Sports

30 Sports Fans’ Horror Stories Of Clashes With Opposing Fans

Darren Ryding - February 11, 2024

Sports

30 Sports Fans’ Horror Stories Of Clashes With Opposing Fans

Darren Ryding - February 11, 2024

Every sports fan dreams of seeing their team perform live. However, the reality is that many also have horror stories of their experiences at other stadiums and opposition fans. Not every game will be a good time because there are some awful people out there.

A lot of alcohol is consumed at sports games and there are also a lot of ignorant people out there. This leads to some very interesting and often traumatic experiences. Today we’re going to take a look at 30 of these horror stories. Check out the list below via the Sports Drop.

30. I Hope You Fall

The Giants and the Dodgers maintain one of the oldest rivalries. It goes all the way back to their days in New York before they made the journey west. Nowadays, it’s probably the most fierce rivalry in MLB. However, it has also led to some horror stories of interactions between fans. One Giants fan living in L.A. revealed the tension he always felt when he wore his team’s jersey in the city.

He told The Sports Drop that he went to a game with his 60-year-old father who had just undergone knee surgery. One Dodgers fan told his father, “I hope you fall and hurt yourself.” But he didn’t realize that the old man was a military veteran who had no problem whacking him between the legs with his walking stick. It was a painful reminder that it doesn’t hurt to be nice.

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29. The Commentator’s Jinx

Sometimes it’s the action on the field that causes the pain. This was definitely the case for many Vikings fans of a certain generation. In 1998, Gary Anderson missed a pivotal field goal in the NFC Championship Game. It effectively handed the game to the Falcons because they immediately drove back downfield and scored a touchdown. “And Anderson hasn’t missed in two years,” said play-by-play broadcaster Pat Summerall.

One Vikings supporter explained how they took it for granted that Anderson would score the 39-yard kick. He said, “That’s a pretty good bet if you say ‘Do you think Gary Anderson will make this field goal?’ The answer should probably be yes.” However, he inevitably missed at the key moment and the Vikings fell agonizingly short of a potential Super Bowl appearance.

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28. Have Some Peanuts

The Bay Area has a notorious reputation amongst NFL fans. One Cardinals fan revealed that he hated going to Niners games because of the treatment he received. He explained that he once went with a friend who was also a San Francisco season ticketholder. Perhaps he shouldn’t have worn his team’s jersey because he attracted a lot more attention than he wanted.

He suffered a barrage of peanuts for the entire game. At one point, he even texted the security number because it was just too much to bear. The supporter claimed that while every franchise has fans who do this, his experiences with the Niners are worse than most. Furthermore, he’s not the only person who shared horror stories of their time as an away fan in Giants Stadium.

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27. Who Is This Woman?

We’ve talked about the nightmare of Niners fans at Giants Stadium, but it works both ways. In 2017, the Los Angeles Rams ran through San Francisco 51-17. Needless to say, this was a miserable experience for the Niners Nation. However, one fan explained that it was even worse for him because of one drunk away fan. She continued to try and make the crowd stand up and cheer.

He claimed that she tortured everybody around her and that her husband even disowned her. The husband allegedly said, “I have no idea who this crazy lady is, but I sure feel bad for the fool who married this nut job.” This is definitely one of the worst horror stories on this list because it was so embarrassing for the poor man. Overall, nobody wants to deal with that kind of pain.

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26. Sit Down!

Packers fans like to think that they have some kind of moral high ground because they are the only franchise without a billionaire owner. But this doesn’t mean that they always have a perfect experience In fact, many of them have horror stories from Lambeau Field. One fan attended a 2004 game between the Packers and the New York Giants. For some reason, an old New York fan was in their area.

He reacted badly every time the Packers supporters stood up and cheered plays. The fan who told the story claimed that the old man kept telling him to sit down. Then, the elderly man poured some beer on his seat for reasons unknown to anybody else. This didn’t exactly encourage the Packers’ fan to sit down either. Definitely a strange decision, but there are some weird people out there.

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25. Total Washout

The Patriots played the New York Jets in Week two of the 2013 season. There isn’t much to say about the game other than the fact that the Pats won 13-10. One New England fan was very relieved when the game ended because he had the most miserable experience of his football life. Even though his team won, it was a horror of an experience because of the conditions and the fan behind him.

