A mass brawl broke out at the end of the British Basketball League clash between Manchester Giants and Plymouth City Patriots, which saw a child knocked over.
The match, which took place last Thursday, was a feisty affair with tensions brewing throughout and Patriots fans allegedly directing abuse at Giants’ forward Jamell Anderson.
Things spiralled at the final buzzer with shoving and punches thrown, as the Giants lost 79 – 93 to their Devon rivals. A video shows members of both teams coming together, causing a young boy to fall and crash into a seat.
The fan who took the video believes some of the troublemakers in the crowd were related to one of the Patriots players.
She said: “The two Patriot fans were sitting directly in front of us, so we got a view of it all.
“A friend of ours presents a BBL podcast. I sent him the video he told me who they were. It was obvious they were with the Patriots team – the Patriots players came to defend their fans from security.”
The game, which was live streamed on the British Basketball League’s YouTube channel, was pulled before the end of the game and there hasn’t been made available ‘on demand’ since.
Andy Sweeting, a Giants fan who was there with his son, said: “Safe to say I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been going to Giants for ages. It just goes to show how two k***heads out of hundreds of people can really ruin things. I don’t know why they targeted Jamell Anderson, he’s a British basketball legend and model professional. It just shows how bad they were though to make the players react like that.”
The fan believes security could and should have stepped in sooner to prevent the fracas.
“Security warned them for swearing several times, but they didn’t throw them out. There were nine members of security who watched Jamell Anderson come over and didn’t do anything to stop him. The situation escalated into a crowded brawl and a child was hit in the proceedings”
Both clubs have released a joint statement saying they’re inspecting the melee.
The Giants statement reads: “Manchester Giants can confirm they are co-operating fully with the British Basketball League’s investigation into an incident that took place during last night’s Championship game with Plymouth City Patriots.
The club will be on hand to work closely with the League and Plymouth City Patriots throughout the disciplinary process.”