Violence has been a part of ice hockey since at least the early 1900s. According to the book Hockey: A People's History, in 1904 alone, four players were killed during hockey games from the frequent brawls and violent stick work. Fighting in ice hockey is an established tradition of the sport in North America, with a long history involving many levels of amateur and professional play and including some notable individual fights. While officials tolerate fighting during hockey games, they impose a variety of penalties on players who engage in fights. Unique to North American professional team sports, the National Hockey League (NHL) and most minor professional leagues in North America do not eject players outright for fighting but major European and collegiate hockey leagues do.
The debate over allowing fighting in ice hockey games is ongoing. Despite its potentially negative consequences, such as heavier enforcers knocking each other out, some administrators are not considering eliminating fighting from the game, as some players consider it essential. Additionally, the majority of fans oppose eliminating fights from professional hockey games.
Examples
In an NHL preseason game between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues on September 21, 1969 Bruins defenseman Ted Green and Blues left wing Wayne Maki, attacking Green, engaged in a bloody stick-swinging fight that resulted in Green sustaining a skull fracture and brain damage, forcing him to miss the entire season of 1969–70, with Maki emerging uninjured. As a result of the fight, Green would play for the remaining nine years of his professional career with a pioneering variety of hockey helmet in both the NHL and WHA.
April 20, 1984 a bench clearing brawl broke out at the end of the second period of a second-round playoffs matchup between the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadians, after many smaller-scaled battles had occurred throughout the game. A second bench clearing brawl erupted before the third period began, provoked by the announcement of penalties; a total of 252 penalty minutes were incurred and 10 players were ejected. This game prompted referee Bruce Hood to retire from the NHL once the playoffs ended, and is commonly referred to as the Good Friday Massacre.
On January 4, 1987, the final game of the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, involving Canada and the Soviet Union saw intense physical play by both sides, resulting in a bench clearing brawl that lasted over 20 minutes. Event organizers in a futile attempt to stop the fighting turned the arena lights off. Eventually, the game was declared null and void and both teams were ejected from the competition costing the Canadians a medal. Virtually all of the players on both teams were suspended from international competition for 18 months (shortened to six months on appeal), and the coaching staffs of both teams drew three year suspensions. The match referee widely blamed for losing control of the game and never refereed another international match. A book by Gare Joyce was written regarding the event.
February 9, 2001 a game between the Nottingham Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers in the British Super league saw one of the worst scenes of violence seen at a British ice hockey rink. When Sheffield enforcer Dennis Vial crosschecked Nottingham forward Greg Hadden. Panthers enforcer Barry Nieckar subsequently fought with Vial which eventually escalated into a 36 man bench clearing brawl. Referee Moray Hanson was forced to send both teams to their locker rooms and delay the game for 45 minutes while tempers cooled and the officials sorted out the penalties. Eight players and both coaches were ejected and a British record total of 404 penalty minutes were incurred during the second period. The League handed out 30 games in suspensions to four players and Steelers coach Mike Blaisdell and a total of £8,400 in fines.
Violence in South Africa
The general manager of Western Province Youth Rugby has blamed most school rugby violence on bad management, saying that coaches push their players to be aggressive.
Theo Kleynhans was speaking in the wake of an incident during a match on Saturday between city school Sacs and the Primrose club during which a 14 year old Primrose player had his nose broken and sustained a concussion. Primrose player Imran Fredericks has accused a Sacs player of deliberately stamping in his face after he had tackled another Sacs player, but Sacs headmaster Ken Ball said that video footage did not show any evidence of “stomping”.
Imran, who is in Grade 9 at Trafalgar High School and plays for Primrose’s under-15 team, has been told by doctors that he will not be able to write exams this term because of his concussion. His rugby season is also over: he’s been booked off for six weeks, but by the time he’s considered well enough to return to the field, Ramadaan will have started and he will be unable to play.
Imran’s furious parents tried to report the incident to the Claremont police, but were advised that it should be taken up with the provincial rugby union because he was injured on a rugby field, during a match .Imran said yesterday that he had been injured after tackling one of the Sacs players. He plays on the wing for his team and, after making the tackle, was lying on his back on the field.
The boy he had tackled had stood up and continued playing and it was then, Imran claimed that another Sacs player had trampled on his face while the referee’s back was turned. Another boy came (while I was lying on the ground). I saw the boot come to my face, then everything went black.
His father, Wajdi, who is also a rugby coach and attended the match, said that when the referee noticed a commotion around the injured boy he had immediately ended the game.
The Sacs team coaches and management walked off without checking what had happened and whether Imran was all right, Imran alleged. The match was played at Sacs. He said video evidence which he was prepared to release showed no evidence of the stomping. He said however there was video evidence of actions by Primrose parents and officials after Imran was injured. Ball said was getting statements from the referee and medical personnel at the field who were verbally abused by supporters of the Primrose team.
They were advised to approach the rugby union and lodge a complaint there instead said.Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut confirmed.