“Kids, don’t do Thursday Night football,” was his message after the game. He said the man behind him vomited on top of him. Luckily, he was wearing a poncho so he could take it off. But, unluckily, the poncho wasn’t a fashion statement. The rain soaked him to the skin by the end of the game. Furthermore, he lost his wallet and had to cancel all of his credit cards at 3 am.

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24. Candlestick Pain

The Niner’s miserable reputation amongst visiting fans is nothing new. One Seahawks fan explained that he had a true horror experience during one game at Candlestick Park in 2011. Just a teenager at the time, he claimed that the San Francisco fans were horrendous and made his experience a nightmare. In fact, one supporter even threw a beer in the youngster’s face.

The teenage boy didn’t take this lying down and squared up to the bigger, older Niners fan. Luckily, a security guard saw everything that happened. Then, he moved the boy and his companion to better seats away from the volatile group. He said that it saved the day for him because his time at Candlestick was painful up until that point. But one security guard saved the day by doing his job.

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23. Lack of Class

There are some lines that people just shouldn’t cross. However, sports fans are not ordinary people and after a few beers, everything becomes ammunition. One Saints fan revealed that he had a horrible experience at Soldier’s Field in 2006. New Orleans met the Chicago Bears for a playoff game but that’s not why he remembers it. He said that the fans’ behavior was appalling on that day.

To his horror, a large portion of the Chicago fans mocked the victims of Hurricane Katrina including those who died. He revealed that they said the deceased should have learned to swim and that the city was made of trash. In the end, he vowed never to watch another Chicago game again and loathes the franchise. Of course, the majority of fans are decent people, but one experience can ruin reputations forever.

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22. Jacksonville Has Fans?

The Jacksonville Jaguars are one of the least polarizing franchises in the NFL. Nobody really cares about them and it would be no surprise if the franchise abandoned the city. However, even their fans – yes they have some – can be awful to deal with. Or maybe, like everybody else, they just have a special hatred for Pats’ fans. One New England supporter revealed that his worst horror experience as an away fan was in Florida.

It was Christmas Eve in 2006 when the Jags and the Pats met in the AFC Championship Game. Jacksonville QB David Garrard fumbled to hand the game to New England. In the words of the Pats’ fan, “when Garrard fumbled toward the end of the game to clinch it for us, we started celebrating. We got showered in beer, had stuff thrown at us, curses. It was unpleasant.” To be fair, they probably deserved it.

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21. Smelly Lady

There are some things that are out of most people’s control. Unfortunately, seating arrangements are often one of these. Unless a fan has the money to sit in their own private box then there is no accounting for who could end up near them. If they have bad hygiene then the game will be a very long one. One Niners fan endured a crushing loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis.

This 2003 game was like a horror movie for multiple reasons. First of all, Tim Rattay came on for Jeff Garcia after an appalling display. But the worst was the fact a woman sat nearby and stank like a garbage can. In the fan’s words: “My beloved Niners lost 35-7 and I had to endure it sitting next to this smelly lady who was spilling over the side of her seat. It was awful.”

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20. Have Some Beer

Sports fans love beer, but it isn’t cheap to buy in stadiums. The average price of a beer at an NBA game is about eight dollars. The New York Knicks sell it for $10.50. So it’s natural to assume that fans would want to savor every drop. However, this isn’t always the case. The San Antonio Spurs met the Nets in the 2003 NBA Finals. One eight-year-old fan experienced the horror of a beer shower in Game Six.

He was unlucky because when the Nets scored, the man behind him jumped up to celebrate. The beer spilled all over the child. It was a traumatic experience for him. My entire body was soaked, and the dude didn’t even have the courtesy to offer me a napkin. “I missed most of the third quarter because I was crying in the restroom,” the Spurs fan told Sports Drop. However, the seat was wasted on an eight-year-old anyway.

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19. From Russia With Love

Euro 2016 saw some incredible soccer moments. But it was also notorious for violence between Russian and English fan groups in Marseille. The city saw many unsavory scenes but things came to a head in a game between the pair. Police said that there were about 150 Russian hooligans present just to cause trouble. One unnamed English fan said that he feared for his life.

It was total panic. There was a Russian in each row and they chased after us,” he told the BBC. “You had no escape route. “We saw guys being punched in the head, we saw women being hit, people with blood on their faces.” This kind of behavior obviously has no place in any sport. It also didn’t help the reputation of Russian soccer fans before the 2018 World Cup in the country.

