Fortgate

So as not to offend the children there will be profanity and references to profanity in this post, please act accordingly. Also in the past we have been accused of being biased and using "Fox News Tactics" so just to be clear we are an opinion site as it says on the left, think of us as an opinion source with a news problem not a news source with an opinion problem.  Also we were present in The Fort for this match, much of what we relay here was witnessed first hand.

Fred Kfhoury www.nhsoccer.com

This past Saturday as the New England Revolution took on the Chicago Fire what can only be described as a planned operation took place against the Fort (the supporters section for Revs fans) and Revolution Supporters Groups.  Gillette Stadium security, TeamOps, went about ejecting and in multiple cases having the Foxborough Police Department make arrests.  The start of all of this is from the "You suck asshole" chant that is routinely done around the league after goalkeepers take a goalkick.

In what seemed like any ordinary match day for the Revolution the supporters filled the Fort, Midnight Riders at the front of 143, The Rebellion at the front of 142 and the Rev Army taking it's usual post in the middle of 142.  Songs and chants were all done as they usually are with nothing remarkable happening, there was a pretty decent atmosphere from within the Fort.  About half way through the first half we happened to notice a stronger than usual TeamOps presence, supervisors instead of the usual "orange shirts" were regularly patrolling up an down the aisles as well as taking posts within rows.  We noticed this was odd and made note of it to people during half time.

The second half of the game begins and the Fort continues with its usual repertoire.  Monty Rodrigues, long standing former president of The Midnight Riders took up his position on the Capo stand in front of 142 to lead the Fort in it's songs and chants. Normally Monty will take this Capo stand in the first half but other than this the Fort and the game was carrying on as usual.  Getting closer to the hour mark of the game we started to notice that there were more TeamOps supervisors than usual in front of the Fort, including a woman who appeared to be a high-ranking member.  We noticed them talking back and forth with Monty and soon after a representative from the team was also present.  Fran Harrington, current Midnight Rider president, informed me that TeamOps was cracking down on swearing and the "You suck asshole" chant from the Fort.  Word was being spread through the Fort that we should all turn our backs to the field during goal kicks as a response to this.  Many people did turn their backs but word was spreading slowly and the "You suck asshole" chant continued. At around the 63rd minute after continued blame and accusations being placed on Monty for the leading and continuing of 'YSA' Monty stepped off the capo stand and left the game despite the fact that he was not doing the chant or even leading it and hadn't been all game or even over the past 2 seasons that the capo stand has existed.  At this point I and others from all the Revolution supporters groups decided to walk out of the match, the need was felt to support Monty and follow suit.  There was a lot of confusion about what was going on and as word spread more and more people continued to leave The Fort leaving it's numbers depleted and silent by the end of the match.  After Monty left there was a supporter who went to the front of The Fort to try to keep chants going, he was not there long before he was arrested.  After 20 minutes of relative silence from The Fort another individual attempted to re-ignite what few people were left and not even a minute later he was removed from The Fort.

This is where our story gets ugly.  Let's make one thing clear from here, some people are seeing the reaction of the supporters as complaining about not being allowed to swear, this is absolutely not the case.  The reaction of the supporters is to the heavy handed tactics used by TeamOps, Foxborough Police Department and the complicity with these actions from the Revolution's Front Office as well as the inconsistency of rule enforcement.

We have heard varying numbers and do not have any hard information yet but multiple sources are telling us that between 10-12 supporters were arrested and at least 20 banning orders have been issued.  As a contrast the Boston Bruins had their Stanley Cup victory parade through the streets of Boston earlier that day; there were 1.5 million people there.  There were 9 arrests. We have asked the Revolution to confirm these numbers with us. Other than Brian Bilello's comments yesterday the only response we have been given of right now we have been told that the team will be spending "a great deal of time investigating the incident and will be in touch with the supporters groups in the near future" by Lizz Summers, Director of Communications for the Revolution

One person who was arrested has gotten in touch with us, due to pending legal action we will not publish his name however he told us he was arrested for disorderly conduct.  We witnessed him being arrested and he was peacefully leaving The Fort along with many others.  He also has told us that when he was arrested by the Foxborough Police Department he was not read his Miranda Rights, when he asked he was told by the arresting officer "Fuck your rights", in addition when they ID'd him he gave his military ID to which the officer said to him "You must be in the Navy because you're acting like a pussy".  Obviously we cannot blame this directly on the team, but these actions by the Foxborough PD are appalling and the disrespect they gave to an active member of the military is shameful considering we are a nation still fighting multiple wars.  These officers may be or have been members of rival branches of the military but there is no excuse for bringing that into their job. One cannot help but think this all could have been easily avoided.

