Advertisement

Streaker lawyers up after getting poleaxed by football star

You would think, after numerous examples of what can happen to people stupid enough to run onto the field during a sporting event, that fans would stop doing it.

You would think.

But it happened again recently in a Canadian Football League match, when a fool wearing only an orange B.C. Lions shirt and blue boxer-briefs ran onto the field during a game with the Montreal Alouettes.

He was whacked and knocked to the ground by Lions defensive back Marcell Young.

B.C. Lions’ Marcell Young knocks down a spectator that ran onto the field of play during the first half of a CFL football game against the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday. (AP)
B.C. Lions’ Marcell Young knocks down a spectator that ran onto the field of play during the first half of a CFL football game against the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday. (AP)

It’s all fun until you get knocked out

In a video posted on Twitter (watch in the video above) by another fan who was in the stands, the streaking fan can be seen running around for several minutes between plays, waving his arms and dancing.

As he gets close to Young, a defensive back who was already split wide, waiting for the Alouettes’ offense to line up, Young laterals to his left and lowers his shoulder into the man, sending him flying.

Then a security guard jumps on top of the man.

The crowd shouts “ooohhhhh!” and a couple of Young’s teammates high-five and chest bump him.

Suffered various injuries

But now the fan, who hasn’t been named (police said he’s in his 20s and from Surrey, British Columbia), has retained the Preszler Law Firm in Toronto, according to Sportsnet. The firm would not say if the fan is filing a lawsuit.

In a statement, Preszler Law Firm said, the man “suffered serious injuries, including a mild traumatic brain injury, as a result of being violently struck by BC Lions player Marcell Young.”

Vancouver Police issued the man a $115 ticket for trespassing and he was banned from BC Place stadium for a year; no criminal charges were filed.

A police department spokesman, Sgt. Jason Robillard, said officers were concerned about the streaker’s safety and level of intoxication; he declined an ambulance and was escorted out of the stadium by police.

Lawsuit may not get far

A sports law professor told Sportsnet that a lawsuit may not get far because the fan was trespassing, and Robillard said that the behaviour is not only “against the Trespass Act, it’s also a Criminal Code offense for mischief for interfering with other people’s enjoyment who’ve paid for tickets to watch the event.”

It’s unclear whether the Lions, Young or BC Place could be sued.

The 30-year-old Young, who played at Jackson State (Miss.), is in his first season with the Lions but eighth in the CFL.

Shalise Manza Young – Shutdown Corner