Tennis Special Edition: Five tennis riots and fan-fights
In the universe of sports, riots and rages are inevitable. Be it crazed fans, internal fights or different factors altogether, these outbursts go hand-in-hand with the very concept of organized sport. Tennis is generally conceived as one of the few nonviolent sports. However, most people would be surprised by the amount of riots, which have occurred in this sport alone over the past years.
1968, the Bastad Riots
This is the name given to the riots which took place at a Davis Cup tennis match between Sweden and Rhodesia. These riots happened on 3rd May 1968 at Bastad, Sweden. Rioters were protesting Rhodesia and South Africa’s involvement in the international tennis tournament, given that they were apartheid countries and banned from other sporting competitions. It escalated into the most violent demonstration between demonstrators and the Swedish police in the 1960s, ultimately involving the Swedish Government.
1993, Monica Seles Stabbing
In this year, Seles defeated Stefi Graf in the final of the Australian Open, hence taking the Number 1 ranking from Graf. Later that year, Seles travelled to Germany for a tournament. On 30th April, during a quarter-final match with Magdalena Maleeva, Seles sat on the edge of the court for a break between games. Crazed Stefi Graf fan Gunter Parche took this as an opportunity to run to where Seles was seated and stab her with a nine inch knife between the shoulder blades. This resulted in a two-year hiatus for Seles from tennis, greater security in Germany during tournaments, and Seles‘s vowing never to play in Germany again. Gunter Parche was not jailed due to psychological imbalances.
2007, Australian Open riot
On the first day of the tournament, over 150 spectators became involved in Serb-Croatia riots in the garden area of the Melbourne Park. The supporters were caught up in fist-fights, flag-poles were used as weapons and bottles were thrown until the police intervened with batons. No injuries were reported, and the riot disbanded almost instantaneously, but such fights are becoming routine over the past few years.
2009, another Australian Open riot
This tournament has developed something of a reputation, when it comes to violent behaviour on part of the fans. In 2008, the police were forced to use pepper spray on rowdy Greek fans. In 2009, a woman was hit on the head with a chair, two men were arrested and 30 spectators were ejected from the stadium as a consequence, once again, of riots between fans of the Serb and Croat communities.
2010, the Davis Cup incident
The most recent incident of a mass riot occurred on February 24th, 2010 at Stockholm during the Davis Cup. A Swedish court convicted a 23-year-old man of rioting outside a Davis Cup match between players from Sweden and Israel. He was sentenced to six months in prison. The prosecutor, Bo Birgerson, issued a statement claiming that ten people besides the 23-year-old man, names not given, were also convicted for this incident. It involved an anti-Israel demonstration outside the stadium. These matches were played without spectators, because officials refused to take responsibility for the security at the event. Consequently, the Swedish tennis federation was charged five thousand dollars in fees and Malmo was banned from hosting the Davis Cup for five years.
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