Parents brawl at youth wrestling meet while kids compete in wild video
A bleacher-clearing brawl erupted between parents during a New Jersey youth wrestling championship while the children watched the chaos from just feet away, startling video shows.
The disturbing scene ensued at Phillipsburg High School in Warren County on Sunday, according to the viral video posted on YouTube.
The video was angled at a match in progress but captured the moment two men sparked the all-out melee in the school’s gymnasium.
Following the conclusion of a separate match across the gym, the two men — one wearing a white T-shirt and hat, the other in a black hoodie and hat — are captured shouting back and forth on the outskirts of the wrestling mat.
Those words led to the men quickly getting into each other’s faces before the man in white viscously shoves the other away.
Then all hell broke loose.
The two men begin to tussle, causing parents in the bleachers around them to rush down.
The men wrestled each other to the floor as other parents swarmed them — some of whom appeared to jump right into the action, trying to push and yank the men away from each other in a desperate effort to separate them.
However, other parents were seen getting physical, pushing and shoving others who were not involved in the initial melee.
The altercation between the two men spread the brawl, which involved at least two dozen spectators, onto the youth wrestling mat.
The match in the YouTube video between young Anderson Diaz and Alexander Finklestein was abruptly stopped while referees rushed over to help break things up.
After nearly a minute of pandemonium, the brawl subsided, and the parents exited the gym.
A closer view of the mayhem, posted on X, showed parents rushing down from the bleachers as a large group grasps each other in the heated exchange.
Another man in a flannel shirt is seen needing to be forcefully pushed away from the brawl by two other men, while the man in the white shirt, who appeared to initiate the violence, is pinned to the mat by concerned parents.
A woman in all black is seen shouting with a man in a red sweatshirt as they hurl words at each other on the edge of the brawl.
In a photo shared by @MrPatMineo, the original poster of the brawl on X, shows that woman being taken away in handcuffs by New Jersey state troopers.
It’s unknown if she or other parents involved were charged.
Warren County Prosecutor James Pfeiffer told lehighvalleylive.com that the incident was being investigated and he would comment on the matter once the probe is concluded.
The violence happened while Phillipsburg’s youth team faced off against High Point’s team for the youth championship, two unnamed parents at the tournament told the outlet on Thursday.
They claimed at least one child was struck during the fight.
The fight forced the league, made up of middle schoolers from grades five through eight, to cancel the rest of the matches for the day, the parents told the outlet.
The video sparked some harsh criticism across social media due to the parents’ unruly behavior.
“Great way to show the boys how to be men,” one X user sarcastically wrote in the replies.
“There are zero tolerance policies for a reason. Keep it up and the kids are going to be playing in empty gyms and in front of empty bleachers. This is why rec and high school sports can’t find officials,” another chirped in the comments.
“Another example of out of shape parents making a youth sporting event all about them, not about the kids,” wrote another.
