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Parents brawl at primary-school basketball game

A basketball game for seven- and eight-year-olds took a violent turn, ending with a scuffle that saw one team’s coach angrily confronting the referee.

A mother filming the incident was then attacked by another woman, who tried to knock her phone out of her hand. The mother shook her off and began yelling back.

As local station CBS 42 News reports, footage of the game – which took place in Gardendale, Alabama, on February 20 – has since made the social-media rounds.

Other parents took to social media to express their disgust over the fight. Source: Facebook/Todd Payne
Other parents took to social media to express their disgust over the fight. Source: Facebook/Todd Payne

Many viewers have expressed shock and dismay over the violence on display, which started when a coach from the losing team, Fultondale, lunged at game officials. Friends pulled him away from the skirmish, but not before a mum from the winning team, Corner, turned her camera on him.

While no children were involved in the brouhaha, locals said the incident set a poor example for the players in attendance.

Some pointed out that the role modelling on display wasn't the best. Source: Facebook/Alicia Elliott
Some pointed out that the role modelling on display wasn't the best. Source: Facebook/Alicia Elliott
Others claimed it wasn't the first time they'd witnessed violence at a children's basketball game. Source: Facebook/Amanda Pyle
Others claimed it wasn't the first time they'd witnessed violence at a children's basketball game. Source: Facebook/Amanda Pyle

Others suggested that allegations of cheating and racial tensions may have contributed to the bad blood between the two teams. Just a week prior to the game, a court ruled that the predominantly white Gardendale could not secede from its school system over concerns that it would avoid desegregation.

Was the scuffle the result of racial tensions? Source: Facebook/Rolanda Nation-Taylor
Was the scuffle the result of racial tensions? Source: Facebook/Rolanda Nation-Taylor

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