Youth football championship canceled after 100-person fight breaks out on field, police say

MESA, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) — A youth football tournament in Arizona was canceled after police said a large fight broke out among parents and players.

Just after 1 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to reports of a large fight at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa.

Mesa police said about 100 people were fighting on one of the fields. Because so many people were involved, officers requested backup from multiple agencies.

In total, 70 law enforcement officers responded to the scene to break up the fight.

Police said there was a youth tournament, and during one of the games, a fight broke out between players from multiple teams. Then, parents and spectators also got involved, according to police.

Within 45 minutes, officers cleared all the fields. Luckily, no one was hurt. No one was arrested, either.

A parent who witnessed the fight said that this was not a rare occurrence.

“It’s not the first time. Most of the time, it’s usually just the parents, to be honest,” the witness said. “With the older kids ... the high school kids are the ones that usually fight in the 7-on-7 tournaments,” he said.

Andrew Platt, another parent, said he was not surprised that a large fight broke out.

“The competitiveness of club sports is crazy out there. Parents are competitive. Children are competitive,” Platt said. “To me, it was just a matter of time before somebody got into an altercation. That was my first thought: ‘Wow. It finally happened.’”

All the remaining games in the tournament were canceled Sunday.

One of the organizers of the tournament, Red Zone Elite, said the fight only involved a few people, not 100, like police said.

“We apologize for the disappointment in the abrupt end to our tournament this afternoon, but we stand behind the Mesa Police Department’s decision in response to the situation: to ensure the safety of everyone at the fields,” Red Zone Elite said in a statement.

The organization reiterated that no one was injured and no weapons were used.

“We ensure you that all parties involved will face consequences as we see fit, including being banned from all future Red Zone Elite tournaments, as well as other tournament hosts within our network,” the organization said.