Players and referees at a basketball tournament were involved in an on-court brawl Sunday in Emerson, according to ESPN writer Myron Medcalf.
Members of the Chicago-based R.A.W. Athletics were involved in the altercation, and video of players throwing multiple punches at one official went viral online.
Originally reported as an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournament, the Orlando, Fla.,-based organization issued a statement stating it did not license "the boys' basketball event at Lakepoint Sports facility in Georgia this past weekend (July 7-8) which featured an on-court brawl by participating players and referees. This event was not licensed by the AAU."
The tournament finals were held in Emerson, about 40 miles Northwest of Atlanta.
Twitter user Doug Jones shared clips of the fight on his account, which accumulated thousands of retweets.
“At the end of the game, one of my players was complaining about a call,” R.A.W. Athletics head coach Howard Martin told ESPN. “He made a comment to the referee. The ref didn’t like it. So the other team inbounded the ball, walked it up, the ref said to my player, ‘Say it again.’ Then he T’d him up and kicked him out of the game.
“And he walked behind him, still having words. Then the ref pushed my player, and they squared up right by my bench. When they squared up, another one of my players jumped off the bench and took [the ref] down. We separated them.”
According to Medcalf’s report, the Emerson Police Department has launched an investigation.
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