Auto Racing
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Being a spectator at a sport can be a dangerous thing. If you think that all the injuries are on the field, rink, or the course, you would be far from right. In 2010 a freak accident occurred at the  Seat Leon SuperCup. One car flipped over the others when it made contact with another car on the course. This happened in a race in July, 2010. As the car left the course, it burst into pieces, sending car parts all over the area that the officials and public were in. They all ran for cover. God must have been watching over them because there were no serious injuries and only one or two minor ones from being struck. There were about four injuries that had to be treated however and they were for shock. Even the driver walked away, after his car had disintegrated around him.

I am a long time hockey fan, but I realize that being in the stands does come with some danger, although it is very slight. This wasn't true for a 13 year old girl that had been taken to a game in March, 2002. There were all sorts of warnings to fans who were entering the lower seat areas. The National Hockey League had established rules that fans could not be seated if the game started and the ushers had signs stating that this was NHL policy. The little girl was taken to the game by her father for her birthday. As she sat in the lower part of the arena a puck has been shot by a Blue Jacket player that was deflected into the stands. It hit someone first then hit the little girl. That is how hard it had been shot. For those of you that don't know what a hockey puck is made of, it is very hard rubber that is frozen. It feels like being hit by a rock. The little girl died. She is said to be the first person to ever die from being hit with a puck in a major league hockey game.

A woman was watching an American football game in an indoor arena. The game was exciting and she was really into it. Then came a big play. One of the players was running the ball down the field, when he got pushed out of bounds. As he headed toward the wall he flipped over it and crushed the woman who was seriously injured. She sued and the court heard the case. They decided that, “the defendants owed her duty of care to take reasonable precautions for safety, such as installing adequately sturdy walls or issuing appropriate warnings”, but that is as far as their duty goes.

Soccer
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If we talk about football, which we in the states call soccer, the worst injuries to fans seem to be caused by fans to themselves. In countries other than the U.S., soccer can be a dangerous game to watch. There are plenty of drunk hooligans in these huge crowds of fans and they are ready to throw things, start fights and even worse, stab or club those that are not rooting for their team. Stampedes have been recorded during some games with many people are hurt and killed. A football game was being held in Nairobi. The fans got so excited that they stampeded through the gates and as a result 7 people were trampled to death. "A gate was broken into by fans forcing their way into the stadium", according to the head of the league. He was launching an investigation into why there were closed gates when the stadium was not full. Just on the continent of Africa, not counting the many stampedes in other places, there have been 6 stampedes since 2001 during football games with the death toll at 202 and scores of injuries.

Since football is so popular all over the world let's look at other injuries to fans. There are actually firms that are hired by supporters of one football club that will send people to attack supporters of other clubs. One club is known as the hooligan firm. This firm exists in Britain. When we think of Belgium, if we ever do, most of us don't think of football hooliganism, but this is one of the biggest problems in that country and they are far from being alone. In France football riots have taken place between fans of Paris Saint-Germain and fans from Belgium, Scotland, Italy, England and Germany to name a few places. In Germany some of the problems at football games have been linked to the neo-Nazis and far right. German fans were attending a game in France between Germany and Yugoslavia and some were getting rowdy A French policeman tried to calm them down, but was beaten to the point that he suffered brain damage. German football fans have been responsible for causing injury and damage every year for the last several years. They have even gone as far as damaging cars and shops after the game. The problem of unruly fans exists in about every country where football (soccer) is the number one sport. Even officials have been killed.

Baseball
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Like hockey, baseball is a sport where a hard object sometimes enters the stands at a high rate of speed. Being hit by a baseball is no laughing matter especially if you don't see it coming and can't protect yourself. A minor league game is no safer to attend that a major league one. During one minor league game between the Peoria Chiefs and the Dayton Dragons, a disagreement broke out. One side protested that the pitcher was hitting batters on purpose. Both managers took the field and one pushed the other. The pitcher got so mad that he went to throw his fast ball into the dugout of the other team. The problem was that he missed and the ball hit a woman in the stands so hard that it left an impression of the seams in her scalp. He got 30 days in jail. On April 25, 2010, a women went to a Dodgers game with friends. As the batter swung at a pitch he hit a single, but his bat, made of maple, exploded, sending pieces of wood everywhere. The pieces hit the woman in the face knocking her unconscious. She suffered two jaw fractures and needed a titanium plate in the right side of her head. There is some talk about outlawing maple bats and allowing only ash. A woman attending a Mets game was severely injured when a 300 man fell from several seats above her and landed on her crushing her vertebrae. She needed two rods inserted in her back.

Even fans of horse racing may be subject to freak accidents. Five fans were injured when they were attending a harness race in 2010. They were standing by the rail when a speeding truck hauling the starting gate slammed into the rail and them. Five people were injured at a horse race in Germany in 2008. It was called the North Sea mudflats horse race. Some spectators were in a horse drawn wagon and something spooked the horses drawing it. The wagon overturned. Nine people were in the wagon but four got away uninjured.

It just goes to show that being a fan at almost any sporting event carries some risk with it. If I were a guessing man and someone asked me what sports were the ones where the spectators were least likely to get hurt, I'd have to say the ones where the ball is soft and the passions are not so high as to get fans beating on each other. Volleyball might be one of those sports. I would say golf is a nice calm game, but many people have been hit by golf balls. As for the sports with the greatest chance of being hurt I would have to say football (soccer) played outside the United States and motor sports.