MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — Police from multiple agencies responded to reports of a large fight at a sports complex in Mesa during a youth football event Sunday.
Just after 1 p.m., officers responded to reports of a large fight at the Arizona Athletic Grounds (AAG) in Mesa.
Mesa Police said off-duty officers reported that 100 people were fighting at one of the fields. Because so many people were involved, the officers requested backup from multiple agencies.
In total, 37 Mesa, 22 Gilbert, eight Queen Creek officers, as well as three Maricopa County Sheriff deputies responded to the scene.
Police said that there was a youth tournament, and during one of the games, a fight broke out between 10 players from each team. Then, parents and spectators got involved, according to officers.
Within 45 minutes, officers cleared all the fields. Luckily, no one was hurt. No one was arrested either.
A parent who witnessed the fight told Arizona’s Family that it wasn’t a rare occurrence. “It’s not the first time. Most of the time, it’s usually just the parents to be honest. With the older kids… like my son is not in high school… but the high school kids are the ones that usually fight on the 7-on-7 tournaments,” he said.
Andrew Platt, another parent, said, “The competitiveness of club sports is crazy out there. Parents are competitive. Children are competitive. 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 of the remaining games on the fields have been cancelled for the day.
The park remains open for indoor activities, including volleyball and basketball. Police said that as of 5 p.m., everything was running smoothly at the facility.
One of the organizers of the tournament said the fight only involved a few people, not 100 like police said.
Statement from the tournament organizer
Good afternoon coaches/families/players,
Your safety is a top priority for us at Red Zone Elite. Ensuring that the players, coaches and spectators feel safe watching respectful competition is highly important to us.
We apologize for the disappointment in the abrupt end to our tournament this afternoon, but we stand behind the Mesa Police Departments decision in response to the situation – to ensure the safety of everyone at the fields.
As of this time, we’d like to ensure everyone that no severe injuries to any players, coaches or spectators were made, and no weapons were used in the altercation or even brandished. The event was isolated to a handful of players from four specific teams, and a large crowd of other players, coaches and parents who were following them around antagonizing further as RZE staff, complex security and PD worked together to break up the crowds.
We are working closely with the police department to provide additional clarity.
As we continue to investigate the matters that escalated this afternoon again 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 host within our network!
Providing friendly, respectful and safe competition is our mission and we do not support violence, bulling or harassment in anyway. We do not take threats of any type lightly.
We appreciate you understanding the seriousness of the situation.
Note: Mesa police originally said AAG was hosting a soccer tournament, but the fight happened on the field where Red Zone Elite was hosting a 7v7 football tournament.
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