It's been quite a few days here at TDIF central and for Revolution supporters. There has been an amazing show of unity among all MLS supporters coming and showing their support for The Midnight Riders, The Rebellion and Rev Army.
Despite this and what has been an incredible takeover of the Revolution's Facebook page, the Front Office and Brian Bilello still don't quite seem to get it or just don't want to listen to the valid concerns of the supporters. They have continued to throw salt into the wounds instead of trying to salvage what little, if any, trust and credibility that they have with the supporters.
"All. I wanted to share some numbers with you to be clear about a significant amount of disinformation that is currently being perpetuated. There was 1 and only 1 arrest on Saturday night and that was for someone who threw a beer and assaulted staff. 1 and only 1 arrest. As with any arrest, that comes with an automatic letter of disinvite to the stadium as it should. No other letters of disinvite or "bans" have been issued.
In terms of ejections there were 3 ejections. At this point none of these people have been issued letters of disinvite. All of these were related to swearing and unruly behavior that took place after our supporter's liaison spent 20+ min in the fort trying to calm everyone down and limit the excessive profanity. Unfortunately there were some people who chose to increase the frequency and potency of their swearing rather than calming down. This includes a verbal assault on our supporter's liaison who has spent the last 4 years working closely with all of you.
There were 3 protective custody's for excessive intoxication. Two of these occurred before the second half kicked off and are completely unrelated. The third did occur in the fort but was unrelated.
In terms of action taking by our organization that is it. Our supporters liaison went to the fort to ask for people to stop using one chant that the supporters' groups themselves asked their members not to sing. Unfortunately as I said earlier some people took that for an excuse to amp up their behavior therefore 3 people were removed and one arrested as explained above.
I am truly sorry and saddened that there are so many people that feel that they can't enjoy a Revolution match without chanting you suck a****le 10+ times a game but make no mistake this entire incident was about limited number of fans in the fort refusing to deter that one chant. That is all that was asked, no more. No members of supporters groups were singled out, targeted, etc. and if our supporters groups were truly stopping this chant with their members as they told us they were doing than no members of any supporters group will have been impacted by this." -Revolution COO Brian Bilello 6/21/11
We addressed the "disinformation that is currently being perpetuated" briefly earlier but we will do it one more time. We contacted the team through the appropriate channels as we have done many times in the past in an effort to get any information they had on these matters and to allow them to comment for us prior to publishing. Here are the questions we sent:
1. Would/will anyone like to comment further other than what Brian has already posted on the facebook page
2. Would it be possible to provide copies of written complains over the language of the fort
3. How many people were taken into custody by Foxborough PD an/or how many banning orders have or will be issued based on Saturday nights events?
We sent that email at 10:37pm Sunday night. We gave the team the chance to give us this information, they did respond to us but did not answer these questions. We had to go with this story and we went with information from multiple trusted sources. We witnessed 2 arrest ourselves and many more ejections as well as confiscation of tickets from STHs, in our knowledge every STH we know that has ever turned their ticket over to TeamOps has received a banning order, some for life, some for a season. Also it seems that he hasn't seen the video of the arrest that is circulating.
Further, the expectation that one person can change the actions of many is insane. Sending your supporters liaison to ask people to clean it up and stop isn't going to immediately get a section of hundreds of people to just suddenly stop, nor is asking a SG leader to stop people. Change does not occur overnight and the expectation that it can or should is rather foolish.
The most damning thing is that Brian Bilello still thinks this is about not being able to yell "You suck asshole". You just don't get it Brian, is that what your MIT education gets you? We still see this is a planned operation. The language used and the deflection of any blame to the FO, TeamOps or Foxborough PD continues to confirm this. Most damning is the blame is still place squarely on the SG's, everyone must take some of the blame but the FO needs to be placed squarely in the middle.
Word of this has spread like wildfire on the internet, among SG's all around the league and now even overseas, shouldn't that have said to the FO that this is a situation that is going out of control? That this is a situation that the normal spin will not get rid of? That maybe this is an issue that should be handled delicately? No apparently throwing more fuel on the fire was the right decision. This is a situation the deserves a stronger response and damage control, and they wonder why the professionalism of the FO is often questioned. This is turning into a PR disaster for the Revs. Also Brian, are Facebook wall posts really the best you can do? It would be great to see you interact regularly and in normal situations that way but this should probably be more formal.
This team, this market, these people can not support what is happening, this could be what single-handedly destroys the Revs and soccer in the region for good, and no one in the team seems to care or even notice. There have been years of distrust and skepticism of between the SG's and the Front Office, recently things seemed to be getting better, sadly now soccer/supporter culture has been set back years. This has become a referendum on the FO and the Krafts ownership of this team and it is not going well for them. We're not sure there is much that can be done at this point to turn things around. Do yourself a favor and admit that this could have been handled better
The silver lining to this situation? There has been over the course of this season and the last, a quiet tension just under the surface between the SG's in New England, this has seemed to bring them all together. It's too bad an incident like this is what had to do it, but it should not be squandered and these groups need to work together to make their voices heard.
