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A little league game in Wilson, North Carolina took an ugly turn on Monday night when a coach and an umpire got into a brawl that saw the arbiter use his mask as a weapon.
The fight occurred during a game between Bull City Little League and Cherryville. WRAL News reports, the game was part of the state 12-and-under championship tournament at Wilson’s Gillette Baseball Complex.
The dispute began in the fifth inning of the little league contest when the Cherryville coach walks up to home plate umpire Robby Beamon along the third base line.
Beamon reportedly wanted to eject the coach from the game for using profanity, and there is a lot of swearing in the unedited version of the video of the incident.
When Beamon and the coach walk to home plate another umpire jogs up to them appearing to try and calm things down. Just as the infield umpire reaches the men the coach shoves Beamon.
As the infield umpire tries to separate the two men, home plate umpire Beamon takes a wild swing at the coach’s head with his face mask, setting off a melee in which he ends up hitting the coach several more times with the hard piece of protective equipment.
Another Cherryville coach then enters the fray and the fight is carried off the screen.
When the brawl spills back into the view of the camera, Beamon can be seen on the ground being restrained by one of the coaches.
WRAL News reports that police were not called to the ballpark.
“We have no tolerance for this type of behavior,” said David Lee, Wilson Parks and Recreation director. “There are a lot of people working hard to make sure our youth are having a positive experience, and it’s just unfortunate and honestly embarrassing that two adults ruined that last night.”
TMZ reports that both the umpire and Cherryville coach were suspended following the brawl.