We have had sources closes to the Revolution inform us that The Revs Girls, part of the teams marketing efforts, were told that they were not allowed to be in The Fort for this match.  The Revs Girls regularly come into the section and stand, sing, chant etc. with the supporters.  This bit of information further solidifies our opinion that this was a planned operation.  Ourselves as well as others noticed an increased police presence and increased number of TeamOps personnel as previously noted and we do not believe that this could merely be a coincidence.  According to Revolution COO Brian Bilello "This was not a security issue."  So it wasn't an over-reaction by TeamOps? You were complicit and involved in a planned effort to ban and arrest your supporters? This is the nail in the coffin for us.

There is a question of whether or not a warning was issued about the "YSA" chant and other profanity.  What we know is that the Midnight Riders and The Rebellion issued a joint letter regarding The Fort a few weeks ago, included was a request not to use profane language or add to the "You Suck" chant at opposing goalkeepers...

"However the following behavior is not tolerated... Use of profane chants, such as adding language to the end of "You suck"done towards opposing goalkeepers when in front of the fort."

Does this constitute a warning that you will be, removed from the stadium, banned and arrested? Absolutely not. The FO may have asked them to help try to limit it however there was no implication that such serious actions would be taken if people did not adhere to this request. This came from the SG's not from the team.  If the team wants to start enforcing something that they have rarely if ever enforced since the teams inception 16 years ago the should have the professionalism to give fair warning themselves. This does not constitute a fair warning.

"This was related to one particular chant which our supporters' liaison has spoken to the supporter group leaders about on multiple occasions this season." -Revolution COO Brian Bilello

Ok Brian, that's great and all but why didn't you email that this chant would be a problem to your STH's? Why not come out to the tailgate and personally ask the supporters to stop doing it and assist in trying to change it? Why not make it clear by placing notes in the seats of the fort? Why not issue a statement on your website or the Revolution blog? Did you expect things to change over night after years and years of this going on? Where you afraid of the backlash if you issued a statement on profanity and the fact that the often ignored and overlooked rules on it where now going to be vigorously enforced?

Are you happy now? 

Seems like all of those things might have been a bit of a better idea...

What about Joe College-Kid at his first game yelling cocksucker at opposing players? What about the fact that there were people who were sitting right next to TeamOps security calling people faggots? They weren't arrested or even thrown out.  If you enforce it for one you enforce it for all and that is not even up for debate.

Asking the leaders of the supporters groups to control and stop 'unwanted behavior' by the fans in The Fort is not fair or even a viable solution to the problem.  Not everyone in a supporters section is a member of a supporters group.  Members of supporters groups do not have blind faith in their leaders and will not obey them just because they are the leader of what in it's most basic form, is a social group.  The leaders of the supporters groups do it for the love of the sport the team and their group. This is supposed to be fun for them asking them to be the enforcers of rules is never going to work, they are not on your payroll, you should not be placing these expectations on them. The leaders of the groups serve their members and the players on the field in the form of their support and nothing else.

A week ago there were about 120-150 supporters who traveled to support the team against the New York Red Bulls.  We were encouraged by RBNY security to support our team loudly and in any way we saw fit as long as we were not making personal attacks against anyone.  We were treated with respect and dignity, there were a few situations that occurred while we were there and RBNY security went above and beyond the call of duty in dealing with the situations. They were focused on customer service despite the fact that we were away fans.  It was a similar situation when we went down to Philadelphia last year to support the team there.  It has always been that way when we go to Toronto, the ironic thing about that? TeamOps runs security in Toronto. To be treated like criminals and hooligans in our own stadium is disappointing to say the least.  This is not Green Street Hooligans.  This is not The Football Factory. We are not a firm lurking in the dark alley waiting for it to "go off".

The FO has told us in the past that they have no control over TeamOps. TeamOps is owned by the Kraft family, it is part of Kraft Sports Group (in case you need proof) just like the Revolution, to say that they have complete control and the team has no say is ridiculous. There is a long history of TeamOps' heavy handed tactics against supporters, we will have more on that later this week.

If 100 people out of the 14000 people in attendance complained about language this past Saturday that would be .07% of the fans in attendance filing complaints. I would venture to guess that there were not 100 complaints.  We have asked for copies of any complaints filed with the team but as of yet have not received an answer as to whether or not we will be provided with them.  If we are they will be posted here.  There should be an expectation that if you go to a sporting event, especially where there is alcohol served that there will be foul language, it is a part of every sport in every pro league all around the world, to think that you can avoid because it's a soccer game is ludicrous.

