Cheerleaders for the Wisconsin Badgers football team were forced to run for cover at Camp Randall Stadium during Saturday's game against the Northwestern Wildcats when people in the crowd got rowdy and started to pelt them with snowballs.
The game was in the second quarter with the Badgers trailing the Wildcats, 7-0, when fans, likely due to boredom, used the 12+ inches of snow that hit the region the day before and initiated a snowball fight, according to the New York Daily News.
"Wisconsin's student section is apparently bored enough by the game that there's a snowball fight breaking out over there," tweeted Jesse Temple, who covers Wisconsin and the Big 10 Conference for ESPN.com.
The situation soon escalated, however, and the fans soon turned their sights on the cheerleaders below, and began throwing snowballs at them as well, according to Newsmax.
"Holy smokes. Students look like they're now aiming all their snowballs at the UW cheerleaders behind the end zone. What's wrong with people?" Temple tweeted a few moments later.
The cheerleaders and referees, who were also reportedly attacked, left the field and fled to the safety of the tunnels leading to the inner sections of the stadium while the crowd was brought under control.
Wisconsin cheerleaders leaving the field after being pelted with snowballs by their own fans. pic.twitter.com/vyUJkj9TsB
— Jesse Temple (@jessetemple) November 21, 2015
The cheerleaders returned for the second half of the game, but stood on Wisconsin's sideline instead of the endzone where they could be targeted again, according to Examiner.
The University threatened anyone caught throwing footballs with police intervention on its Twitter account.
"Save the snowballs for Bascom Hill. Anyone caught throwing snow on the field will be cited and ejected by @UWMadisonPolice."
