Construction worker reportedly fired for flying Alabama football flag at Texas A&M stadium jobsite

Updated Jul 17, 2014
Credit: Doug Keegan/@doug_keegan on TwitterCredit: Doug Keegan/@doug_keegan on Twitter

If you’re unfamiliar with just how seriously folks down in the South take their college football, one construction worker has reportedly learned that lesson after being fired for hanging one team’s colors at the wrong stadium.

A massive, $450 million project is going on at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field football stadium, according to the Dallas Morning News. The project has so far enclosed the south end zone with new stands, rebuilt the 31,000-seat student section, added new luxury seats and a new press box and tacked on two new video boards—one of which A&M says is the largest in college football measuring 167 feet x 47 feet with 1080p resolution.

The A&M Aggies played their second football season in the Southeastern Conference last year. But they’ve already enjoyed success in the league thanks to 2012 Heisman winner Johnny Manziel. And in that time they’ve played two tense games against the University of Alabama which has started a bit of a rivalry between the two schools.

According to Fox Sports, a crane operator on the Kyle Field renovation hung an Alabama Crimson Tide flag from the outside of the stadium. A photo of the flag was posted to Twitter by Doug Keegan, a contributor to SB Nation’s Aggie blog Good Bull Hunting, and Texas A&M confirmed the flag was removed as soon as it was discovered and Fox reports that the crane operator lost his job over the incident.

Houston-based Manhattan-Vaughn Construction is the managing contractor for the Kyle Field project and told Fox that the operator was working for a subcontractor and could not comment on his employment status.

If the operator was fired, the punishment does seem harsh. It’s not uncommon to see team flags flying from cranes and other equipment at stadium jobsites, even those from rival teams. Maybe this operator’s mistake was hanging the flag from the building itself or the act itself was deemed unsafe.