Riots, riots everywhere!

Ah the annual rights of winter, spring, summer, and fall. Ever since the late 80’s riots in locales where the favorite sports team wins anything have been common place. The time honored tradition of the sports riot is still alive & well.

The fad started here in America when the Detroit Tigers won the World Series in 1984 and the Detroit Pistons won their first NBA title back in 1989. The city was kept nice and toasty on both occasions by multiple fires and unruly behavior eerily reminiscent of the race riots of the 60’s.

After West Virginia’s victory over Texas Tech in the 2005 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen, students in Morgantown set over 50 fires in celebration of the Mountaineers’ success. Firemen extinguished all the fires yet were obstructed from their duties on several occasions. The Morgantown fire department issued several citations and one fire fighter was hit in the head by a full beer can.

Here in Colorado, there were small scale riots in Denver after the Denver Broncos’ Super Bowl wins and after the Colorado Avalanche won both of their Stanley Cups. In Boulder riots sprung up after the CU Buffs won the college football co-National Championship in ’91 and after their back-to-back Big 12 titles a couple years ago. The Boulder city council responded by outlawing yet another tradition, the ratted out couch on the front porch. Seems many couches were used as kindling on more than one occasion.

Shockingly enough, Oakland Raiders’ fans went off after Super Bowl XXXVII. The Raiders lost to Tampa Bay, 48-21, and afterward the faithful burned and looted, causing millions in property damage.

In 1995 fans of the then soon-to-be-migratory Cleveland Browns ripped seats from their anchors and hurled them on the field in protest of Art Model’s plans to move the beloved home team to Baltimore. Cleveland Municipal Stadium was torched by small fires, causing thousands of dollars of damage.

But no one does the sports riot in America like Chicago. In 1992, after the Chicago Bulls won their first NBA title, zealous fans caused $10 million in property damage in tribute to Michael Jordan and his winning ways. To date this little impromptu victory celebration is the most expensive in U.S. sports history.

But the real crown goes to the Europeans. In 1985, 39 fans were crushed to death in the infamous Heysel Stadium disaster. As a result English teams were banned from European soccer competition for six years. On November, 17, 2004, fans of the Spanish national team hurled racist insults at two of the English side’s black players and even taunted them with monkey calls. In 1980 at Wembley Stadium thousands of Alan Minter supporters rioted after their beloved boxer was destroyed by Marvin Hagler. In 1990, soccer fans in Zagreb forced the cancellation of a match between hometown Dynamo Zagreb and the visiting Red Star Belgrade. The match was brought to a halt after ten minutes and the stadium was eventually set on fire.

Even those passive Canadians have dabbled in the riotous arts. Back in 1955 the Richard Riot gave a black eye to Montreal. On March 13 of that year Hall-of-Famer Maurice Richard was given a match penalty for deliberately injuring Hal Laycoe. Richard was suspended for the remainder of the season even as his Canadiens were battling for first place. Then NHL President Clarence Campbell refused to budge on Richard’s punishment. Canadiens’ fans were whipped into frenzy on March 17 when Campbell attended a Canadiens-Red Wings game at the Montreal Forum. Throughout the game the home-town faithful pelted Campbell with eggs, vegetables, and a host of other objects. The game was called off, forfeiting the win to Detroit, and the fans turned violent. The resulting fray resulted in $500,000 damage to the Forum and parts of the legendary arena were destroyed. This followed on the heels of two separate 1972 incidents in Philadelphia and Vancouver where players fought with fans. As recently as 1994, Vancouver Canucks fans rioted after their team lost in the Stanley Cup finals to the New York Rangers. In 1979, a brawl between the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers spilled over into the stands. As the clock wound down Rangers’ fans showered the ice with debris and started assaulting Boston’s Stan Jonathan. After that Jonathan’s teammates charged into the stands pummeling the Ranger faithful. The melee went on for nearly fifteen minutes and four fans were sent to jail.

Those happy-go-lucky Australians have had their little experiments in sportsmanship as well. In a 1879 cricket match between those scampish Aussies and one-time overlords England the ill will in the crowd spilled over, more like boiled over, onto the pitch. Seems the gathered throng objected to a call by the English appointed umpire and rushed the unfortunate official and pummeled him. The situation was eventually defused but not until over 3,000 had stormed onto the field. Australia lost the match.

A water polo match was called off during the 1956 Summer Olympics to defuse a potential riot after a Russian player sucker punched a Hungarian player. Also, in 2000, thirteen people were trampled to death at a World Cup qualifying match between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The sports riot even dates back to hallowed antiquity. In 532 A.D. the Roman and Byzantine empires had established chariot races. Justinian I, then Emperor of Rome, supported a certain faction of charioteers and their fans. His allegiance to the so-called Blues was widely viewed as the reason why he commuted the death sentences of several accused murderers, who, incidentally, were also Blues supporters. Fans and members of the Blues and Greens, another chariot racing fan sect, demanded that the accused be set free. They broke into the prison and set fire to parts of Constantinople. Members of the Roman Senate saw this as an opportunity to remove Justinian from power. The Senate gained control over the rioters, stoked the fires of rebellion, and named Hypatius as the new Emperor. Justinian eventually put down the rebellion and trapped the rioters in the Hippodrome. An estimated 30,000 rioters were killed, including Hypatius.

As you can see the sports riot has a glorious history.