Feb 9, 2018 3 min read

No matter what prompted the on-court brawl at the Clairton-Monessen boys’ basketball game Tuesday, it was a shameful display.

Authorities said about 60 people — players and fans — were involved. A high school basketball player and a Clairton police officer working security at the game were injured.

When police called for backup, 10 different departments sent officers to try and contain the mayhem.

It’s a sad sign of the times that such a response was necessary at a high school sporting event. Rivalry between teams is one thing. It certainly exists in professional sports, and harnessed correctly, can be used as a positive motivational tool for sharper performance. That obviously wasn’t the case here, and it’s simply ridiculous that tensions were so high that they boiled over into a fight on the court.

To the adults at the game who rushed onto the court to take part: you should be ashamed of yourselves. You’ve set an example that tells children that problems can be solved with punches and kicks. How can we expect to raise a generation of children who solve problems through discussion if they see the adults in their lives address them through violence? When they want to learn how to act or react, children look to adults. They look at the problem-solving skills they’ve seen, and they mimic them. Jumping into a fight, piling on, reinforces the mentality that it’s acceptable to devolve a disagreement into blows.

A YouTube video of the fight showed that some adults had the good sense to grab players and pull them away and block others from getting involved. Those folks are to be commended.

To the players: have more respect for yourselves and the sport in which you participate. Good sportsmanship is built upon respect, fairness and self-control. Perhaps coaches should offer the players a refresher course on that most basic tenet of sports. Develop in yourselves the ability to step away from someone who lacks good sportsmanship, instead of escalating the situation.

Police have said they are reviewing footage from the game to see if charges are warranted. The WPIAL’s executive director has convened a meeting Monday to go over what happened with school and game officials. Potential discipline for the teams will be decided then.

In the meantime, superintendents in both school districts have said they are taking what happened seriously, and declined to comment on any school-related disciplinary action that may be imposed. Hopefully they will use this unfortunate occurrence as an opportunity to reinforce the high standards districts should set — not just for student athletes, but for all students.

We’d encourage them to revisit how they currently do that, and involve their respective school boards in that process. Together, they could develop strategies to reach out to students in an attempt to avoid something like this in the future.

Certainly, neighboring districts are aware of the fight. We’d also expect that coaches and administrators in those districts would use this as a teachable moment to reinforce to their student body that such bad behavior is unacceptable.

After the court was cleared on Tuesday, officials stopped the game, and Monessen was credited with a 54-45 victory. Given what occurred, no one on either side should feel like a winner.