Arkansas referee & fan dispute: After a dispute between a referee and a fan in an Arkansas high school football game, Lepanto police are looking into the incident.
- At the East Poinsett County vs. Walnut Ridge football game, KAIT captured the incident on camera.
- A heated altercation started when an older guy entered the field after a referee ordered the crowd to be quiet.
- There doesn’t seem to have been any injuries, and the individual was instructed to leave the game.
What happened in the field?
In the South, high school football is played differently. A gridiron game involving a ball with a lemon shape is played with increased passion and emotion.
The ideal instance is Friday night in a tiny town in Arkansas. Things quickly became weird.
East Poinsett County High School faced off against Walnut Ridge High School in the game, which was held at Lepanto, Arkansas. The former is situated in a community with a population of under 2,000 people. The latter is situated in a community of about 5,000 people.
The high school football teams in both places are very important to the locals. You may say that they have a professional team.
The urge to lead your team to victory can, however, occasionally go a little too far. Or, as was the case on Friday, a great deal too far.
A fan voiced his disappointment with the referee’s call of the game as the first half came to a close with the score at one possession. The fan chose to take matters into his own hands and go rogue rather than letting him hear it from the sidelines.
In an effort to grab hold of the man in stripes, he went onto the field and charged the referee. Thank goodness the fan was stopped before he could attack the referee.
Things got a little more than chippy here in EPC. Older gentleman was headed for the referee before he was stopped. pic.twitter.com/dHFlFKSklf
— Hayden Savage (@haydens_kait) September 10, 2022
You can hear the first man saying, “I’d want to knock the heck out of him,” after he was taken away from the field. He is presumably well-known by name in the community.
Then a couple more people joined the conversation. Before the game was called off, they gave the officials a piece of their mind.
Twitter reactions on the incident
One fan said,
Not sure if you noticed but the game was done for autism awareness and proceeds we donated to the Ag for Autism and the gentleman had some medical issues from what we told from the locals.
One comment read,
I know the family. Apparently Great-Grandpa forgot to take his meds and when he heard the concession stand was closing, he got confused and wandered onto the field. Ref told him to move on but G-G thought he said come on. He’s back in the nursing home. Confused but doing ok.
Another one said,
Back when I played and this happened, the fan would fight the ref. Players would circle around. If the fan won they would put on the stripes and officiate the rest of the game. If the ref won the fan was banned forever. Miss those nights.
Few said,
Pretty pathetic, get off the field and let the kids play the game its a non conference high school football game its not that serious.
Once more, Friday night lights are a big thing in rural Arkansas. As we seen on Friday, the supporters will stop at nothing to help their hometown win. The enthusiasm for the game cannot be questioned!
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