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18. Let’s Fight

Sport is a form of self-expression for many fans. But unfortunately, some take it too far. In 2012, the San Diego Chargers met the Baltimore Ravens in what became known as the 4th and 29 Game. One Baltimore supporter revealed his disgust at the behavior of a pair of idiotic Chargers supporters. He said that their stupidity affected his perception of the game.

The two men were seated a few rows back from the Baltimore fan. He had committed the crime of wearing an Ed Reed jersey so naturally, they wanted to fight him. But he declined their kind offer. “I ignored them for a few minutes and they ended up fighting each other,” said the Ravens fan. It’s amazing what a few beers and a lot of stupid will do to a person.

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17. A Bad Night

This time, we have the case of a Niners fan who ironically had a terrible night at Levis Stadium. He experienced one horror after another. First of all, San Francisco threw away a 17-point lead in the 2014 game. That would be enough to put anybody in a bad mood. “To make matters worse, a tipsy 49ers fan friend spilled his nachos on my wife’s back when the Bears scored their go-ahead TD,” the fan told an interviewer.

Needless to say, they just wanted to go home when the game was over because it was such a toxic experience for them. But things became worse because it was chaos inside the stadium. The stadium attendants and traffic control didn’t have a clue what to do and make life more complicated for everybody. Instead of having an amazing NFL experience, the fan suffered all night long.

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16. Fenway Pain

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox have a long-established rivalry. One of the biggest in the Northeast, it’s seen fan violence and a lot of drama through the decades. It also produced some interesting individual stories. One Yankees fan explained his painful experience after a game at Fenway Park. Many MLB supporters dream of visiting the league’s oldest stadium, but he never wants to go back.

He claimed that Keith Foulkes tossed him a ball over the fence at the end of the game. Suddenly, he received a tackle from behind and he turned to see a Red Sox fan scramble to pick up the ball. “There was only one way out from that area of the park, so I then had to listen to him brag to his friend about how awesome he was for getting that baseball as I walked behind him,” said the fan. “I don’t care what anybody says, Red Sox fans are the worst.”

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15. Caught on Camera

Soccer fans have a reputation for appalling behavior. Chelsea played Lille in a 2019 Champion’s League game when some of their supporters proceeded to let the team down badly. They went into a bar and began giving Nazi salutes and hissed to imitate the sound of a gas chamber. A Lille fan described his fear in the bar to the BBC because the behavior was so abhorrent.

He wasn’t the only person who felt disgusted by their actions. Little did the fans know that their actions were caught on camera. Later, the BBC showed them in full light as part of an expose on fan hooliganism and racism in soccer. Other Chelsea supporters racially abused a man on a train who was just going about his daily business. He wasn’t even a soccer supporter.

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14. We’re Sorry, Now Please Leave

Philadelphia sports fans generally have a reputation for being some of the roughest out there. They’re even incredibly harsh toward their own players. So opposition fans have no chance of receiving a warm welcome in the City of Brotherly Love. One Cowboys fan even revealed that police asked him to leave for his own safety at Veterans Stadium in 1983.

This was the same stadium that had an in-house court and jail because Philly fans were a horror to deal with. Anyway, the Cowboys fan endured spilled sodas and beers as well as verbal threats in his direction. Finally, the police came over and asked him and his friend to leave before the situation got out of control. This was probably for the best but not exactly fair on him.

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13. Niners Nightmare

Another fan, another Niners’ horrorshow. In 2011, the Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to San Francisco for a Week 15 clash before the playoffs. Pittsburgh rested players and duly lost the game 20-3 in Candlestick Park. But this wasn’t why it was a real horror of an experience for one Steelers fan. He explained that his treatment by the San Francisco supporters was appalling.

We don’t like to paint an entire franchise with one brush but the writing is on the wall for the 49ers at this point. According to the Steelers’ fan, he endured death threats in the restroom and received unwanted beer showers. “Walking through the parking lot at night after the game was even worse,” he said. “I was surprised that the beer didn’t soak all the way through my clothes from how much was poured on me.”

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12. Time and a Place

Usually, most self-aware adults restrain their behavior in front of children. But the combination of a few beers and a herd mentality can cause this to go out of the window. One Jets fan revealed his disgust upon a visit to Foxborough. Everything was going well until some Patriots fans saw that he was wearing a New York jersey and they wanted to fight him.

