A junior hockey match in Russia descended into a mass dust-up on the ice as youngsters traded blows during a regional tournament.
Footage showed players from the age group born in 2011 swinging for each other and grappling on the ice at a game between ‘South Ural’ and ‘Sarmaty’.
The all-out war – which was likened to the brutal ‘wall-on-wall’ fist fights of Russian tradition – happened in the village of Prigorodony, just outside Orenburg, on March 5, with the footage going viral after being shared by a parent of one of the players.
The chaos only appears to calm down after the coaches and referee break up the scuffles.
The footage comes after a controversial video last month showed young hockey players in Russia being trained to fight.
Россия, наши дни. Это позорище. Это мы так готовим хоккеистов? Скоро никакого хоккея вообще не будет в нашей стране. pic.twitter.com/qeDx91lKDa
— Держи передачу (@Boogaard_2) February 18, 2021
On that occasion, the clip prompted an investigation by the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR), and was widely criticized online.
However, some in America – including Daily Caller writer David Hookstead – held up the clip as an example of how Russian youngsters were being raised as “hockey beasts” while their counterparts in the US stayed inside to play video games.
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