MLS Needs to Avoid Seeing "Gold Cups" in Their Eyes
by Zach Woosley on Jun 23, 2011 9:12 AM CDT
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The CONCACAF Gold Cup is almost done and last night's set of semifinals at Reliant Stadium left us with the final everyone expected in the first place. The USA will face Mexico on Saturday in Los Angeles with a crowd demographic that should line up with what we saw during the second match last night. Such is the state of things that with the exception of Columbus and Kansas City if the USA is playing a CONCACAF opponent, there is no such thing as home field advantage...especially against Mexico.
That's not a shot as the USA supporters, it's just the truth. However, I really don't care that much about international soccer so what interest I have in the Gold Cup has more to do with how it relates to and affects club soccer in the United States, specifically, MLS.
Here in Houston we regularly see solid and diverse crowds at Dynamo matches which is typically not the norm at most stadiums around the country. We are the exception but even that doesn't mean that the Dynamo or MLS are making serious in-roads in reaching the vast amounts of soccer fans in this country. You don't need to look any further than the meaningless friendly between El Salvador and Honduras on May 30th. Robertson was packed to a level that even a visit from David Beckham or Theirry Henry can't even reach.
The first question is of course should we even care? MLS has its fans and it's growing slowly as attendance around the league has in general improved. Plenty have said who cares if the fans who packed Robertson for that match don't pay attention to the league. MLS sure cares or they wouldn't be playing multiple games per week on Spanish language channels or incorporating Spanish in to the league's marketing scheme. They clearly put a lot of effort in to reaching out to that fan base and they are systematically rejected.
I think the lesson the league and its teams needs to take from the Gold Cup is that you're just not going to get those crowds that packed Reliant and other stadiums across the country over the past couple weeks. There's nothing wrong with marketing to those fans and trying to draw them in but don't forget the fans you already have and forget to cater to them. Most markets are doing this just fine but it's always something that marketing departments should keep in the back of their mind.
I think MLS officials see 70,000 people at these Gold Cup matches and get a little overexcited about the potential crowds that they can't seem to get for their league matches. They need to remember to take a deep breath and realize that those fans are likely unreachable and over focusing on trying to grasp that forbidden fruit will ultimately hurt them more than it will help.
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We sat in the supporters section a few rows (G) behind goal, surrounded by the Outlaw US supporters group. Most were from Louisiana and had been drinking since noon.
Most were drunk, racist assholes. I can deal with the first and the last; it’s the middle I have trouble with. I bit my tongue as I knew it would lead to a fight- I was tired and emotionally wrought, my tolerance and ability to deal with conflict was less than zero.
Still, their behavior in representing the US made me deeply ashamed. This mirrored the behavior I saw @ the previous friendly US-Mexico draw @ Reliant.
This has GOT to stop and I really think US Soccer needs to take a firm stand on these supporters groups as this is early stage hooligan behavior- akin to the right wing groups across the pond. The EPL has a slogan “Kick Racism Out of the Game”. We need to do the same, with player and US Soccer support.
Rant is over, now on to your topic.
Early MLS marketing targeted soccer moms and dad families. The count down clock, the shoot out to prevent ties- targeted WASPY middle class families. It did not work and alienated traditional fans- especially as cable TV began to carry better soccer where soccer was soccer, not some sanitized Americano version.
Now in our adolescent ascendancy, the MLS has become more inclusive but marketing to Hispanic audiences has been somewhat half-assed- signing over the hill Mexican Nats or naming teams after Mexican Club Teams.
We simply don’t have a club with Man U’s pedigree that can attract a large fan base by signing a cult national team star. I have seen a triffid or tribble like explosion of Red Devil Chicharito kits among Mexican fans and never saw this from even the successful Mexican signings- just a trickle of Blanco Fire shirts.
We’re growing and this growth will be facilitated by good, exciting soccer not El Scorpion like captures. Landin’s last professional big league goal was for the Orange.
Scarrrrrrrrry!
painting with a pretty broad brush aren't you?
saying “most” US supporters were doing this. I’ve stood in the AO section multiple times and never heard any racism.
Also you conveniently forget the mexican fans who in the past chanted “osama,” threw piss and vomit bombs at our players, and burned American flags.
Win or lose, we'll always be there for you.
by johnjahafanclub on Jun 23, 2011 1:18 PM CDT up reply actions
Would refer you back to my post. I was referring to the Outlaw fans sitting around us. We were surrounded by them and it was a condoned group activity.
Never in my post did I say most US fans. We were seated in the supporters section.
I don’t condone racism on either side of the fence. If I were Mexican and this happened around me, I would be similarly shamed. I would be sickened by vomit and piss. Does their racism justify ours? If our racism isn’t as violent as there’s, is it now okay?