“I was cheering for the visiting team and at least three fans tried to fight me, in front of my kids,” said the fan. Sadly, there is some degree of risk if a fan wears an opponent’s colors in another stadium. There are a lot of morons out there. Imagine the horror of this man’s children though. It’s one thing to target an adult but will somebody please think of the children.

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11. “A Scary Moment”

Nottingham Forest and Derby County have one of England’s most intense soccer rivalries. However, it went too far in 2015, when a fan ran onto the pitch and punched Forest’s Kelvin Wilson, to everyone’s horror. Nottingham scored an injury-time winner and the outraged Derby supporter took to the field. Zoe Potts, a Forest fan group leader, told the Daily Mirror that it was shocking because he could have had a knife.

“There have been pitch invasions at the City Ground before, but mainly people just running on and making themselves look like idiots,” said Potts. “I’ve never seen anything like this before first hand, and it is a shame because the match had a really good atmosphere throughout.” Meanwhile, Derby fans also vandalized the Forest chairman’s car after the game.

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10. Lin Maniac

Jeremy Lin was a phenomenon when he broke through with the New York Knicks. Lin-Mania was a real thing but it didn’t enthuse everybody. One NBA fan described how he endured a horrible experience at TD Garden. The Boston Celtics played the Knicks in a game where Lin received less love than usual. The fan, who was Asian-American, said that one grizzled Celtics supporter spewed racial abuse toward Lin.

He also spent the entire game swigging from a hip flask he snuck into the arena. Overall, his behavior toward Lin was unforgivable. The kicker in this story was the fact that it was an Asian-American night in Boston. However, to the horror of fans around him, this old man let the crowd down. It’s a shame that one person can tarnish the experience of others like this.

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9. The Foot Stomp

Preseason games literally don’t mean anything. Players feature knowing that they will never play a game for the franchise. It’s all about putting the coaches’ tactics into practice, building game fitness, and working on plays. However, for some fans, it’s a good opportunity to see their team in action. Unfortunately, one Packers’ supporter had a bad day in Foxborough.

First of all, he admits that he drank a bit too much on the day. There’s no shame in that because it’s all part of the experience. However, security yelled at him for cheering his team too loudly. But worse was to come. He explained the situation: “Also, a security guard broke one of my toes. I was walking past a security guard and he stomped on my foot and told me to hold up.”

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8. Golden Bandwagon

It’s fair to say that before 2015, not many people would bandwagon the Golden State Warriors. But then they emerged as one of the NBA’s strongest franchises. This means that they now have a lot of young fans but this doesn’t make everybody happy. One Cleveland fan described the agony he endured during one game between his team and the Warriors.

He explained that there was an annoying teenager sitting behind him who continued to trash-talk for the entire game. “Let’s go, Steph!” “You’re done, LeBron! Too old!” “Cavs suck!” were just some of the things that he said relentlessly. To make matters worse, the Warriors blew the Cavs out 132-98. This just made him even more insufferable as he annoyed everybody around him.

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7. Supersonic

The Seattle Supersonics sadly went out of existence and the NBA misses them. However, it definitely doesn’t miss all of its supporters. Like every fanbase, they had some bad eggs. This isn’t hating on them, it’s just the truth. One man told the Sports Drop about a shocking experience that he had when he was about 10 years old. It all kicked off between a fan and a security guard.

The security guard told the Sonics fan that he had drank enough. To the youngster’s horror, the fan responded by knocking the guard down with one punch. Security swarmed him and overwhelmed him but it was a real learning curve for the then-10-year-old boy. Incidents like these can have a profound effect on a child as they are growing up.

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6. No Respect

There are bad fans at every game in every sport. Some of the biggest franchises in American sports are the worst because they have a lot of bandwagon supporters. They just want to take pictures for Instagram and get drunk. For real fans, this is a stressful experience. One Lakers’ supporter described how he received tickets for his birthday. It was rare he saw them play because tickets are expensive.

But to his horror and dismay, it was a miserable experience. The group behind him was extremely toxic and behaved outrageously. They cursed like soldiers and spilled beer everywhere. Finally, the fan called security, who moved him to a different seat. Unfortunately, the damage was done and ruined the day for him. It should have been special but it was painful.

