Holland’s Amsterdam Crusaders in bench clearing brawl
The Amsterdam Crusaders showed off their frustration this past weekend. Apparently in response to racist taunts and what they perceived to be unfair refereeing, a few Amsterdam players reacted.
The Crusaders were continuing their European tour this past Saturday in Austria where they faced the Graz Giants. After the Giants scored a touchdown late in the game to seal a 31-21 win, tempers seemingly boiled over.
An Amsterdam player lost his composure, first getting into an altercation with one of the Giants players and then grabbing his face mask and flipping him to the ground in the middle of a brawl.
So with two minutes on the clock, the referees called the game off.
According to Emmanuel Lewis, this was the result of frustration on the part of the players from treatment by officials which according to team members was biased.
The Crusaders are playing a totally international schedule this year. Instead of playing in the Dutch league, the Crusaders have opted to play only international games and it has not gone as well as expected. After defeating the Dusseldorf Panther in the first game of the Crusaders European game schedule, the team has lost five straight. Before losing this game, Amsterdam dropped a 20-14 decision to the Wasa Royals in Finland.
Prior to that they had lost to the Cologne Crocodiles 38-22, Frankfurt Universe 40-9 and the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions 60-35.
The Crusaders will face their final opponent, Polish reigning champions, the Wroclaw Panthers, on July 7.
