Skip to content

South Jersey flag football tournament devolved into a 40-person fight, police say

Coaches from one of the flag football teams became upset with the tournament organizer, police said, and demanded that their entry fees be refunded. Then, a fight broke out.

Gloucester Township police responded Saturday to a large fight at an unsanctioned flag football tournament.
Gloucester Township police responded Saturday to a large fight at an unsanctioned flag football tournament.Read moreRebecca Blackwell / AP

A brawl broke out at a South Jersey flag football tournament over the weekend, and some participants may be criminally charged.

The altercation happened around 1 p.m. Saturday at Gloucester Township Community Park on Hickstown Road, Gloucester Township police said in a statement.

Coaches from one of the flag football teams became upset with the tournament organizer and demanded that their entry fees be refunded, police said. The argument eventually turned into a 40-person fight, with participants shoving each other and yelling, and even more people crowding around them, according to police.

Other parkgoers called 911, police said, and an officer who was already there for an unrelated incident ran toward the melee. After the fight was broken up, police said they stayed on the scene for an hour “to maintain the peace and safety of other patrons in the park.”

An investigation is ongoing, Gloucester Township police said, and criminal charges are pending. It was not clear Sunday what charges the brawlers might face.

Local ordinance violations are also pending, police said, as the flag football tournament was organized on private social media pages and was not authorized by the township’s parks and recreation department. Event organizers are required to get permits before using the township’s athletic fields.

Saturday’s incident comes nine months after hundreds of people converged on Gloucester Township Day, starting several fights that injured five people and led to 17 arrests. The event was one of several summertime festivals in the region to be disrupted by unruly teen behavior, which authorities say is often fueled by social media.