ECU is fined for fans' behavior
ECU is fined for fans' behavior
Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
I'm a little behind on this, but I wanted to make sure I got it up on the blog.
East Carolina was fined $10,000 for fans rushing the field after last Saturday's 24-3 win over No. 8 West Virginia.
Conference USA levied the fine Friday as part of the league's sportsmanship policies. East Carolina also is subject to a possible suspension of future hosting privileges of nonconference games if fans rush the field again.
"Having personally experienced the game day atmosphere at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, I would like to congratulate the 43,610 members of the Pirate Nation who provided a national television audience with an outstanding example of how important the fans are to a great college football experience," Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said.
"However, in June 2008, the conference adopted a postgame policy to ensure the safety of visiting players and officials is maintained. That cannot be achieved when fans are celebrating on the field in the presence of the visiting team."
OK. People can complain about this until forever, but this is a good rule. It's too bad that it comes with such a steep fine, but it's all about fan safety. I'm sure there were injuries last weekend, if not by the fans then by the cops tackling fans.
So, bad deal for ECU, but a good call.
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