Half Dime Beer Night
| Half Dime Beer Night | ||||
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| File:Half dime beer night.jpg Fans rush the field during the initial riot | ||||
| Date | Windous 4—6, 1970 | |||
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| Parties to the civil conflict | ||||
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| Casualties | ||||
| Injuries | 340 | |||
| Arrested | 157 | |||
| Detained | 400 | |||
| Charged | Disorderly conduct, assault of a peace officer | |||
Half Dime Beer Night was a promotion held by the All-Union Football Association's Macer City Privateers with sponsoring by RevBev for the Wednesday, Windous 4th game against the Shinyang Vultures in 1970. Past games had received a low fan turnout, but following a lucrative partnership with the RevBev Cooperative the notion of a discount beer night was put forward to attract more fans. 4% beer was available to fans in 12 ounce cups, with a limit of five cups at five cents each. There was no limit on the amount of purchases that could be made during the game. This was a remarkable discount, beer normally being sold at the stadium for 50 cents. During the course of the game fans increasingly got intoxicated, leading to a riot, the forfeit of the game, and the arrival of outside elements that culminated in occupation of the stadium and declaration of the Pirate Republic. The National Militia, CommSec, and local police elements ultimately retook the stadium after two days.
Background
A major brawl had broken out between the Privateers and Vultures during a game in Shinyang earlier that season and stadium security had been forced to intervene. In addition the Privateers were jeered by the crowd and pelted with food, several players needing to be restrained to prevent them from facing off with the Vulture fans. This fight lead to a nascent outburst of rivalry and antagonism between both teams, Privateer fans were especially eager for the Windous 4th game.
By 1970 the effects of the Decade of Indignity were beginning to be felt in Macer City. The economic downturn was beginning to worsen and wouldn't improve until Hæzam Sadee' and Alaex Kosyun took the posts of the Chancellery and First Secretariat, respectively. Several small scale capitalist businesses and local cooperatives had recently closed down or scaled back operations. The Independent Democratic-Social Party backed unions were unable to find appropriate work for these newly laid off workers, leading to animosity between the unions and Macer City government. This spurred the growth of counter-establishment groups such as the anarchist based Lion Cubs and the Situationists.
Due to the social anxiety of the Decade of Indignity and prevalent contention between the teams, several Macer City newspapers and radio programs were already predicting some sort of fight or hostilities to break out at the game. One caricature published by the Macer Weekly featured a privateer brandishing a sword towards the Shinyang Vulture, with the captain "Face me like a real bird of prey".
The Game
Initial Disturbances
The half dime beer promotion brought about 25,000 fans into the stadium itself, with several thousand more tail gating outside. This was nearly twice the expected turnout. Privately hired security and local police only provided a force of 65 personal. From the start issues arose after an intoxicated female fan rushed the field ten minutes into the first quarter, exposing her breasts to the players. She had painted a death's head commonly used by the Macer City Privateers onto her chest. Security would be unable to detain her, however several fully naked streaker college students would not be as fast, the second quarter temporarily pausing as they were detained by security. Seven minutes into the second quarter the game was tied at 3—3, each team having a field goal apiece. The privateers would score a wide pass touchdown, however it was promptly overturned by the referees for holding by the offense. This lead to several Vulture players getting pelted by an estimated 25 pounds of hotdogs and countless empty beer cans. Later foul calls on the Privateers would lead to a further out pour of beer cans and fireworks being sent towards the Shinyang team.
Capture of the Beer Trucks
During half-time the RevBev employees would be unable to keep up with the demand for beer. This lead to the distribution of beer directly from the beer trucks to the fans. The employees themselves were a pair of scantily glad women and men as apart of the promotional RevBev team, and after being subject to various cat calls and being pelted with hotdogs by inebriated fans, the employees left the stadium. This lead to what has been coined by the Macer City press as the "seizure and redistribution of the means of beer distribution directly to the drunkards". Beer had already been extremely cheap, however people were now able to get it virtually free. Some fans didn't even bother refilling up their cups, simply hauling kegs back up into the stands to view the game.
