MLK, Hume-Fogg Students Banned From Stands At Intense Girls' Soccer Rivalry

NASHVILLE, TN — The only students at Thursday's renewal of one of Metro's most heated high school girls soccer rivalries were the players on the field and the benches.

The principals of Martin Luther King Jr. and Hume-Fogg high schools — two of the highest-rated public schools in the state — agreed to keep the student sections empty Thursday, hoping that a cooling off period would calm things down between the Royals and Knights. After an earlier game, students from the schools had fought in the stands.

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"There was a fight after the game. They took the flag and ripped it, and some kids got pushed to the ground. So they said, 'Y’all aren't able to come to games,’” a student told WSMV.

The school district told the station that there have been persistent problems between the two academic magnets, the rivalry had ceased being good-natured and that students needed a "cooling-off period" before being allowed to return.

Hume-Fogg won Thursday night's game 3-1.

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