Fan Violence in Sport

Since its early beginnings, sporting events have been known to have violent spectators and incidents between them and the participants. There are many reasons for these encounters, including alcohol, the fans passion for the teams participating, and some would even argue the owners of teams themselves. Nevertheless, this growing problem in modern sporting events is dangerous to other spectators as well as the participants.

As early as sports have been recorded, spectators have been known to bring violence to the spectators. One example is the Nika Riots in early Constantinople 532 A.D. The ancient Roman and Byzantine Empires had well developed associations of sports fans, especially for chariot racing, a popular diversion for the poor. There were four major factions of chariot racing fans, signified by the color of the uniform of their favorite racing team. These were the Blues, the Reds, the Greens, and the Whites. The most influential teams in that time were the Blues, and the Greens. The teams had aspects of street gangs and political parties, grouping people by social class and religion. The emperors tended to support one faction over the other. The emperor at that time was Justinian I who, until the riots, was a supporter of the Blues.

In 531, some members of the Blues and Greens had been arrested for murder, but had survived their hanging sentences. Justinian then commuted their sentences to imprisonment, but the Blues and Greens demanded that they be pardoned entirely. Justinian ignored them, so on January 11, 532 A.D. they broke into the prison and set fire to parts of Constantinople, using the racing cheer nika, meaning “victory" as a rallying cry. Throughout the week, a total of 30,000 rioters were believed to be killed. It is known for being one of the worst acts of rioting in recorded history.

There are also similar acts of rioting in modern day sporting events as well. The most worst cases being the infamous “10-cent Beer Night” in Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium during a Texas Ranger vs. Cleveland Indians game in 1974.

The incident actually began a week prior when the two teams faced each other in a series a week before with a hard slide into Indians second baseman Jack Brohamer by the Rangers' Lenny Randle; four innings later Indians hurler Milt Wilcox retaliated with a fastball behind Randle's head. Instead of charging the mound, Randle bunted the next pitch up the first base line. As Wilcox charged the ball, he was greeted by a hard forearm shove from Randle, who then barreled into Cleveland's first baseman John Ellis. As the brawl ensued, more than a few Indians found themselves doused with beer hurled from the stands.

A week later the Indians announced that the first game of their series against the Rangers would have a “10-cent Beer Night”. This was done in order to boost attendance at home games. For a team that had averaged less than 8,000 fans a