BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne has long advocated for more to be done to prevent fans from storming the field or court following a big win, that includes forfeiting games for the home team.

Duke’s Kyle Filipowski was injured Saturday when Wake Forest fans rushed the court after the Demon Deacons knocked off the 8th ranked Blue Devils. ESPN reported later that Filipowski was not seriously injured in the collision with a fan.

Byrne was leaving Lexington after Saturday’s loss to Kentucky when he saw video of what happened in North Carolina and, on Monday, advocated for extreme measures to keep it from happening in the future.

“I think the way it will stop, that everybody will get everybody’s attention that this is dangerous, is if it’s your game, your students, who are usually the instigators, nothing wrong with all our students, that home team forfeits the game,” Byrne said. “If you have two kids run out there, no. But if you have a sustained rush like what just happened the other day at Wake, you lose the game. That will get people to stop.”

The Crimson Tide Athletic Director is no stranger to the dangers posed when fans enter the playing area.

“I’ve been pretty vocal about field storming and court storming,” Byrne said Monday. “We had a student-manager we thought was going to lose an eye after a field storm in the last few years. He ended up being concussed and doctors were able to save his eye. We had a female doctor get pushed down and bruised up pretty bad. Something needs to be done about it.”

From College Station to Baton Rouge to Auburn to Knoxville and across the SEC, Alabama’s football program has seen it’s fair share of fans rushing the field after their team knocks off the Crimson Tide.

After the storming incident at Wake Forest, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer called for the practice to be banned.

“When are we going to ban court storming?” Scheyer said. “How many times does a player have to get into something, where they get punched, or they get pushed, or they get taunted right in their face? It’s a dangerous thing.”

According to ESPN, the ACC does not have any type of disciplinary plan in place for when funs rush into the playing area. The SEC, however, does enforce fines against school’s where fans rush the field.

Greg Byrne does not think those fines are effective at deterring fans from storming the basketball court or the football field.

“Penalties don’t work. The kids aren’t going to be in the stand saying, ‘I don’t want to do this because the school is going to get fined $200,000.’ That doesn’t enter their mindset,” Byrne said. “But if they knew the game they just had been a part of and celebrated a great win that led to that, if they knew that they were going to lose that game, immediately, that would stop it.”

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