How do you explain this to kids who were there?
“Hey man, they threw bags of piss and vomit bags @ us. This is minor compared to that so it’s okay.”
BTW- I’m positive none of these guys would think they were racist, merely patriotic in the “Real American” sort of way.
by supporters I was reverring to the american outlaws, whom you said "most" were racist
I stand by my original statement that most of them are not racist and it was just a few troublemakers making the racist chants, and you are painting with a very broad brush to extrapolate those few doing the chants to the majority of the outlaws.
Also, why did you buy a ticket in the outlaw section if you’re not an outlaw? The supporters section has a limited number of seats and it exists for people who want to stand and chant the full 90 to support their team. It’s insulting when random people buy up those tickets and just stand there not participating. You could have sat anywhere else in the stadium. It hurts the Outlaws when too many randoms fill in the supporters section and stand there doing nothing.
You knew when you bought those seats you were going to be with the hardcore fan element so why would you bring kids there and then complain after the fact about the harsh language they heard?
Win or lose, we'll always be there for you.
by johnjahafanclub on Jun 23, 2011 4:27 PM CDT up reply actions
If I may...
I am a member of the American Outlaws Houston Chapter and it was I who bought these tickets. What playtherapy (who is perfectly capable of speaking for himself) and I are saying is that rough language, drunkenness, etc. are all fine. Chanting, emotional support, etc. are all fine. No problems whatsoever with any of that, and indeed, we engage in most of that ourselves wholeheartedly. Most of the AO members around us (none of whom from the Houston chapter, but rather from a neighboring state, I hasten to add) were indeed behaving in racist fashion and engaging in racist chants. I did not take a poll to determine this, but neither do I need to. It was the evidence in front of our noses and observed by our own personal eyeballs.
Emotional support, drunkenness in same, wearing your heart on your sleeve, this is what playtherapy and I (and many, many others) do in Dynamo games and for the USA. This is wonderful and great fun. Racism though, now that is a different matter entirely. There is no excuse for any of that in any setting and for any reason. It was frequent around us all night. We all tsk, tsk when Mario Balotelli is shown a banana or greeted with monkey chants at Inter or elsewhere. We all are on board with the eliminate racism campaigns throughout Europe. So when it rears its ugly head here, it must be confronted honestly and openly.
The examples of poor treatment of others is legion throughout Central America and Mexico. This treatment is ugly and is not to be repeated or does it in any way justify similar treatment from US supporters of any stripe. In this case, two wrongs only do not make a right, they make a situation that could very easily end in violence. Drunkenness, unbridled passion and racism is a volatile mix no matter the color of those combining it. Neither playtherapy nor I “conveniently” forget any examples of this, and neither do I believe that you are mentioning these examples in order to justify bad behavior on the part of AO or other groups. Am I correct in this?
We must avoid the situation of the war causing the war. The Mexican National Team is our great rival. I do not like the way they play, nor do I like their arrogance. They are our rivals, though, and not our enemies. I look to the players in this regard. When Dwayne De Rosario was here with NYRB in May, during the game, it was grit and competition from both sides, anything to win. Before the game, it was all handshakes and smiles. After the game, all handshakes and smiles. That is how professionals behave and that is an example for how we as supporters should behave. These are games, after all. Games.
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
Agree completely
Standing next to playtherapy last night and with my two sons, overall, it was enormously fun to be with Sam’s Army and the AO. I have no problem at all with drunk fans, cursing (after all, this is not The Fort right?) and the like. But I do indeed have a problem with the incessant anti-Mexico and, far, far worse, anti-Mexican chants that broke out all around us. Regular chants of “Yardkeepers,” turning to the Mexican fans and flipping them the bird, etc. etc. were ugly, ugly sights. A fight almost broke out in the aisle behind us. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed as Mexican fans took up positions along the aisle to prevent anything from exploding.
We all lament racism in European football, but I am here to tell you that it’s alive and thriving right here in America. When playtherapy, Mr. 3D and I were at the US/Mexico friendly here in Feb. 2009, we were in almost the same seats and heard some of the same thing, but nowhere near as much as we heard last night. It was shameful and made me embarrassed to be both an American and US Soccer supporter.
As I left, I made it a point to talk to as many Mexican fans as I could, shaking their hands and wishing them and their team good luck. And I made especially certain to do that to the Mexican fans who had taken up positions along the aisles to prevent any bad scenes from escalating. I did this in my US jersey and AO scarf to let them know that not all of us are ignorant, racist morons. This is something that US Soccer may not want to address, but they need to, because this is only going to get worse if they do not.
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
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