Manchester teenagers start real-life Fight Club

Youths attacking each other with bits of scaffolding, eyewitness claims

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in Fight Club (REUTERS/HO Old)

Teenagers in Manchester have been organising their own Fight Club-style brawls via the BlackBerry Messenger application.

According to Manchester Evening News, up to 25 young people have been involved in the fights in Clayton Vale, a green space around two miles from the city centre, and on Monday night police had to break up large groups of teenagers eight times in three hours.

And unlike Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in the cult 1999 film, the teens are using weapons rather than simply fighting with their fists.

A resident told the paper: "One lady I know saw them going at each other with bits of scaffolding."

Sergeant Gareth Croll of Greater Manchester Police said: "We've had various reports over the last few days of groups of youths fighting and information given to us suggests this is being organised through BBM.

"We had several reports on Monday in particular. On police arrival we discovered large groups of youths who were not fighting at that time but were dispersed from the area.

"As well as asking residents to remain vigilant, our key message is for parents to know where their kids are and to make sure their children are not involved in these incidents.

"We don't want to panic residents or discourage decent people from using the Vale but this is something we want to put a stop to."

Earlier this year, it emerged that businessmen and office workers in Russia were paying more than £500 to be beaten up by strangers in a Fight Club-style course.

In 2008, students in Perth, West Australia, ran a fight club for a number of months. Ringleaders would taunt and push their classmates until they agreed to brawl.