Never give up, never give in, SUPPORT THE FORT.
It's great that apparently we've got the facts wrong. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of us all in consensus on what we saw, yet the Revs are telling us we're in the wrong? My eyes and ears know what they know.
ReplyDeleteBrian
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is unfortunate that this situation has gone where it has. It was never my intention. In my first facebook post I mentioned that we need to get everyone together, which Cathal has been working on with the SGs.
In term of the facebook posts, given that the meeting will probably take a week or so to setup I wanted to respond to fans so that there wasn't silence from the organization. I always am honest with fans about things and sometimes I get too emotional for sure. I care dearly for the club and I care dearly about supporters. I know some people don't and may never believe that but it is the truth. I always try to make myself available on facebook, twitter, etc. as I think its better to sometimes say the wrong thing than to say nothing at all.
In terms of the misinformation bit I never accused anyone of purpousely or maliciously speading mis-information and I am sorry if you took it that way. My point was that there were greatly exaggerated number being reported and I wanted to make sure the facts were out there.
I look forward, a always, to meeting up live with fans to dicuss this issue and how to all move forward.
Regards
Brian Bilello
PS I'll be out in Seattle this weekend if anyone would like to meet up to watch the US or pre-game for Revs.
Great job again Brian.
ReplyDeleteAnd Brian B ... thanks for responding here. If you'd like, I'd be willing to meet up with you and talk in Seattle. I think Brian S did a great job of explaining it again, this isn't about the swearing. The YSA can go the way of the dinosaurs for all I care. The frustration from the fans is how this was handled overall by TeamOps and eventually FPD.
Brian Bilello. You also did not respond to the post about the video, in which Foxborough PD can clearly be heard using language MUCH WORSE than that used in the YSA cheer. At best, that makes the Revs FO look hypocritical. You also did not address the post that basically says your most recent numbers are too low, on the basis of many many eyewitnesses. You also have not addressed why all STH, or at least all Fort STH, did not receive e-mails and phone calls about the desired behavioral changes. Relying on the SGs to do that work is again not very professional. I did not know about the desire to end the YSA chant until the Revs "liaison," TeamOps, and the Foxborough Police showed up and made the point known with extreme prejudice. The Revs need to apologize, the Revs need to make a formal statement, and the Revs need to show remorse, or there will be many STH defections, likely way more than you pick up in "soccer mom" sales. It is hypocritical to use the Fort in your marketing and then treat us this way. I guess there will be no swearing against Philly, because there will be no cheering or singing from 143/142 either.
ReplyDelete-Mark, 6 yr season ticket holder.
I'm curious why the Revs front office finds YSA so offensive, but thinks that homophobic slurs from their security staff -- not simply at those being punished for perceived offenses, but directed at event attendees *as a whole* -- are acceptable. Why do the Revs consider it OK for TeamOps to slur large groups of their fans?
ReplyDeleteI think this question has been asked before, and ignored.
Personally I have an issue with swearing, in that I don't believe it makes you look either very smart or tough. That being said...to me at least the debate is about the type of culture that the fans wish to bring to the games. This "football culture" is different than most Americans have ever experienced.
ReplyDeleteHaving 50 - 100 all yell "You Suck Asshole" is different than one or two that most American fans are used to hearing. We Football fans need to be aware of that and clean up the chants. The FO needs to realize that in this day and age of the internet and passion for the game to be more open to the wants and desires of the fans. If the hard core fan stays away then you are doomed, your stadium will be just a quiet shell with no love and passion...the hard core soccer fan will either support another team or spend his/her money elsewhere.
So bite the bullet Revs...say you were wrong even though you have the facts behind you. Revs fans clean up the chants and lets move on towards growing the American game.
Brian B, thank you very much for taking the time to respond here. I sincerely appreciate that. I will not be in Seattle so I won't be able to talk with you there, but I echo the comments above me. This goes way beyond use of a chant. The way supporters were treated by TeamOps, and Foxboro PD, and the fact that they had to be involved in the first place are the issue.
ReplyDeleteI have asked Cathal and I will ask you here, can you make sure that a representative from security is present at the meeting we will be having. I think I speak for everyone involved when I say, this meeting is moot without their presence.
Thank you.
I agree that swearing is not an effective way to express yourself intelligently. I try to avoid it, especially if the point I need to make is an important one. However, if "growing the American game" means altering the fraternal culture that is beloved by nations worldwide to suit a perversely saccharin, Disney-esque standard, then I am not particularly interested.
ReplyDeleteSounders fan in Seattle, I'd love to buy you a drink when you come out here and pick your brain on the whole matter if you're up to it. If so, ericflatness@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThat goes for any other Rev supporters making the trip as well.
Good luck