partisan crowd.
Joseph Henry West, nicknamed "Cowboy Joe" or "Country Joe", is an American former baseball umpire. He worked in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 to 2021, umpiring an MLB-record 43 seasons and 5,460 games.
Ten Cent Beer Night was a promotion held by Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Stadium on June 4, 1974. The promotion was meant to improve attendance at the game by offering cups of low-alcohol beer for just 10 cents each, a substantial discount on the regular price of 65 cents, with a limit of six beers per purchase but with no limit on the number of purchases made during the game.
A bench-clearing brawl is a form of fighting that occurs in sports, most notably baseball and ice hockey, in which most or all players on both teams leave their dugouts, bullpens, or benches, and charge onto the playing area in order to fight one another or try to break up a fight. Penalties for leaving the bench can range from nothing to severe.
The Adelaide Footy League, formerly known as the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL), is a semi-professional Australian rules football competition based in Adelaide, South Australia. Comprising sixty-seven member clubs playing over one hundred and ten matches per week, the SAAFL is one of Australia's largest Australian rules football associations.
Bottling is an action where a concert audience throws various objects at the performers onstage. This generally happens at festivals when one act in the lineup is of a different genre or audience from the rest of the bands, especially festivals where the majority of bands are related to heavy metal and punk rock music styles.
The 1970 Anglo-Italian Cup was the inaugural Anglo-Italian Cup competition. The European football competition was played between clubs from England and Italy and was founded by Gigi Peronace in 1970, following the success of the Anglo-Italian League Cup. The competition culminated in a final between Napoli and Swindon Town. Swindon won the competition after leading in the final which was abandoned before full-time due to violence.
Henry Charles "Shag" Crawford was an American professional umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1956 to 1975. During his twenty seasons in the National League, Crawford worked more than 3,100 games and as a home plate umpire was notable for getting in a low crouch and resting his hands on the back of the catcher in front of him. Crawford wore number 2 after the National League adopted numbers for its umpires, which was then transferred to his son Jerry Crawford, who wore it from 1976 until his 2010 retirement.
Mike G. Everitt is an American former Major League Baseball umpire, who wore number 57. He worked in the American League from 1996 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues from 2000 to 2019.
The 1974 Cleveland Indians season was the team's 74th season in Major League Baseball. It involved the Indians competing in the American League East, where they finished fourth with a record of 77–85.
Samuel Woodford Holbrook is an American retired Major League Baseball umpire. He made his MLB debut in 1996 and was promoted to crew chief in 2017. Holbrook worked the World Series in 2010, 2016, and 2019. He retired following the 2022 season.
A UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match involving the national association football teams of Serbia and Albania took place on 14 October 2014 at Partizan Stadium, in Belgrade, Serbia. The match was abandoned after several incidents of hooliganism took place both on and off the field. Serbian fans had chanted "Ubij, ubij Šiptara", and threw flares and other objects on the pitch. At that point a drone quadcopter carrying an Albanian nationalist banner with an image of Greater Albania appeared on the pitch.
Bottlegate, also referred to as The Beer Bottle Game, was an officiating controversy that resulted in a fan riot during an American football game in the 2001 season of the National Football League (NFL) between the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns.
The Bryant–Wagner brawl was an altercation at an National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball game between the home team Bryant Bulldogs and visiting Wagner Seahawks on March 8, 2022 during the 2022 Northeast Conference championship game. The championship game would determine the team that earned the conference's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
