Video has emerged showing parents of a preteen Catholic basketball league erupting in an all-out brawl in Staten Island, New York, late last month.
The video shows parents delivering haymakers and tussling in the gym of St. Teresa school in Castleton Corners during a sixth-grade basketball game on December 20, according to the New York Post.
The game was sponsored by the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), which governs sports for the Catholic districts in the area.
The brawl seems to stem from an argument between two mothers that soon escalated, bringing groups of parents into the confrontation.
Video rolls as the two women begin to grab at each other’s hair, and one unleashes a series of punches. In short order, several other parents and school officials joined the melee, some flailing, others trying to pull people away.
The first two combatants are pulled apart, but quickly run back at each other as other family members wade in.
CYO County Director Michael Neely confirmed that the women were parents and added that the two and their families have been permanently barred from attending any more games.
“Two families got involved and, in the end, their families have been banned from CYO indefinitely,” the official said.
The fight resulted in a new rule for the league. From now on, any spectator ejected for disruptive behavior will automatically receive a one-year suspension from attending games.
“The mission was about the kids,” said Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella at a press conference.
“The mission was about teaching them responsibility,” he added. “The mission was about them having a good time: the kids. The kids are the center of this universe here. And every once in a while, some spectators get out of control and ruin it for the kids and ruin it for everybody else.”
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