By Police1 Staff
NEW YORK — New York police and firefighters ended their charity football game with a bloody, violent brawl, New York Daily News reported.
During Sunday’s “Fun City Bowl” — meant to raise money for NYPD’s Widows & Children’s Fund and FDNY’s Fire Family Transport Foundation — the city’s first responders squared off.
After the cops’ 29-13 win, the teams huddled near the 50-yard line for the traditional postgame handshake. Players began to yell and tug at each other’s jerseys. Soon, they piled on top of each other, some trying to separate the men from fighting.
“They hit our quarterback out of bounds, and that’s how things started,” FDNY coach Steve Orr told the Post. “There were a lot of hotheads there.”
The departments have a long history of not getting along. According to PIX11, the departments have been brawling since the 1980s. Their 2014 charity hockey game ended with players throwing punches.
“Football is a competitive sport whether it is the NFL Super Bowl or the annual NYPD-FDNY Challenge. It is part of the spirit of the sport, but it all ends on the field,” NYPD said in a statement to Syracruse.com.