The Craziest Sports Riots in History
Sports riots are as old as the history of sports itself, dating back to the ancient Olympics in 776 B.C. While riots related to spectator sports are largely a modern phenomenon, they have been a staple of international sporting events for centuries. These episodes differ from the average riot in that the common mob isn’t involved; it’s a large enough group of sports fans who take things too far and start causing property damage and general mayhem. Here are some (in)famous cases.
The Nika Riots
Ancient Rome was a place where people loved to watch sports. And, sometimes, they didn’t exactly love the results! In 532 BC, the people of ancient Rome were pretty excited about their favorite chariot racing team: the Green faction. They were so excited that they got mad when one of their favorite drivers won a race against another driver from a different team—the White faction. So mad, in fact, that they rioted and set fire to parts of Rome for five days straight.
The Nika riots went down in history as one of the craziest sports riots ever recorded because it wasn’t just a riot; it was also an insurrection against the government. During this time period in ancient Rome, there were two groups who could have power over the city: aristocrats and plebeians (or commoners). In 532 BC, there were major tensions between these two groups because some members of each group wanted more power than others did. The White team was made up mostly of aristocrats who wanted more power than what they already had; whereas Green’s supporters were mostly plebeians who wanted less power for aristocrats overall.
The Aggieville Riots
The University of Kansas is home to the Jayhawks, one of college basketball’s most storied programs. But back in 1955, the story goes that freshmen from KU had been drinking heavily at a local bar before their team took on the Aggies. When they arrived at the stadium, they saw that many of their fellow students had already arrived and were wearing red shirts—the color of the Aggieville Riots’ rivals. This made them angry and they began throwing punches and bottles at both rival fans and security guards. They eventually moved into downtown Lawrence where they started looting stores for food and drink—which was probably pretty necessary after all that alcohol! The riot lasted for hours until police finally managed to calm everyone down.
The Port Said Stadium Riot
The Port Said Stadium riot was a sports riot that took place in Port Said, Egypt on February 1, 2012. The riot resulted in the deaths of 74 people and injured over 1,000. It occurred after a match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly football teams.
The match was part of the Egyptian Premier League’s season and occurred at the end of the first half. After the match had ended, fans from both teams began throwing rocks at each other from their stands.
The fighting continued until security forces dispersed the crowds with tear gas and rubber bullets. The stadium was evacuated shortly thereafter and police arrested 223 people on charges related to vandalism or murder.
