Football is a physical sport on the field, but a recent Indoor Football League game brought that physicality into the stands as a brawl broke out toward the end.
The game featured the Arizona Rattlers and Massachusetts Pirates, and the brawl came with 32.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
At this point, the Rattlers were up by nine when Pirates defensive back Leon O'Neal Jr. was seen jumping into the stands to confront a supposedly heckling fan.
WILD scene at end of Rattlers game. 5 Massachusetts players ejected with 32 seconds left. Players going into the stands... If a fan said something -- they need to be held accountable, but you can't charge the crowd in full pads. A kid in the front row looks to be crying?! pic.twitter.com/yqtjRKIjjn
— Cameron Cox (@CamCox12) July 3, 2023
As you can see from the video above, punches were thrown — and, honestly, after watching that video a few times, I still can't exactly tell what instigated the actual punches.
At the end of this scuffle, five players and one fan were ejected. But sadly, as you can see in the video, it looks like a kid is crying while being consoled by a woman who one might guess is his mother.
"I heard the Rattlers start saying, 'Oh, he's hot,' so I looked over and I saw him jump over," the sideline reporter said on the game's broadcast.
"There was a fan over there. He was in the fan's face. I don't know what he said, but he hopped over there — didn't even touch the wall."
The following players were suspended indefinitely: Leon O'Neal Jr., Chris Ingram and Charles Williams, all of the Pirates. Also, Pirates coach Patrick Pass, was suspended indefinitely.
— Indoor Football League (@IndoorFL) July 3, 2023
"Under zero circumstance can you ever go beyond the wall and into the stands," Indoor Football League Commissioner Todd Tryon said in a statement.
"This is a one-time incident that does not reflect what the IFL stands for. We are a family friendly league that offers great sports entertainment, and we will continue to build on that moving forward. What was a very exciting game was marred by the actions of a few.
"These actions will never be tolerated and are being fully dealt with."
