Don't Eff with Team Chile or Team Toronto Police
Remember when Team Chile turned its soccer match into a hockey game (only fitting for the city of Toronto)? Turns out the team was throwing punches at female Toronto Police officers, which one would think is a valid reason for officers to up the ante and bring out the tasers.
But how do we know that anyone on the team threw any punches at all? Easy. The Star is reporting that the players are freely admitting it.
Team Chile is still saying it just wanted to shoot the sh!t with their fans while the police are saying that shooting the sh!t involved loud and potentially violent arguments with said "fans", at which point officers intervened. Police spokesman Mark Pugash said that "Police were on the receiving end of some considerably aggressive behaviour, and their job in those circumstances is to stop that behaviour."
Take a baker's dozen's worth (plus eight) of testosterone-riddled teen-age soccer players, add a high pressure international sporting match, throw in some cruddy refereeing, add a dash of Toronto's boys and girls in blue and bake for 15 minutes. Once the timer goes off, a riot will have ensued, FIFA's PR dudes will be in a tizzy, and the Maple Leafs will have sent their scouts to Chile to find a decent brawler. Check out Jerrold's original coverage, complete with some Youtubery of the news stirred by the event.
Comments (9)
I think this whole thing shows that Toronto should avoid soccer events in the future. The events that transpired show that some soccer fans are completely incabable of rational thought.
Seriously, I've never seen such ignorance from people when their soccer team (or their opposing soccer team) is involved in some sort of riot or scandal.
Here's a tip: Just because they're your team doesn't mean they are right. And alternatively, just because they're not your team, doesn't mean they're wrong. It's quite simple, but few people seem incapable of comprehending that.
Agreed Ryan, but I don't think that should mean that no further soccer events should be held in the city. I mean, look at the riots in Vancouver when they lost the Stanley Cup, or in Montreal. Does that mean there shouldnt be hockey in those towns?
People have a bottomless potential to be stupid. People in large groups even more so. People in large groups that are riled up an passionate about a sporting event they just witnessed and lost, combined with alcohol, nationalism, and a feeling of betrayal(by the ref)? JUMP BACK!
If people don't have the restraint to control their actions, I think alcohol should be banned from events and obviously drunk people turned away at the door. Like how clubs can lose their liquour liscences for breeding destructive drunk assholes. Cause an alcohol induced riot? Lose your lisence.
Thats not a bad idea, but unfortunately will lead to illegal tailgate parties or smuggling. Of course, your idea to turn away inebriated people is a good one, but theres only so much security can do, and only so much security you can have(I know what I speak about, I used to do this job at Wonderland). People should be allowed to have freedom, but when they abuse that freedom, they should be held FULLY accountable by the law.
Again, I think people are generally thoughtless, and more and more they have a really unfounded sense of entitlement(these are my observations from working in A/R). So, it's difficult to control their stupidity. People WILL do stupid things, regardless of the consequences, and more and more they will complain about the consequences. All you can do is educate them of the consequences, and make the consequences punitive enough to pavlov them into not doing it again.
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_13310.aspx
"The investigation revealed that my officers intervened at the first sign of trouble and that members of the Chilean team not only refused to stop their aggressive behaviour, they engaged in conduct that inflamed the situation," says Blair. "The officers involved were punched, kicked, spat upon and kicked in the groin."
"Chilean players evidently got into a dispute with Argentine fans after the game, as they were preparing to load into their bus. When a female Toronto officer stepped in to break up the altercation, a Chilean player punched the officer and continued to attack her. When other officers intervened the players on the bus piled out and the brawl began."
View More Events
Suggest an Event
Join the blogTO Flickr group
Join the blogTO YouTube Group
RSS