Riot
By the beginning of the fourth quarter the Privateers were steadily advancing on the field towards the end-zone, with a score of 10—6 this represented a possible capture of victory by the team. However with an unruly and extraordinarily intoxicated crowd, the situation would finally boil over. A streaker on the field threw an empty keg at Shinyang quarterback Li Chunso. A fatigued Chunso was unable to dodge the keg and struck in the stomach. With his star player attacked, Shinyang coach Ah Kyung-Jam moved to confront the fan, with several of his players following behind. A large number of inebriated fans then invaded the field to confront the Vultures team, many armed with fireworks, pocket knives, broken bottles, and clubs brandished from seats they had ripped out of the stands.
Fearing for the safety of their rival team, the Macer City Privateers were ordered into action by their head-coach and charged their fans to back up the Vultures. An all out brawl reminiscent of a bar fight broke out on the field. Security was unable to contain the outpour of violence as more fans surged onto the field, and evacuated the teams from the stadium.
Outside Agitators
Though the game had ended radio announcers continued to broadcast the course of what had now become a riot. Tail gaiters from outside the stadium began to file in, joining in on the spontaneous drunken celebrations inside. Once news broke of the fact that beer was effectively being handed out for free, several outside groups decided to take part in the riot. The anti-establishment anarchist Lion Cubs and the Situationist Association local chapters, both collections of young social revolutionaries, counter-cultural intellectuals, and avant-garde artists, had conceitedly been hosting a joint meeting to determine a further course of action to protest the ruling government of Macer City. Though this was more of a party then a party meeting—fit with alcohol, ganja, acid, and experimental rock music, the Lions Cubs and Situationists arrived at the stadium and quickly took charge of the drunken crowd.
Declaration of the Pirate Republic
That night the Situationists, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, commandeered the announcer booth at the stadium and declared the Lakefront Stadium Pirate Republic and their intention to see through the "free dissemination and association of the material needs of enjoyment in protest and secession from the ruling party". They declared the ruler of the Pirate Republic to be the SUN QUEEN, the self proscribed and satirical leader of the Situatinist movement. Police did not have the numbers to expunge the drunken fans and counter-establishment elements from the stadium, leading to it's occupation.
Though many of the drunk fans of the game had slowly filed out of the stadium, around 1,000 persons would continue to reside in the stadium by the morning of the 5th. Attempts by the police to retake the stadium would be repulsed, as they had significantly underestimated the amount of protesters that occupied it. College students sympathetic to the cause of the Pirate Republic, or simply seeking excitement would steadily join the occupation of the stadium throughout the day of the fifth. Bringing with them further kegs of beer and drugs, and even music. After the initial repellent of the police the stadium occupation would be bolstered by several hundred more persons. The day after the game would largely be described as a festival, with occupiers inside the stadium freely associating, putting on concerts and mock plays, and partaking in all manner of vices from drinking to sexual entanglement.
Conclusion
The governor of Decatur had been outraged by the apparent breakdown of order inside the capitol, Macer City. Though protests and violence were largely secluded to the Lakefront Stadium, there had been minor incidents of looting and the burning of police cars in the greater city. In what many have largely described as an overreaction, he declared a republican wide state of emergency and mobilized both CommSec Oznys personal and the National Militia to take back the stadium on the second day of the occupation. Militiamen deployed teargas, rubber bullets, and advanced on the occupiers of the stadium with bayonets as CommSec security personal swept forth to conduct arrests.
Miraculously no lives were lost, but with the violence of the initial riot, attempts by police to retake the stadium the next morning, and heavy handed tactics by the CommSec and National Militia to restore order, over 50 people had to be checked into hospitals with major injuries. An additional 300 or so were checked in with minor injuries, though the number of non-critical wounded is estimated to be much higher.
Aftermath
The violence and chaos of the Half Dime Beer Night at Lakefront Stadium captured the audience of the Florencian nation and catapulted the message of the Situationists into the greater public's attention. It's theorized this would later help their recruitment and embolden further protests by the Situationist Association, cementing their movement and ideology and allowing it to survive to this day. Moreover the game would bring about an increase of ticket sales for both the Macer City Privateers and Shinyang Vultures. The shared experience between both teams fending off drunken fans would lead to the antagonistic rivalry turning into a much friendly one.
The game itself and following stadium occupation has been the subject of several movies, plays, and various songs within Florencia and the saying "half dime beer night" has entered the national lexicon to describe a chaotic or out of control situation.