Club rugby violence which has long marred the sport in the Western Cape erupted again when matches between Primrose and False Bay turned ugly one ending in an on-field punch-up and the other seeing a player hit in the face with a bottle. Western Province Rugby said was aware of the incidents and would investigate over the coming days. The two clubs faced each other in the under-20 and senior divisions at the Constantia Sport Complex home of False Bay rugby club. Reports were that the atmosphere was tense throughout with racial slurs allegedly being traded among the spectators and even also between the players themselves. Primrose had ahead of the matches, requested several postponements due to issues including lighting and drainage problems at their Rosmead home ground, and the delay associated with the Muslim holy month of fasting Ramadaan.
When they finally met the U20 match was called off in the second half after a spectator hit one of the Primrose players in the face with a bottle, and the crowd stormed the field. The match was called off after officials decided they were not in a position to control the crowds.
The later seniors game in Super League B, which False Bay won 20-7, looked set to go ahead without incident. But as the players shook hands, one of the players allegedly threw a punch which nearly escalated into a full-scale brawl, forcing officials from both teams to step in.
Western Province has long struggled with violence in club rugby, which even saw the death of Rawsonville fly half Riaan Loots during a match in 2006.
Former Delicious Rugby Club player Benjamin Zimri was convicted of culpable homicide after a court found that he had assaulted Loots during a match. A court found that Zimri had swung a stiff arm at Loots’s throat area, and Loots had fallen backwards before Zimri kicked Loots in the head.
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Also in 2006, the Western Province Rugby Union disciplinary panel suspended the entire U20 Collegians and Cape Town Harlequins teams after a mass brawl, and reported incidents of foul play in a clash between the two sides.
What is being done to stop violence in sport
Cape Town - The South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu), Boland and Western Province have identified four key areas that will be targeted in an effort to eradicate violence at club rugby matches in the two provinces. Attended a meeting on to discuss the issue were Sarfu CEO Mveleli Ncula, manager of club rugby Hein Giliomee, Boland president Jackie Abrahams, Ivan Bekeur (Boland club rugby manager), Denver Pienaar (Boland game development manager) and deputy CEO of WP Herman Abrahams.

The four areas to be targeted are crowd control, player discipline, referee performances and development of club leadership. The three parties condemned in the strongest possible terms the recent spate of violence in club matches, stating that such incidents would not be tolerated in future. The three will work in partnership to act against clubs that continue to be problematic in this regard.
As part of this partnership, Sarfu will send legal observers to attend disciplinary hearings for those clubs that have been involved in the most recent incidences of violence.
"Clubs that continue to cause problems after these measures have been put in place will face severe action, including suspension from their respective Provinces," said Ncula.
During the meeting, the three parties considered proposals on how to take club rugby forward in the Western Cape and Boland. The two provinces will take the proposals back to their respective constituents.

The Department of Sport and Recreation South Africa and the German Development Bank (KfW) have started the roll-out of the programme “SA Sport for Change" (SfC).The project aims to serve as one of the key catalysts towards this change, thus emphasizing its focus on increasing "social capital" through sport & life skills training, and making a contribution towards prevention of violence.

The project team is currently working towards implementing the change in all documents and media related to this project. The overall objective of this programme is to use ball sport, specifically football, as a catalyst for transmitting life skills to children and youth in order to reduce violence and other social ills. The children get off the streets, learn about rules and fair-play and practice conflict resolution without violence.