When you think of sports fights, many things should come to mind.
The "Malice at the Palace" is still the NBA's ugliest brawl. How about when Andre Johnson threw down with Cortland Finnegan during an NFL game? What about Nolan Ryan beating the snot out of Robin Ventura? Those are all good examples, and this next one took place against two cheerleading teams.
What started out as a classic dueling routines competition between East St. Louis High School and Trinity Catholic High School suddenly turned into mayhem. That's when both teams got into a huge fight at the Alton Shootout at Alton High School in Illinois.
The incident all happened so fast and one team was in some major hot water for it.
East St. Louis vs. Trinity Catholic Cheerleader Fight
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At first, everything seemed normal. Cheerleaders from both teams were doing their thing like it was the movie Bring It On. Then, all hell broke loose.
Not only was the dueling routines over, but East St. Louis Sr. High School also canceled its cheerleading program for the rest of the season, according to KMOV.com.
"We expect our teams to conduct themselves in a manner that will protect the safety of athletes, officials, coaches and spectators at sporting events. We regret that our cheerleading team did not conduct themselves in a manner commensurate with these expectations. After a thorough investigation, consequences were administered which resulted in the immediate conclusion of the cheerleading season for this school year. We will not lower our expectations and will consistently take strong action when safety and sportsmanship is compromised."
— East St. Louis Superintendent Arthur R. Culver
In addition to superintendent Arthur Culver, the Archdiocese of St. Louis also released a statement about the incident with the Trinity Catholic cheerleaders, per KSDK.com.
"The Archdiocese of St Louis is aware of the altercation. This incident does not align with the mission of the school and church teaching. We are confident school leadership is taking the necessary steps to make sure something like this will never happen again."
The cheerleading squad getting suspended for the rest of the season might seem a bit harsh, but it's clear the fight Saturday, February 1, 2020 was not going to be tolerated under any circumstance.
This article was originally published February 7, 2020.
