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| Fred Kfhoury www.nhsoccer.com |
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.
"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.
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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.
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| Orange slices for everyone! The new face of the Revs!! |
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..."
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.
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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.big
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.
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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.big
