Aggro Football Players Pummel Picnickers in Dolores Park

Scoring a point for the perception of football players, it seems as though a rather one-sided fight broke out on Tallboy Terrace yesterday around 6pm when some people asked a group of terrible players to move along, according to a thread on Reddit:

So, I was in Dolores Park today, and I was sitting on the north side, near the center, beneath the trees. I was with six other people, three girls, three guys.

Some guys had been throwing a football around all day, but they were throwing it right by us and they kept hitting us with their football. We'd asked them to move but they just waved us off. Eventually, when one of us got hit with the football again, we told them we'd only give it back if they promised to move down to the field so they wouldn't be hitting us (and everybody near us) every time they missed a catch. They didn't respond to this, they just started wailing on me (I was holding the football when they started). Two of the guys I was with got up and started fighting back, but we were no match for these guys. I was hunched over and they were kicking and punching me on the ground.

About 5 minutes after they left, the cops showed up, took my statement, all that, but they just left.

The victim got a black eye and a bloody nose and claims the attackers were a couple of buff dudes in flat-brimmed hats.

Comments (13)

What? No pictures of the assailants?

After getting hit a few times with a football, and then being ignored, wouldn’t you just move yourself away from them? Don’t wait for aggression to happen. Choose another spot to avoid douchebags.

With all the issues I see at Dolores park and read in the news it’s looking like the park needs its own security patrol since people can’t seem to play nice.

Talk about one-sided, this article pretty much reigns supreme. The park is a public space for football players and “polite” picknickers alike. I side with the football players getting a little exercise and social recreation in rather than boozing their lives away in “tallboy terrace” (did someone mention douchebaggery?) In fact, the writing here implies that the football players were there first.

When I don’t like what people around me are doing, I take the initiative and move myself–last I checked no one was king of DP.

We’re only getting one side of the story here. Kevin threatened to keep their football, and a fight broke out. Unsurprisingly, and it seems deservedly, he got his ass kicked. Now he is crying to the police. He should have moved out of the way of the guys tossing the football. Or, he should have found a non-violent way to resolve the issue. Instead he tried to stand up to them and was beaten down. I’m with the football players on this one.

I think it was reasonable to ask the guys throwing the football to be more accurate with their passes. However, snatching up the football to try and force them into being more considerate was a bad idea. Unless you can fight back, that approach is just asking for trouble. Unfortunately, crowded public spaces (especially on a holidays) can make some people a little touchy, or, in this case, violent. Sometimes it’s better to just move away to an area of the park that has less shit flying around.

dude takes their ball and is surprised it escalated to him getting beat up? It would be nice if it didn’t turn into a fight but come on, you take someone’s shit who is already being a dick to you and start making demands, shouldn’t be that surprised when you get socked up.

so where is the post about the obscene amount of trash left all over the park at the end of the holiday?

”..the attackers were a couple of buff dudes in flat-brimmed hats.” !!!!

Hope you find them and take take the stickers off their hats.

It’s a big park. If someone is bothering you, just move to a different part of the park.

While we are with most of the posters in this comments section, This is just one more police report on file for assult and battery. Not really what any of us who really use the park want. This will be used as a one more tool by the people who say the park is “out of control” and want the park to be like Union sq or something. As much as we like to get fucked up and enjoy the park,We have had to defuse more then a handful of event’s that we saw could have elevated to this. If you live in SF,this IS YOUR PARK. Let’s act like it. And really,the trash is getting crazy. I have called 311 and tried to get a dumpster twice,told have to have event permit. July 4th is an event in it self..problem is that if the city provided the proper trash cans around the park,people would use them and the park would be clean(er). And i’m sure that someones job is dependant on that monday morning trash pickup.

Wait, they got beat up by a bunch of guys that dont play football well? Must be real pussies