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5. Fun Facts

College fans can be just as annoying as fans of the pro leagues. In 2013, Syracuse played Villanova and one fan discovered this the hard way. He was a Syracuse graduate and wore a shirt with a bunch of facts about the school emblazoned on it. However, to his horror, he found out that sports fans can mock anything. The Villanova supporters proceeded to read out the messages on his shirt and mock him for them.

It was extremely dumb but very annoying. “At one point, one of my friends left to say something to an usher, but I guess they can’t do anything about terrible people whose only crime is being annoying,” said the fan. “To make it worse, Syracuse lost the game in overtime, so those fools got the last laugh.” Unfortunately, those are the breaks when a fan goes away from home.

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4. Detroit Hates Peyton

One Indianapolis Colts fan described his experience as an away fan in Detroit. He was actually a resident in the city so it was rare that he had an opportunity to watch his favorite team live. After falling behind the Lions, the Colts came back and won the game. But the Detroit fans didn’t respond well to this turn-of-events and to his horror, they proceeded to unleash their venom.

The Colts fan said they said some incredibly disgusting things. “At least our coach doesn’t have cancer,” was one of the worst they allegedly said. This was just weeks after Chuck Pagano revealed that he suffered from the horrible disease. There are some things that cross the line and mocking a man’s life-threatening illness is definitely one of them. Not classy.

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3. Oil and Water

In 2018, Conor McGregor fought Khabib Nurmagamedov for the UFC lightweight title. He lost the bout but that wasn’t the end of the fight. The two men and their teams clashed immediately after a brawl broke out in Madison Square Garden. This carried over into the crowd as Irish and Russian fans fought on the way out of the arena. One witness put it perfectly: “The Irish and Russians mix like oil and water.”

Video footage showed a Russian man send a McGregor supporter into unconsciousness with a single punch. Security had their hands full with the two groups. The Irish had drunk the city dry while the Russians were prepared to go to war for their champion’s honor. But normal people around them still reacted with horror to the chaos that emerged around them.

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2. Welcome to Washington

One Buffalo fan discovered to his horror that Washington fans aren’t fond of his fanbase. He traveled to the nation’s capital to watch his franchise face the Redskins and endured an onslaught of abuse. There were all of the usual chants like “We love losing Super Bowls.” That’s actually pretty funny but one man actually threatened to fight him. The kicker was that this was a father whose daughter was present.

But there was more to come. The fan described how he received one of the weirdest insults of all-time. He said, “Finally, as I was leaving the stadium, some wasted jerk in a Redskins jersey drove past me and yelled: “Tom Brady is the greatest QB of all time!” To be fair, it’s probably true but it doesn’t exactly offer an amazing reflection on the Washington franchise either.

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1. Unprovoked Tragedy

In 2018, Liverpool played Roma in the Champion’s League. However, the game saw one fan’s life change forever. Sean Cox traveled to Liverpool from Ireland for a dream experience. But it became a nightmare after a Roma fan unleashed an unprovoked attack upon him. Cox did nothing to instigate the random violence. In the end, he suffered permanent brain damage and was unable to walk or speak.

Cox’s wife Martina issued a harrowing statement after the legal verdict. She said, “Today brings to a close to the court process. However, the effects of the attack on Sean will remain with us for a lifetime. While it is pleasing to know that Mr. Mastrelli (the attacker) will serve three-and-a-half years, he has given Sean and our family a life sentence.” No sports fan should have to endure that kind of horror.

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30 Sports Fans’ Horror Stories Of Clashes With Opposing Fans

30 Sports Fans’ Horror Stories Of Clashes With Opposing Fans

30. I Hope You Fall

29. The Commentator’s Jinx

28. Have Some Peanuts

27. Who Is This Woman?

26. Sit Down!

25. Total Washout

24. Candlestick Pain

23. Lack of Class

22. Jacksonville Has Fans?

21. Smelly Lady

20. Have Some Beer

19. From Russia With Love

18. Let’s Fight

17. A Bad Night

16. Fenway Pain

15. Caught on Camera

14. We’re Sorry, Now Please Leave

13. Niners Nightmare

12. Time and a Place

11. “A Scary Moment”

10. Lin Maniac

9. The Foot Stomp

8. Golden Bandwagon

7. Supersonic

6. No Respect

5. Fun Facts

4. Detroit Hates Peyton

3. Oil and Water

2. Welcome to Washington

1. Unprovoked Tragedy

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