Ohio politician proposes to make flag planting a felony after fight in college game
Weeks after several of college football's top rivalry games descended into chaos, with all-out brawls breaking out between teams and players planting flags in opposition stadiums, one politician from Ohio believes he has the answer.
Republican state Rep. Josh Williams said on social media he’s introducing a bill to make flag planting in sports a felony in the state.
His proposal comes after last month's fight at the Michigan vs Ohio State rivalry game when the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes 13-10 and attempted to plant their flag midfield.
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A fight ensued and police had to use pepper spray to disperse the players.
Michigan players plant their flag causing a heated altercation. WBNS 10TV
Similar flag-planting scuffles broke out across college football on that rivalry weekend.
Williams is calling it the O.H.I.O Sportsmanship Act.
“Behaviour that incites violent brawls and puts our law enforcement officers in danger has no place on the football field,” Williams said.
It took several minutes for stadium security and police to separate the two teams, with pepper spray being deployed to get the situation under control.
According to Ohio State University Police, "multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan" used the crowd dispersal tool. The television broadcast showed players wiping their eyes and coughing in the aftermath of the brawl.
"Do we really need to contemplate the creation of a rule expressly prohibiting flag planting on an opposing team's field (I understand why it has been suggested), as opposed to simply knowing that (it) is wrong?" mid-American Conference commissioner Jon A. Steinbrecher wrote.
"If so, we have reached a tipping point requiring a reset before someone gets hurt (given pepper spray was recently used on a field to break up a melee, that time has possibly passed).
The practice has caused problems in the past. WBNS 10TV
"From my seat, this is not about establishing new rules but in clarifying and redefining individual and collective expectations for the conduct of intercollegiate athletics competition and holding ourselves accountable."
Rivalry games between Florida and Florida State and North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina also saw flag planting and fracases between players.
"The time has come to expect more from us instead of tolerating less," Steinbrecher concluded in his letter. "I hope we do not let this moment pass by."
