Sports is all about entertainment and competitiveness, but sometimes it gets beyond that. Sometimes pressure of winning at all cost and high adrenaline cause tempers to fray. Some fights have been a long time coming and some seemed to come out of nowhere. Players get into sledging and physical play in the playground. Basketball, rugby, hockey and even cricket, which is known as a gentleman’s game, had its fair share of ill-tempered fights. So, with the 2019 coming to an end, MyTeam11 brings you the most memorable brawls of 2019 in sports.
Here are those fights in 2019 that stole the limelight in the world of sports.
- Nehru Hockey Cup Final
The field of hockey turned into a battle ground as players from Punjab Police and Punjab National Bank got into an ugly fight during the Nehru Hockey Cup Final in Delhi. The players of the two teams got into a physical brawl and fought with hockey sticks inside the turf. However, the match went on after a while but the violent fight caused a stir in the Hockey India management. The disciplinary committee later suspended players from Punjab Armed Police and Punjab National Bank for a period of 12-18 months and 6-12 months respectively.
- Myles Garrett and Mason Rudolph wrestled it out
Although rugby is known for its trash talk and physical fights, but the fight between Myles Garrett and Mason Rudolph was a big one. Cleveland was up 21-7 and the game was about to get over when this all went down. Rudolph threw a dump-off and then Garrett tackled him. Then, the two started wrestling on the ground, with Rudolph trying to remove Garrett’s helmet.
Their team mates and the referee attempted to separate the defensive end and the Quarter Back, but they couldn’t. Myles Garrett then landed a nasty blow on Rudolph’s helmet. Later, NFL announced the suspension of Garrett for the rest of the season and post season. Garrett, however, did realise his mistake and called the fight “foolish” and “out of character”.
- Brawl Between the Reds and Pirates
It may not be the most violent fight in the baseball history but the benches-clearing brawl between the Reds and Pirates was one of the wildest ones for sure. Keone Kela decided to take revenge on Derek Dietrich, who pimped a home run against him earlier in the season. The Pirates pitcher intentionally threw the ball near the head of Cincy’s Derek Dietrich. An inning later, Cincy’s Jared Hughes threw at Starling Marte in retaliation. And that’s when all hell broke loose. Amir Garrett ran toward Pittsburgh’s dugout and basically fought half of the Pirates. Pittsburgh hitting coach Rick Eckstein put Cincy’s David Bell in a headlock and the game turned into a war.
Six players and both managers were ultimately suspended. The longest suspension went to Keone Kela, who was suspended for 10 games.
- Joel Embiid And Karl-Anthony Towns Throw Hands
Philadelphia 76ers player Joel Embiid and Minnesota Timberwolves’ star Karl-Anthony Towns had a history of butting heads before, and this time it was more than just a butt head. In the second half of the match after getting tangled up under the basket, Embiid shoved Towns, and Towns threw a punch but missed. Both players fell to the floor, and Embiid teammate Ben Simmons ran in to hold down Towns before the fight was broken up. Both Embiid and Towns were ejected and later were reprimanded.
