Fists fly as 3 refs brawl in the middle of the court during youth basketball tournament: Video

Three referees for a boys' basketball tournament in Colorado have been suspended after a viral video showed them fighting each other on the court as fans and players looked on in bewilderment.

In the fourth quarter of their game on Saturday morning, the fourth-grade players of Cherry Creek were trouncing the boys of Legend Blue, 33-15, as part of a youth basketball tournament held at Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood, Colorado, just a few miles outside Denver. So the game itself wasn't of much interest.

However, just as a young boy in warm-up clothes seemed to take a practice pass along the sideline, perhaps during a break in play, two officials who were standing near half-court began circling one another with fists raised. The young boy then dashed out of sight as one ref took a swing at the other, knocking him to the ground. A third ref, who had tried in vain to separate the two brawling men, fell as well.

A couple of men in street clothes, either spectators or coaches, soon sprinted onto the court to try to intervene while the original two refs continued to fight. They managed to isolate the ref who took the first swing, but in the meantime, the two refs who had tumbled to the ground popped back up and began threatening to strike one another at half-court. Fortunately, neither of them threw a punch.

The entire moment was captured on a video that has since gone viral on social media:

Following the incident, the Gold Crown Foundation released a statement confirming that "no children, coaches or parents were directly involved."

"Through our in-house camera system we were able to identify everyone involved and our staff removed all three officials from the premises," the statement continued. "We have informed these independently contracted officials that they are suspended indefinitely from working for Gold Crown Foundation."

The statement also included an apology to everyone at the facility that day, "especially the kids," who witnessed such "unacceptable behavior" from adults. "This is an unfortunate reminder that we all need to keep the kids’ best interest in mind and that our adult behavior plays a pivotal role in youth sports," the statement added. "Let this also be a reminder to everyone that Gold Crown has zero tolerance for any adult behavior that puts the kids’ experience or safety at risk."

TMZ reported that the police were notified about the fight but did not make any arrests since "the involved parties had already left the gym" by the time officers had arrived. There were no reported injuries.

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