"I will not get into an online debate with people who may or may not have been at the stadium last night, nor will I allow this to be presented as an example of how this organization doesn't care about our fans or our supporters... Every one of our STHs show at least the same amount of loyalty and dedication to this team turning up week after week and year after year and our organization owes just as much service and response to them as we do to our STH in the fort." -Brian Bilello

Orange slices for everyone! The new face of the Revs!!

Do you use those who do not sit in the fort as the background to your website? Do you use them in your television and print advertising? Nope.  You use The Fort.  These are the people that pay for their own tifo, travel at great length and expense to support this team all over the country, create the atmosphere that is craved as a marketing tool by the teams in this league. A TeamOps staffer even had the gall to say that the flags, banners etc. that some SG members stayed behind to collect was property of the team. 

These are the people who live and breathe this team.  You use them to build your brand, well I'm sorry they should matter a little more.  Instead of using them for your marketing maybe you should go and start using Sally-once-a-year-soccer-mom, because guess what... a lot of them aren't coming back.  If you ever want to have the Fort look like this you will have to do a lot to change your current ways and to patch things up with the SG's.

The number of conversations I have had in the past few day where supporters have discussed not renewing their tickets, is quite possibly too much for the Fort to survive.  Numerous supporters have stated they will not be back this season and 2 close friends of mine sent their season tickets back to the team today.

Supporters are the life behind any soccer team.  This is not a past time for these people, it is a culture, it is a way of life, the FO and many others do not seem to realize that or understand that.  The way the Midnight Riders, The Rebellion, the Rev Army and the unaffiliated supporters were treated was a direct insult, this is why we are angry this is where the problem lies. 

Worse of all this has an unintended effect on the players, the ones we care about most.  They need to know that we are there for them and that what happened and will likely happen is not a reflection on them.  Rebellion co-founder Kyle Santos had this to say to us today:

"The worst part was I went to a restaurant after the game to get dinner and player came up to me and asked me what happened since they saw the entire thing unfold. I told them what happened, in all honesty and they were outraged. [T]he people who it matters to, who we support, support us and love us and by us getting disrespected it's a knock to them. After a game they don't go to section 114 and thank them..."

These events have far more implications than just in New England, this will affect every supporters group and every team in the league.  The New England Revolution have decided that planning and carrying out a planned security operation that will result in bans and arrests is an acceptable way for an MLS team to deal with its supporters, take note of this. If these keeps up, this team that is floundering in the league and needs all the support it can get will have more game that look like Wednesday's game vs. Toronto:

This team is at a crossroads, will you go for the 18-35 demographic that has driven the passion of the teams who are now in "MLS 2.0" and even stepping into "MLS 3.0" or will you continue on with the youth soccer crowd and continue to be left in the dust.  The ball is on the penalty spot put it in the back of the net or botch it Revs, it's up to you how you carry forward from here.

Finally in a showing of the good work that these supporter groups so selflessly do we'd like to share this with you:

The Midnight Riders will be holding a trivia night on July 11 at The Pour House in Boston. All money raised will be donated to the Prescott family for the continuing care of their daughter Sam.

Below is a letter we received from family friend, and fellow Revs fan, Greg Gomes:

I write this letter on behalf of a dear friend of mine. For the past six years I have had the privilege of being a soccer referee, one of my colleges who I have refereed more than 50 games with has had some recent family troubles. Mike Prescott, has a young daughter Sam, she is 15 years old and was a fabulous soccer player when on the field for the FC Stars of Massachusetts. Sam was truly going to develop her skills into what could have been one of the best players that Central Massachusetts has seen in a long time.

Sam started her October off like any other year, Northbridge had just finished up their soccer season and Sam was on the Varsity girl’s team, she then started practice with the FC Stars, and began refereeing at the same facility myself and her father Mike ref at. While refereeing one game same started to become ill, suffering from a seizure. Test after test and Sam remained her fun, outgoing self, just "plugging" along with the procedures.

To her dismay the Dr's had no explanation why she was having these seizures. Time had passed and Sam had begun to suffer from seizures again and she also suffered from extreme fatigue. A new Dr, and finally Sam had been diagnosed with an illness. Unfortunately for Sam it was terminal brain cancer. Again Sam is only 15 years old. I hope this letter will help the Midnight Riders with their event and I thank you for your time in reading this.


---------------------------

The Rebellion is also holding a raffle for 2 tickets to the 2011 All Star game and hotel for after the game. Buy them here: http://www.nerebellion.bigcartel.com/product/mls-all-star-game-ticket-give-a-way The winner will be drawn at the trivia night!