As you can see through all the major soccer blogs today the main topic is MLS Fans and hooliganism. At the inception of the league in 1996 I never thought I would be saying those two words in the same sentence, but here I am. After the Columbus - New England game on Saturday, videos surfaced around the web like the one below that show the Revolution celebrating a goal, and the racial slurs coming from the fans.
In this video it is apparent that racial slurs were being said, and reportedly by the Boston Globe bananas were being thrown. The streamers, the singing, the flags, all of that kind of stuff is great and adds to the atmosphere of MLS, but this crosses a line. This goes into a deeper issue that the game of "football" as the world calls it, has been dealing with for a long time and that is racism. For years there have been anti-racism campaigns throughout Europe and one probably the most notable the "Stand Up Speak Up" campaign by Henry and Ronaldinho try to put an end to this, and here it is rearing its ugly head in America. The MLS needs to nip this in the bud quick before it gets out of control. I just hope that one bad Crew fan doesn't ruin the atmosphere everyone has been creating this year. I'm not trying to overlook the situation because this needs to be handled, but there is a way to do so in which it doesn't ruin what the fans of MLS have created thus far. I don't think that this one fan is representative of what kind of fans the MLS or Columbus has, but it is just one bad apple and its simply unacceptable. How do you put a stop this type of thing happening? That's the question Don Garber has to answer this week, but don't take away there streamers, flags, or smoke bombs. I think the Crew need to release a statement and even MLS, stating that this type of behavior is unacceptable and won't be tolerated. What do you think should be done? Share your thoughts.
1 comments:
I really enjoy reading your blog. It's very insightful and better than a lot of the others.
I want to give you a first hand account of what went down. Since I was a few rows behind the corner flag.
There were no bananas thrown after the Dube goal. Ralston said one banana(i.e. not a group of people throwing bananas) was thrown at him during the corner kick along with 5 or 6 beer bottles. Those individuals who threw the bottles were ejected.
Also, the supporters are in the process of identifying the indiviual that gave all Crew supporters a black eye by saying the "n" word. It's totally unacceptable and we won't stand for it.
Also, as supporters, we plan on making a group donation to Nothing But Nets- to stop the spread of malaria in Africa and other continents around the world. Turning negative attention into a positive response to show our true character.
Please don't jump the band wagon on this and blame a whole group for the action of a few idiots.
Thanks again for you great stories and keep up the great work!