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Arena football brawl highlighted by steel chair-wielding fan (VIDEO)

The now-defunct Arena Football League is the ECW of real sports. They took a preposterous idea and went much farther with it than anyone could have ever dreamed. And while the party finally ended, a legion of cheap knockoffs live on.

That brings us to this past weekend in Odessa, Texas. The West Texas Warbirds hosted the Dallas Prime at Ector County Coliseum. An on-field brawl broke out as the ‘Birds were wrapping up a commanding 50-6 victory. And then some guy in the stands decided he needed to enter the fray. With a chair. And then it was on, Malice at the Palace-style. There was also an unconfirmed report one of the mascots got involved.

From the Midland Reporter-Telegram:

The video shows the players from both teams fighting each other at one end zone, eventually spilling beyond the area and including some fans. One person from the stands could be seen with a metal folding chair that was used to hit one of the Dallas Prime players on the back of the helmet, which sparked a response from a couple the Dallas players to go into the stands and start punching at that unidentified man before it was finally broken up.

The exact reason why the teams started fighting isn’t clear but there were reports that the teams were trash talking on the field during the game.

[The Warbirds] said they are looking into possibly changing the way the teams access their respective locker rooms without crossing over and limiting access to fans near the field.

Well, that should do it!

If you are like me, you immediately wondered what league these teams play in. And if so, we don’t really have a good answer for you. The Warbirds are members of the Arena Football Alliance. Which is their third affiliation in as many years. But the Prime appear to play in the Texas Ultimate Football League. Which must be a pretty bad league, given the Prime are apparently undefeated in the TUFL.

James Kratch can be reached at [email protected]

James Kratch is the managing editor of ESNY. He previously worked as a Rutgers and Giants (and Mike Francesa) beat reporter for NJ Advance Media.