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After fans attack band at Florida-Miami, other games, college marching bands start working together to stay safe
By Brian Stultz
Published:
Attacks on rival bands by fans have become a forefront topic during this college football season after members of the Florida marching band were attacked by Miami supporters after the season opener and multiple other incidents have taken place throughout the country.
While this is nothing new, some bands are doing what they can to make the attacks stop: walking out of the stadium together with their rival band.
Clemson has members of the band service fraternity Kappa Kappa Psi walk out with the visiting band to show fans that they should be “treated as guests, not ‘the enemy,’” Mark Spede, the director of Clemson bands, said.
“Fans are much more reluctant to hurl insults or worse when they see our own band members right there…” said Spede, who’s also the national president of the College Band Directors National Association.
“Since implementing these sportsmanship policies at Clemson more than a decade ago, we’ve noticed a marked difference in fan behavior here. Is it perfect? No. But better? Yes. It also takes vigilance year after year.”
Stories involving broken ribs for a Iowa band member at the hands of Iowa State, raw chicken being thrown at South Carolina members and air gun pelting the Southern Miss brass section are all told, but Brian Britt, the director of the Pride of Oklahoma, whose band walked out with the Texas band after the recent Red River Showdown says, it could be the action of one or two people, not the majority that ruin it for everyone.
“To be clear, most fans on both sides are wonderful,” Britt said. “But it doesn’t take but one person to punch you in the face and make your day take a turn for the worse.”
Brian Stultz covers SEC football for SaturdayDownSouth.com. A graduate of Auburn University, he is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter @brianjstultz.
