A soccer-loving pal of mine who wishes to remain nameless emailed this morning about "a huge brawl in the Sons of Ben section" at last night's Philadelphia Union/Colorado Rapids match. The Sons of Ben to which he referred is the name of a group of hardcore Union supporters; they march in en masse and sit at the "River End" of PPL Park.
Most of them are good people but my pal noted, "Some guy [who started a fight at the] last game started the fight. Same fat guy, giant cut above his eye, was cuffed and screaming 'Union.' Two people threw bottles onto the field, almost hit a player after the goal. I hate the negativity but the people in 134-5 are a mess..and the security was slow to react." He then predicted that there will be calls to halt beer sales inside, but I don't see that happening.
Neither video catches exactly how the melee commenced, but the Philadelphia Daily News reported:
Against the defending champions last night, an ugly match from the Union actually found the fans having more fight than the club.
As the first half closed, a brawl broke out in Section 134 of the club's supporters section, that resulted in punches being thrown and a large man taking Chester police and security tumbling down four rows of seats.
Chester police said nine people were arrested, two face criminal charges while the other seven will be cited for disorderly conduct. One officer described it as a melee amongst "wannabe hooligans."