Just days after an altercation at the end of a Piedmont boys basketball game reportedly left a player and a coach with injuries, the East Bay school announced that its home game on Wednesday against Bishop O’Dowd will not have fans, the Bay Area News Group has learned.
The decision comes after Piedmont’s home game against San Leandro on Friday had an altercation that included spectators.
The fight broke out in the seconds after the final buzzer. KTVU reported that two opposing students (not basketball players) bumped into each other, and that the fracas left a Piedmont player with a broken nose and a San Leandro coach with a fractured wrist.
Police are investigating the fight, KTVU reported.
On Tuesday, Piedmont’s official athletics Instagram account posted a video announcing that Wednesday’s game will be played with no fans in the stands.
“We are taking a stand against poor spectator behavior at High School Athletic Events,” the school wrote in the post. “This Wednesday 2/4/26 Bishop O’Dowd and Piedmont are playing our basketball games with no spectators in attendance. While we love a packed gym cheering on our teams we are taking a stand!”
When reached for comment, Piedmont coach Ben Spencer referred media inquiries to principal David Yoshihara, who did not immediately return phone calls.
According to a league source, there will be consequences at San Leandro for last week’s fight but specifics were not provided. The school is planning to allow fans into its final regular-season home games Wednesday against Berkeley and senior night Feb. 11 against O’Dowd, with beefed-up security, the source said.
O’Dowd coach Lou Richie told this news organization that he supports Piedmont’s decision to keep the gym empty.
“We’ve seen an uptick in aggression and how people are handling conflicts,” Richie said. “It’s not going in a healthy direction, so before something serious happens where someone is really hurt, I think those are the types of steps that the people in my administration took to try to ensure that safety comes first, more so than competition.
“It will be different playing a game without fans. But I think what can you do to try to curb aggression and how people handle conflict resolution? So I think that’s what we’re going to find out.”
Richie said he believes that social media has contributed to more aggressive behavior between spectators.
“All I know is, if you look at social media, all you see are fights,” Richie said. “You just see a ton of kids getting into fights, a ton of adults getting into fights. That one that was posted, everyone pulls out their camera, so you’re glorifying it, and then that becomes the way that kids are shaped to feel. They have the confidence to get in someone’s face.
“We’re showing them images of people assaulting each other daily. It’s a fight when you’re a kid, it’s assault when you’re an adult.”
The Mercury News
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