A brawl erupted in the parking lot outside of Levi's Stadium shortly after the San Francisco 49ers dominated the Minnesota Vikings to the tune of a 17-point differential on Monday night. The fight continues a troubling trend for the NFL and specifically the Niners, who have seen numerous incidents of fan violence both inside and outside of their home venue in recent years.
The description of the timeline of events as shared by Brandon Cosio, the Niners fan who posted the video to Facebook:
"The Viking fan in the video and a 49er fan NOT in the video were talking smack to each other, getting into each others faces. A lot of fans from both sides were telling both people to stop and just walk to their cars. The 49er fan then walked away from the situation and that's when the Viking fan may have got a little cocky. The Viking fan turned around and addressed everyone behind him (mostly 49er fans). He said 'what's up, any of you fuckers want some?!' At that point everyone went silent for 2 seconds then as the Viking fan was turning around to walk away, the 49er fan in the black (at the beginning of the video who threw the first punch) tackled him to the ground. That's where the video starts."
This isn't the first time Niners fans have appeared in the news for the wrong reasons. In Oct. of 2014, a video emerged of two San Francisco fans attacking other fans in a bathroom at Levi's Stadium. In the video, you can see one of the victims is knocked unconscious. A report shortly after the attack suggested that one of the victims was "close to death." One of the assailants is now serving a five-year prison term. Only two weeks prior, Niners fans were involved in a brawl outside of the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ that left several people bloodied. And shortly after the bathroom attack, a Cowboys fan was stabbed outside of the San Francisco venue in an altercation reportedly fueled by taunting.
Numerous other incidents of fan violence have come out of San Francisco in recent years - so many incidents, in fact, that it has led fan sites like NinersNation.com and Ninerfans.com to go so far as to post statements pleading with 49ers fans to stop their reckless and violent behavior.
While the actions of few do not dictate the attitudes or behaviors of many and it would be entirely unfair to suggest that all or even some Niners fans would or will act in this manner, something is clearly wrong in San Francisco and the team and the league may need to take steps to ensure that these types of incidents do not continue to occur.
