https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHQcABZgBTI
It has happened once again, a bench clearing brawl in a Junior A lacrosse game. This time we go to Ontario, Canada for the scrap between the entire Whitby Warriors & Orangeville Northmen benches. From the video you can’t tell why or how the brawl really started, by this point, the game has definitely gotten out of hand.
Both benches were clear and multiple fights were already going on once the recording began. The refs were so busy trying to break up the initial fights that they couldn’t prevent everyone else from joining in.
It seems like almost every player on both teams got into some sort of scuffle. Even the starting goalies and back-ups got into it at the end of the video.
Fighting in box lacrosse doesn’t just happen because two players dislike each other or because they are goons. There is pride that comes with winning a tilt and a boost of energy for a team. Some guys on a roster can be a bruiser/fighter and in every game it’s their job to throw the opponents off their game and to handle problems caused by the other team.
Plus, when it’s legal, who wouldn’t be excited if one of your teammates just won a fight in a game? When it’s just one or two one-on-one fights then it’s typically not a big deal. Bench clearing brawls on the other hand, that’s not cool.
The fight between the Whitby Warriors and Orangeville Northmen isn’t the worst bench clearing brawl we’ve seen. At least most players stopped swinging when the other guy hit the ground. Players didn’t go for cheap shots when they had the chance and I respect that.
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Check out some other big time box lacrosse fights and brawls below! For more insight on lacrosse fights, check out Mark Donhue’s previous post about the topic.
This is a bench clearing brawl between the Coquitlam Adanacs & Nanaimo Timbermen. This is one of the worst fights we’ve seen on video because players don’t stop going at it once the other guy falls to the floor. These are the type of things that we just shouldn’t see in lacrosse or any sport.
This big time fight between two players is allowed, and encouraged, in the NLL. Bill O’Brien of the New England Black Wolves destroyed Stephen Keogh of the Rochester Knighthawks and in the sports world, the video went viral.
Notice as soon as Keogh hits the floor, the fight is over and the refs jump in to break it up.
Fighting obviously is nothing new to box lacrosse as seen in this video from 1932. It’s a deep rooted tradition for the game, but something not many Americans seem to truly understand.
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Let me know what you thought of the brawl and lacrosse fights in general in the comment section below!
