The second annual Colonial Clash football game between the University of New Hampshire and University of Massachusetts was played last Saturday at Gillette Stadium, which drew fewer fans but more problems for police than a Patriots game.
On Sundays, Patriot Place is packed with nearly 70,000 fans. Last Saturday, when the UMass Minutemen faced the UNH Wildcasts, just 19,800 were in attendance. However, according to The Sun Chronicle, there were almost 20 more arrests — a total of 64 — during the UNH-UMass game than at the Patriots-Cowboys game. The report said there were 48 arrests at the Cowboys-Patriots game a week earlier.
Almost all of the issues stemmed from alcohol-related incidents. Forty-eight fans were taken into protective custody because they were just too intoxicated during or after the game, according to The Sun Chronicle. The other arrests were from either possession of alcohol by a minor or providing alcohol to a minor.
Foxboro police chief Edward O’Leary blames the schools’ “party buses” on a majority of the problems.
“It was relatively quiet until the game got under way, when the students arrived from the party buses,” O’Leary said.
