A Recent History of Deadly Fan Violence

When does sports fandom go way too far? Obviously, being a repulsive fan ranks pretty high up there. But what happens when one's allegiance to a sports franchise or just being in attendance brings about violence?

On October 7th, a Bears fan named William C. “Chris” Pettry visited Jacksonville on the weekend that Chicago was facing the Jaguars. Unfortunately, that trip turned horribly wrong when Petty died after getting his throat slashed by Matthew Hinson inside the restaurant, Fionn MacCool’s. Hinson claims that his actions were in response to Chris talking to his wife, the suspect is being held without bond for a murder charge.

This month's events were an unfortunate end to Pettry's life, but sadly, this isn’t the first time that sports fans being in the wrong places at the wrong times have resulted in violent deaths. Take a look at a few other examples in A Recent History of Deadly Fan Violence.

RELATED:A History of Athletes Who Died During Their Prime

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Sport: Soccer
Year: 1964

On May 24, 1964, Peru took on Argentina in qualifying match for the 1964 Olympics in Lima. With Argentina holding onto a slim 1-0 lead, Bertolotti Andres of Peru scored the game-tying goal in the final minutes, a goal that would have been enough for Peru to qualify. However, the referee disallowed the score and in response, the fans started rioting. The police tried to settle the crowd down by firing tear gas into the stands, but when the people realized that there was no way out since the stadium had been inexplicably chained shut, the rioting turned deadly. Sadly, 318 people were killed.

Sport: Soccer
Year: 1982

In 1982, FCC Spartak Moscow faced off against HFC Haarlem in a open-air stadium that encountered below freezing temperatures. Before the conclusion of the game, many fans attempted to leave early but faced a literal pile-up at one of the exits. It is believed that the disaster started when a young woman lost her shoe and tried putting it back prior to getting trampled by other people forcing their way out. Soon, one person turned into a couple dozen and it was revealed that up to 66 fans died that night of compressive asphyxia as a result of the stampede. It wasn't until seven years later that the final fatality total showed that actually around 340 people were killed.

Sport: Soccer
Year: 1985

Prior to the match between Liverpool and Juventus in the 1985 European Cup Final, fans of Liverpool tried climbing a wall in Heysel Stadium that separated them from the "neutral area" which contained some spectators supporting Juventus. When all the weight on the wall became too much to handle, the structure collapsed and trapped many fans. With 600 people injured and 39 dead, you would think that the game would be delayed, right? However, the show went on and Juventus won 1-0. Later on, 14 Liverpool fans were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to three years in prison. Additionally all English clubs were banned from European competition indefinitely, a ban that was lifted in the '90-'91 season.

Sport: Soccer
Year: 1989

April 15, 1989 would mark the worst stadium-related disaster in British history, and one of the world’s worst soccer disasters. The scene was a FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest that ended almost as soon as it started. The area allotted to Liverpool fans, which was primarily standing only, had become overpacked with supporters. To compensate for the overcrowding, and minimal entrances, police ushered fans into a tunnel underneath the stand to wait.

Moments after kick-off the stand collapsed and 96 supporters were crushed while 766 were injured. A contentious aftermath saw fans blamed by police for the barrier break and it was only recently discovered that police covered up what really happened and that no fans were really to blame. Apologies were made by the British PM, local police officials, and then-editor of the British newspaper The Sun to the families of those lost. As a result of the incident most big clubs throughout England and Europe were forced to remove all standing-style terraces from stadiums.

Sport: Soccer
Year: 2001

Usually, it's the end result of soccer matches that causes the most conflicts. However, a match between the Accra Hearts of Oak and the Kumasi Asante Kotoko in Ghana became violent with less than 15 minutes left. After the Accra Hearts scored took a 2-1 lead, Asante Kotoko fans started ripping out and throwing their plastic chairs onto the field. When police responded by firing tear gas at the raucous crowd, the chaos only got worse and when order was finally restored, the death toll was 120.

Sport: Baseball
Year: 2004

The rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees has been and will always be an intense one. Arguably, the greatest moment in BoSox history was when Boston defeated the Yanks in the 2004 American League Championship Series after being down three games to zero.

A black eye on the historic night, however, was when a Red Sox fan named Victoria Snelgrove was unintentionally struck by a supposedly “non-lethal” round from a crowd-control gun after the ensuing celebration was deemed too out of control. The projectile that hit Snelgrove fractured the bone near her eye and caused excessive bleeding. Because of the crowd, she could not receive medical attention for her injury, she died 12 hours later in a Boston area hospital. No charges filed against the police officer who shot Victoria.

Sport: Baseball
Year: 2009

A fight starting over spilled beer. Don't many beefs at sporting events and bars begin this way? But they usually don't end like they did for David Sale. On July 25, 2009, Sale was beaten to death outside Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park after his bachelor party group of eight guys got into it with another bunch of people when someone spilled their drink on another person. After all the participants were kicked out of the stadium, the brawl spilled out to the parking lot where three individuals repeatedly kicked the 22-year-old Sale until he was no longer moving. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Sport: Soccer
Year: 2011

In 2011, John Taylor attended Britannia Stadium to support the Blackburn Rovers in their English Premier League match against the hometown Stoke City. That is where Taylor collapsed and died after getting hit by a 25-pound trashcan thrown by a fellow Blackburn fan. In the end, the coroner deemed the incident “death by misadventure." Save the sympathy cards though, witnesses alleged that Taylor attempted to "head" the trash bin that was thrown his way, a fact that his family disputed.

Sport: Soccer
Year: 2012

Outside of the United States, people take their soccer fandom very seriously. Maybe a little too serious. While a bus filled with Flamengo fans made their way to Engenhao Stadium to support their team, they encountered a couple of people supporting the opposing squad, Vasco da Gama. The conflict between the two sides reached its zenith when the Flamengo faithful stopped at a gas station to confront the Vasco fans who stopped at a nearby bar and gunshots went off towards one another. The cops arrived as soon as they could, but not before a 21-year-old Tomas Coelho was shot dead.

Sport: Soccer
Year: 2012

After Al-Masry of Port Said defeated Cairo's Al-Ahly at home, 3-1, a fan of the visiting team walked onto the pitch with an iron bar in tow. In response, the hometown faithful attacked Ahly players and moved their attention to their fans. Eventually, the brawl poured out on the field. In the end, the riot was deemed the worst soccer disaster in Egypt's history with at least 1,000 people injured and 73 declared dead.