Jr. A Player Poll: the Etiquette of Fighting
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Everyone knows the first rule of Fight Club. Probably because that’s the only line anyone ever quotes. But when it comes to be tilt-time in Junior A lacrosse, is it a no-holds barred free-for-all like the occasional bench-clearing brawl would lead us to believe? For a look at how it all starts, how it can end, and a rundown on the worst of the worst of bad fighting manners, keep reading.
| 1. Have you ever pre-planned a fight? | |||||||||
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“Planned to ask the guy, but definitely still asked.”
“Not before a game but before a shift when I was having an off game I did.”
“Gotta be spur of the moment. Something just sets me off and I go.”
“Bet he wishes we didn’t.”
| 2. Of all the good reasons to initiate a fight, what are the reasons most likely to make YOU start a fight with someone? (Pick as many as you want.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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“If someone cheap shots me I get up and I’m ready to go with anyone until I come back down to earth…then I get a little freaked out depending who it is.”
“When a fight can get a key player off the floor for 5 min it’s worth it to throw down.”
“Sometimes your team isn’t going and someone has to step up and if you can’t put a ball in the net fighting is a great way to do it.”
“After a cheapshot you have no choice.”
“Keeps guys accountable.”
| 3. What’s most important for being considered the winner of a fight? | |||||||||
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“Don’t ask this question to anyone on Delta cause they have yet to figure out how to take their own bucket off. Mind you it’s tough when some of them have 6 points cough* cough*”
“A lot of times you just look at whose face got it the worst and its an obvious sign of who won.”
“No takedowns…it’s not UFC.”
“It might not be what REALLY matters, but if you don’t get the other guy to the ground you’ll get beaked on the forums for losing.”
“I just picked that answer because it was funny. Picture it!”
| 4. If you are clearly winning a fight, like completely one-sided punching bag type stuff and the ref hasn’t stepped in yet, would you stop hitting? | ||||||
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“If I’ve decided to fight I’m too pissed off to just stop.”
“If it got to that point I would probably just try and take the guy down for his own sake.”
“Nobody wants to see a guy get real mangled just got to prove a point.”
“You keep going until the other guy is on his back…then you stop.”
“If the other player decided to fight then he gets beat until the refs step in. Its an intimidation thing, if you beat the sh** out of someone they are going to think twice about doing whatever they did to start the fight. On the other hand if for instance you knock a player out while fighting then the fight should end.”
| 5. Is it ever acceptable to be the first guy to leave the bench to enter an altercation? | ||||||
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“No, there are other players on the floor and that is just asking for a messy situation. As much as it would kill me disicpline would have to take over…however I wouldn’t hesitate to be the second.”
“There are always circumstances… sometimes a suspension or misconduct is worth it.”
“Depends on how tight your team is I guess.”
“It’s really circumstantial. If everyone on the floor takes care of their guy then there should never be any 2 on 1 kind of fights. If a player in a fight knows he’s getting the sh** beat out of him he should be able to wrestle the other player to the floor and stop the fight.”
| 6. There’s plenty of bad fight etiquette out there, but in your opinion what is the worst, most reprehensible thing a player can do when it comes to fighting? (If you need to select more than one answer feel free to do so.) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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“All of those are pretty cheap things to do but beating someone senseless doesn’t prove anything except that you have no compassion or respect for other players…with that being said if a fight is lopsided the refs should get involved.”
“It’s the worst when you see a team’s tough guy jump a player who has no intent to be in a fight. That’s followed by one guy taking his helmet of and the other guy going in with his taped to his head.”
“Jumping someone is pretty brutal especially when they’re half their size, like when one of the senior players chased our smallest guy half way down the floor.”
“Once the fight’s started if the player being attacked hasn’t tried to wrestle the other player to the ground then anything goes!”
“Worst etiquette I have seen in a fight so far had to be a knee to the head of Matt Baker, who was on the ground, ‘07 playoffs.”
“Jumping a player who isn’t looking is just disrespectful, you either square up or in a scrum either way the person knows it’s gonna happen. And fighting someone who is way smaller and younger unless he’s a proven tough guy then really that’s just dumb, it’s a lose-lose situation. If you win it’s like wow sweet bud you’re a tool and if you lose then you’re just the butt end of a lot of jokes.”
Ward began covering lacrosse for The Lacrosse Journal in 2005 and became its editor-in-chief a year later. Email her at lauren.ward@nllinsider.com.Rate This Story:
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