Philadelphia Eagles fans are under a national microscope after one of their own, Ryan Caldwell, was seen verbally assaulting a female Green Bay Packers fan in viral footage at a playoff game last Sunday.
But the fan base’s history of abuse against women on the opposing side dates back much further than that.
Former Dallas Cowboys player DeMarcus Ware, who played a game in Philadelphia every year during his Dallas career from 2005 to 2013, told Fox News Digital that he once had to witness Eagles fans hurl dangerous projectiles at his mother, Brenda Ann Ware, during a game his rookie year in 2005.
“My rookie season when my mom was in the stands, I told her not to wear my jersey, and she was in the front row, and were up there in Philly, they were putting batteries in snowballs and throwing them and one of them hit my mom,” Ware said.
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Seeing his mother get pegged by a snow-covered battery nearly prompted Ware to abandon his football duties and run up into the stands to start a fight.
“I turned around at the time, and I didn’t care about football anymore. I wanted to go get the guy who was in the stands. But I didn’t,” Ware said.
DeMarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys sacks Donovan McNabb (5) of the Philadelphia Eagles during the Eagles 10-6 win over the Cowboys at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. (James D. Smith /Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images)
The linebacker held back, allowing team security to take care of the fan who hurt his mom. But he let the memory of the incident fester in his mind, and motivate him every time he took the field against the Eagles.
The Cowboys beat the Eagles 21-20 in that 2005 game in Philadelphia to sweep the season series.
In 17 career games against the Eagles, Ware had 16 total sacks. The Cowboys went 9-8 against their rivals in the games that Ware played.
Ware had his most vengeful stretch against the Eagles in 2011. In January of that year, he had three sacks in Philadelphia in the 2010 season finale to help seal a 14-13 win. The following season, in an October game in Philadelphia, he had four sacks, the most he ever had in a game against the arch rival. He had two more sacks in the second meeting against the Eagles that year in December in Dallas.
But despite nearly a decade of animosity against the Eagle fans for what they did to his mother, he still respects the will of the fan base. The franchise’s former home, Veterans Stadium, had an on-site judicial court and jail cells to deal with law-breaking fans, which isn’t something that Ware takes lightly.
“The Philadelphia Eagles fans, they are very, very strong-willed fans,” he said.
“When you have a jail at the bottom of the stadium back in the day, when you’re able to go to jail because you’re acting up, even from the point every single time we played, it was a rivalry battle showdown if it was up there or at home. And their fans, they travel well, they’re just tenacious, and that’s just who they are.”
Caldwell’s recent viral video has re-ignited certain stereotypes of the fan base as the team contends for a Super Bowl this season.
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Jan. 12, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Eagles fans during a game against the Green Bay Packers in an NFC wild card game at Lincoln Financial Field. (Eric Hartline-Imagn Images)
The footage shows Caldwell calling the nearby Packers fans vulgar and sexist names, while taunting the man accompanying her with explicit gestures.
Caldwell has since been fired from his job as a project manager at the NJ-based company BCT Partners. He has apologized but also defended himself by insisting his actions “were not without provocation” and that the viral video “does not show the full context” of what happened.
Still, Caldwell’s abusive behavior is only the latest in a long history of unruly and sometimes illegal behavior by the fan base over the years.
In 1997, during a Monday night game against the San Francisco 49ers, one mischievous Eagles fan shot a flare gun into the stands full of other fans, endangering multiple lives.
After the flare was shot, multiple fistfights broke out around the stadium as most of the violence was directed at 49ers fans by Eagles fans.
“There were a large number of fights and acts of intimidation, many directed at fans in 49ers jerseys,” the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote at the time.
After the game, Eagles owner Jeffrie Lurie was forced to condemn his own fans.
“In spite of the fact that we feel we have made significant strides in recent years with regard to fan conduct at Veterans Stadium, what we witnessed this past Monday was undoubtedly a step backward,” Lurie told reporters at the time.
In 2018, an Eagles fan was arrested during the NFC divisional playoff game against the Falcons, for punching the horse of a Philadelphia police officer.
According to a police report at the time, a man was ejected because “he was intoxicated and did not possess a ticket.” After his ejection from Lincoln stadium, the man walked toward a police officer mounted on a horse and “began punching the horse in the face, neck and shoulder area.”
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Philadelphia Eagles fans climb poles after taking to the streets. (Fox News Digital)
After the Eagles won the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots that year, multiple violent riots broke out around the city. Looting and destruction were reported at multiple convenience shops and a local Macy’s department store. Cars were flipped over, traffic lights and lamp posts were torn down, and there were even unconfirmed reports of explosions.
One of the most storied examples of unruly Eagles fan behavior took place all way back in 1968, when a man dressed as Santa Claus walked out onto the field. He was booed relentlessly by fans who were upset about a disappointing season and, like Ware’s mother, he was even hit with snowballs.
But it didn’t stop at snowballs, as he was also hit with beer cans and even sandwiches.
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