Polish Youth Soccer Crowd Gets Out Of Hand

A group of hooligan fans took soccer fandom to a new level in Poland during a youth game for 7 and 8 year olds.  The fans decided to light nearly everything on fire during their wild cheering, just as if they were in an outdoor stadium for the World Cup finals.  The lighting of flares and even firecrackers caused the event to be cancelled, thankfully.

“From the start they were supported by fans of Lech from Bnin. The chanting was well-organised, drums, flags and so on, and it was well-behaved. The young players were excited by the support and there’s no denying they were having a lot of fun. But it only lasted so long. As the tournament dragged on the fans, many of them who looked under age, were drinking more and more beer,” one eye-witness described the incident.

Marcin Pieta, a co-organiser of the event, told the New Poland Express:

“At first there were only one or two flares, which the hall’s security managed to deal with, but then suddenly there were so many flares on the pitch you couldn’t see from one end of the hall to the other, the children couldn’t breathe properly and the parents simply said they weren’t going to participate anymore, so we had to abandon the event.”

I have never seen anything like this, but it is good to see some passion around sports…. Kind of.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02zoVK3gRGc[/youtube]

H/T The Postgame