Goalposts take plunge once again

All it took was the realization that the students outnumbered the security guards. After showing initial restraint from attacking the west goalposts in Franklin Field Saturday, hundreds of students finally overpowered University Police officers and Spectaguards, eventually tearing down the goal posts for the second straight home game It was not easy. Besides the security, fans had to overcome grease on the goalposts and trucks blocking a stadium gate, but they eventually managed to get the goalposts out of Franklin Field and into the nearby Schuylkill River. After the final snap of the game, thousands of jubilant Quaker fans jumped the walls of the stands and ran onto the field to congratulate the football team after it won the Ivy League championship. "Everyone made a semicircle around the Spectaguards who were guarding the goalposts," said College sophomore Alex Abell, who was on the field. "One or two students tried to get near it, but the guards pushed them away. "Then somebody started chanting, 'goalpost, goalpost, goalpost' and that's when the crowd started hovering towards the goalposts and the Spectaguards decided to get out of the way." The Quakers had come back from a 14-0 deficit at halftime to beat the Cornell Big Red, 17-14. The win completed the first undefeated season for the team since 1986, and the first Ivy title since 1988. Students initially seemed a little more apprehensive than after the Quakers' victory over Princeton two weeks earlier. One student warned a crowd of students waiting to charge the field, "Let's make sure this doesn't turn into another Wisconsin incident." The student was referring to the chaos which ensued after Wisconsin defeated Michigan several weeks ago. After thousands of students rushed the field, many were injured and several students were sent to the hospital. When University students reached the goalposts Saturday – brand-new, and costing almost $20,000 – they were surprised to find that the goalposts had been greased to deter students from climbing onto them. Both Athletic Director Paul Rubincam and University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said last night that they were not aware of the greasing. Rubincam did say, however, that all precautions were taken for safety reasons. "Our philosophy has been to discourage people, but not to be so confrontational that a student would get hurt," he said. Kuprevich said there were also additional police officers on hand at the game, for the same reason. "The whole reason of having officers there was to try and maintain safety for people," Kuprevich said last night. "After the Wisconsin game and other incidents involving goalposts, and with the winning situation, the whole concern was that people not become harmed in any way." Students yanked and pulled until the goalposts fell and the vertical uprights were removed. An attempt was made to separate the crossbar from the base of the goalposts, but it was unsuccessful. As they carried the uprights to the West gate of the stadium heading for the Schuylkill River, students encountered yet another obstacle – two media trucks were blocking the gate almost completely. Abell said that only one person could go around the trucks at a time, and several students resorted to crawling on top of the trucks to get through, while others scampered underneath them. "It was really a dangerous situation with the trucks blocking the exit, he said. "For a couple thousand student to try and squeeze out between two trucks, it was really not a safe situation." "I was scared it was going to be another Wisconsin," he added. Both Rubincam and Kuprevich said the trucks were not placed there on purpose, but that media trucks always park in that particular location. Kuprevich said that the whole incident was "a law of circumstance." "If there is a large enough student population, unless we use a level of force, we can't stop it," he said. "I'm not interested in taking a level of forceful action." But he said if the goalposts removals become too frequent, expensive or dangerous, a different approach might be warranted. He added that students would be advised of such a change beforehand – not as a challenge, but so they could realize the safety concerns.