OUR VOICES: Storming Onto Football Fields, Basketball Courts has Become Dangerous

By James B. Ewers Jr. Ed.D.

Going to basketball games and football games in high school and college was fun. We cheered feverishly wanting our team to win.

There were rivalry games as well, so our emotions were high. I figured out early on that winning was much better than losing.

Running onto a football field after a game wasn’t something we did with any regularity.

If anything, it delayed our having to go home. We would hang out on the field just to have a little more time with our friends.

If you fast forward to recent years, another form of cheering for your favorite team is taking place. Going onto a field or court after a game is becoming the norm.

Can you imagine if you are on the opposing team and losing in the final seconds seeing swarms of people coming directly at you? Suddenly, you are surrounded by hundreds of total strangers pushing and shoving.

That same scenario occurs when you are on the winning side as well. The common denominator is that it puts student-athletes at risk for injury.

Watching basketball and football games on television is quite a different experience than seeing them in person. I have been on both sides of that coin.

We have experienced students storming the football field. We stayed in the stands and watched.

Was it alarming? Yes. It is uncontrolled mayhem. Seeing students jumping walls and ropes to be on a field is simply not my cup of tea.

An Oklahoma fan on social media reported that it had been 22 years since he had stormed a football field.

Well, this shows it did happen in past years.

The difference is that it is happening with more frequency now. I believe my view is shared by many fans.

Conferences at the Division I level are having a problem with court and fieldstorming.

Some conferences are slow to act. The SEC (Southeastern Conference) seems to be leading the way in trying to figure out some solutions. They have fines up to $250,000.00.

Do students care? University of Alabama Athletic Director, Greg Byrne said, “Fines don’t work. Nobody is sitting in the stands saying they are not going on the field because we are going to get fined.”

Football storming has been going on longer. Now, basket- ball court storming is taking center stage.

There is not a week that goes by that I don’t see at least three teams having this issue. As the game winds down, you can see students poised and ready to storm the court.

Duke University, a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, has a basketball team that is not popular with some people. Not sure why that is the case.

4/bA few weeks ago, they played Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem NC. Duke lost the game and madness ensued.

One of the Blue Devil players, Kyle Filipowski was injured because of students storming the court.

The video showed a person running into him. He had to be helped from the court. Fortunately, he was able to play in the next game.

One writer on the podcast, Eye on College Basketball said an announcement should be made prior to the game stating that anyone storming the court or field would be arrested like those who run onto NFL and MLB fields.

Would a college student test that rule? Probably so. The key will have to be the enforcement of the rule. Sadly, will someone have to lose their life before legislation is implemented?

The NCAA is a billion-dollar industry. Surely, they can implement a set of rules to stymie what seems now to be trending upward. They acted on creating a larger field for the CFP (College Football Play-Offs).

They must act with haste on this matter. The ramifications of a student losing their life because of court and field, storming is something the NCAA doesn’t want to face.

Dr. James B. Ewers, Jr. is a long-time educator who hails from Winston Salem, N.C. One of the top tennis players in the state, he was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in January 2021. A graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, he received his M. A. degree in Education from Catholic University in Washington, DC, and Ed. D. degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. He has also done post-doctoral studies at Harvard University and Ewers is a life member of the NAACP and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.