After a Win 16 Years in the Making, Fans Steal Goalposts, Toss One in River

Tennessee is asking for donations to replace them
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 17, 2022 1:30 AM CDT
After Fans Throw Goalpost in River, Tennessee Asks for Donations to Replace
Fans fill Neyland Stadium to form the checkerboard pattern as players take the field of an NCAA college football game between Tennessee and Florida Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, in Knoxville, Tenn.   (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

The University of Tennessee enjoyed an upset football win against the University of Alabama on Saturday; it was the Tennessee Volunteers' first time beating the Alabama Crimson Tide since 2006. Needless to say, fans were excited—a bit too excited. After the win at Tennessee's Neyland Stadium, they stormed the field to celebrate, and ended up removing the goalposts, taking them on a miles-long parade through the streets of Knoxville, and throwing at least one into the Tennessee River, USA Today reports.

Tennessee is playing another home game Saturday, and the university is asking for donations to get new goalposts before the game. Tennessee will also need to pay a $100,000 fine it was hit with from the Southeastern Conference; fans storming the field, the SEC says, is a violation of the conference's Access to Competition Area Policy, CBS Sports reports. The president of the university, when asked how much the fans storming the field would cost, said the fine "doesn't matter. We're going to do this every year."

"Y'all remember how we tore the goalposts down, hauled em out of Neyland and dumped em in the Tennessee River? Yeah that was awesome," Tennessee Football tweeted. "Anywho, turns out that in order to play next week's game, we need goalposts on our field. Could y'all help us out?" More than $67,000 has been raised so far. Twitter users were confused by the move, considering the school's athletic department had an operating surplus of more than $750,000 when it ended the 2021 fiscal year. (More University of Tennessee stories.)

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