Pitch invasion

Missouri became the first institution to be fined $100,000 for a first offense following a last-second upset win over #15 Kansas State after the game ended on an SEC record 61-yard successful field goal.

Texas and LSU were each fined $250,000 by the SEC in 2024 for fans throwing debris onto the field during losses by their respective football teams, the Longhorns vs. Georgia (October 19) and the Tigers vs. Alabama (November 9).

Ole Miss was fined $350,000 after its November 9, 2024 win vs. Georgia for another pitch invasion--$250,000 for a second offense and an extra $100,000 for fans entering the playing field before the end of the game.

This came one week following the Commodores' men's basketball upset victory over in-state rival Tennessee that drew a $250,000 second pitch invasion fine.

Chapter 266, Section 104A of the Massachusetts General Laws provides: "Whoever willfully and without right destroys, injures or removes a goal post on a football field shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than two hundred dollars.

[14] On 26 November 1959 (Thanksgiving Day that year), a 14-year-old girl in Foxborough, Jane Puffer, was hit on the head by a falling goal post.

She had been part of a crowd that was on the field after the conclusion of a high school football game while a group of fans was tearing down a goal post.

[26] On 20 October 2001, a 21-year-old Ball State University student was rendered paraplegic when a goal post that fellow fans tore down to celebrate a victory landed on his back.

The student, Andrew Bourne, settled his subsequent claim against the university for $300,000, the maximum amount that he could recover from the school under Indiana state law.

After the Hillsborough disaster, terraces were required to be converted into all-seater stands, from which it is somewhat more difficult for spectators to physically rush down in order to reach the pitch‍—‍especially in large numbers, and from higher rows of seats.

Since 2003, this was subject to stricter controls, and then finally banned altogether in games at Melbourne venues, in the elite Australian Football League.

The AFL has not yet succeeded in preventing these mid-match invasions, but players are duly protected by bodyguards, teammates and stadium security while supporters flood onto the field.

[56] The outlawed practice of "streaking" (running naked onto the ground) occurred in some big matches, most famously the performance of Helen d'Amico in the 1982 VFL Grand Final.

[57][58][59] Although violent spectator playing field invasions both during and after matches were not uncommon in the early years of the VFL – and, "spectator behaviour" was one of the main reasons that the VFA team Port Melbourne was not invited to become one of the VFL's foundation clubs in 1897 – in more recent times there have been a few occasions of hostile pitch invasions; the most famous of these occurred in the 1967 Tasmanian State Premiership Final, when hundreds of Wynyard fans invaded the field and tore down the goalposts to prevent North Hobart full forward David Collins from kicking a goal after the final siren.

Another hostile pitch invasion occurred in an AFL night game between St Kilda and Essendon in 1996, when the floodlights at Waverley Park lost power during the third quarter; fans rioted in the darkness and, coincidentally, also took down the goalposts.

The players and spectators scattered, some vaulting fences into the next-door market garden, with the majority taking shelter in the dressing shed.

Almost universally, intruders will be ejected from the ballpark and potentially banned for life from it, and may also face criminal charges depending on the nature of the offence.

In cases when a game is broadcast on television and a person or small group runs onto the field, the broadcaster will cut to another camera shot elsewhere in the stadium, to the commentators in the press box, or to a commercial break instead of focusing on the intruders; this is to avoid giving attention to their behavior, and to discourage imitators who might try the same thing (and as, occasionally, the person is also a streaker, to avoid showing nudity).

She rushed the field on numerous occasions and kissed many Major League Baseball players including Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, George Brett (twice), Steve Garvey, and Cal Ripken Jr.[73] College basketball has a similar phenomenon, known as "storming the court".

On February 12th, 2011, Michael Field, originally of Marshfield, WI, stormed the court of the Kohl Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with 18 seconds remaining in the game.

He was detained and lead-off in handcuffs, but he was quickly released after the entire student section rushed the floor 18 seconds later after the Wisconsin Badgers defeated No.

The Indiana University men's basketball team defeated the #1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats 73–72 on 10 December 2011, after a three-point shot by Christian Watford with no time left on the clock.

Kentucky avenged their loss on their way to a National Championship later that season by defeating Indiana 102-90 during the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.

Several weeks later, Kyle Filipowski of the Duke Blue Devils had to be carried off the court after appearing to suffer an injury from coming into contact with a fan at Wake Forest University.

[83] It used to be a common occurrence at the end of cricket Test matches for the crowd to invade the pitch to watch the presentation from the pavilion balcony.

In 1982, a pitch invasion at the WACA led to Australian bowler Terry Alderman suffering a shoulder injury when attempting to apprehend one of the intruders.

[88] In Gaelic football and hurling, both national sports of Ireland, pitch invasions were acceptable and most widely seen at Provincial and All-Ireland Finals.

However, there has only been one occurrence at Croke Park, after the 2010 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final, due to a crackdown since 2009 by the GAA, though they still occur in other stadia around the country.

Eventually the tradition died out, and spectators rarely, if ever, take the field in the present day National Rugby League; fines of $7000 and lifetime bans exist for those who do so.

[91] Hull KR were later fined £7,500 (£5,000 of this suspended) and made to pay legal costs by the RFL governing body for not controlling spectators at their stadium.