WashPost: Fan Sues U.S. Soccer Over Alleged Discrimination

[dakotajoe]

Originally posted by BenReilly
This is pretty old news.

The solution is to play where the vast majority of fans are pro-USA. I see no alternative. Columbus, NE, and Kansas City would be good choices. We simply must have a full home field advantage if we intend to qualify.

But can't we do it without violating the law?

[Alberto]

Originally posted by efren95


Alberto:

You’re right. Many of my 'Hispanics' brothers abuse the system. I can attest to that.

But, remember, this is what makes this country great: A SYSTEM OF LAW WHERE NO ONE IS ABOVE IT AND, BY THE SAME TOKEN, NO ONE IS EXCLUDED FROM IT.

DUE PROCESS is one of the 'sacred' guarantees emanating from our 'bill of rights'.

I can recite by memory the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

Can you?

Bueno considerando que yo naci en Cuba yo creo que yo estoy dentro de mis derechos en criticar las aciones de otros Latinos que vienen a vir en los EEUU.

[Alberto]

The whole heart of this issue was addressed by several other posters. The USSF arranged ticket sales if I recall correctly. You could purchase tickets through the USSF and they looked to segregate the seating so that USA fans sat in the lower bowl and Hondurans and other fan sat in the upper. It backfired in that 2/3 of the fans were Honduran. It's probably a moot point that RFK will ever host another WCQ given the poor turnout by USA supporters. Like some other posters said, nothing wrong with the USSF choosing a means to insure itself of a home field advantage. It allowed access to the match for Honduran fans.

[GoHawks4]

The saddest part of this all is that US failed to fill the stadium with our own fans. There is no excuse for Honduras taking control of our home game. Do you think that ************ happens when we play there?

[BenReilly]

Originally posted by dakotajoe


But can't we do it without violating the law?

Yes, the solution is obvious. Play where the fans are overwhelmingly going to support the USA. It worked in qualifying...when we tried it!

[geordienation]

Originally posted by beineke
Mods: Could you change the subject line of this thread?

The fella is not a Honduran fan. He is a Hispanic who (IIRC) holds DC United season tickets. As a supporter of soccer in the US, he deserves access to the best seats.

My girlfriend's last name is Gonzalez. If she buys us tickets to a game, should we be segregated out?

My screw-up in the thread title. Could someone change it?

[evilcrossbar]

Great way to increase the support of MLS and US soccer among the Hispanics in this country (and I'm referring to US citizens here)!

I understand the need to increase the number of US supporters, but this was unacceptable.

This guy (who's also an MLS supporter) was going to the stadium to support the USMNT yet was not able to purchase tickets in better seats despite being willing to pay because of his last name.


It would be nice if you idiots would read the *****ing links instead of knee-jerk flamming in response to an incorrect tread title.


I wonder if he gave up on the MLS? Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if he did.

[tame1999]

Originally posted by billf
Maybe I should sue each and every Honduran for the physical and emotional damage my wife and I suffered when the beer, water bottles, food, and who knows what else rained down on us when we though we were at a home game.


Agreed. Although, seeing that your from G-Boro(same here), you could probly walk to Rowan and get the same kind of treatment, but alot more fun.

[copaantl98]

Too bad no qualifying matches will ever be in New York.

[Serie Zed]

Let the courts sort it out. If the USSF can show that they had a system in place that was designed to ensure fans supporting the home side would be in the lower bowl (rather than one that guaranteed that white Americans would be there) they should be fine.

Juneau, Bangor, Jackson Hole here we come.

[CbR]

Originally posted by copaantl98
Too bad no qualifying matches will ever be in New York.

the only way it could be in ny is if we get our own stadium and metro season ticket holders get first dibs on USMNT tickets

[TeamUSA]

The poor bastard. Did I tell you about my non-Hispanic sounding name and how I ended up in an upper level?

Get over it. Find a different source for tickets next time, like bigsoccer.com or e-bay. There were plenty of tickets available that were good. Have fun trying to prove how you got screwed and yet all the other Honduran fans had killer seats.

If I was looking to argue this case, my angle might be to show how we didn't want to have any fights in the stands and because of potential risks we asked which team potential buyers might cheer for. It's a slippery slope, but once the USSF shows all the fan violence from football matches Mr. Martinez could be screwed. I hope he and his lawyer get laughed out of court. He might have had a better case if he would have purchased a ticket.

He truly is an American now, a chump looking for a cheap lawsuit in order to profit.

LMFAO

[RSwenson]

the only soulution is to hold it in a place where presales will sell out the place before any tickets go on sale oto the public... the USSF tried this twice in RFK... the first time against guatemala was successful and the entir lower bowl was US (well, 90%)... the second time they tried it (against Honduras) is when they go in trouble... first of all, it had been done once and they were wise to it... second, they distributed order sheets to the "soccer family" that basically included all of the families of those kids running around on Sat mornings... most of them said, what the hell is this?... I know someone from Honduras who might be interested, let's give it to him/her... or, better yet, maybe I should place the order for him/her...

the funny thing is that they are getting sued over a ticket policy that resulted in most of the lower deck and all of the upper deck were from Honduras...

and you know what??? it is all their own fault!!! it is greed that puts the qualifiers in a 60K stadium when they know darn well that most of the tickets are going to go to the opposition and that they have to contact so many weak supporters whose tickets are going to wind up in the hands of the oppposition... they can presell 20K tickets to hard core US supporters in places where it would be very hard to organize a vocal traveling support section... anyone who doesn't think that 20K can be intimidating in the proper size stadium simply has never seen such a stadium... and the only times this has been tried, it has worked (Columbus, Portland)... it even kind of worked in KC, and that was a completely wrong-size stadium... someone should be fired over the selection of RFK stadium in the first place... it was that incompetent or naive a selection...


rand

[nancyb]

The ticketing policy for the Honduras game is the reason there were so many more Honduras supporters than US supporters at the game. The pre-sale policy (non-TicketMaster) was: only groups of 20 or more could buy lower bowl seats before the tickets went on sale via TicketMaster. How many average Joe American fans are going to fork over for 20 seats and then try to sell them themselves? Not very many, I assure you.

How many Latino Supermarkets were willing to do that a sell them at a slight profits to their customers? Plenty. How many tour organizers? Lots.

Once the tickets did go on sale through TM, the folks who'd patiently waited so they could buy a single ticket ended up in the upper bowl, if they got anything at all.

My advice for the future? Just put the damn tickets - all of them - on sale through TM and the DCU front office. Let the market take care of things.

[nancyb]

Threads merged.

[prk166]

Originally posted by beineke
Mods: Could you change the subject line of this thread?

The fella is not a Honduran fan. He is a Hispanic who (IIRC) holds DC United season tickets. As a supporter of soccer in the US, he deserves access to the best seats.

My girlfriend's last name is Gonzalez. If she buys us tickets to a game, should we be segregated out?

Exactly. This type of an issue needs to be addressed. And just blowing it off without reading on the issue (come on, how many of you really did??!?! It was a bad link listed!) is pretty much what I'd call down right puerile.

As for issues like people moving & not supporting the US, I'd like to see what you people would do in the same situation. Picture leaving a place you love, leaving your family behind, and heading off to a new country. If people still didn't turn out to cheer for their coutnry of birth, I'd be a little worried. Look, they moved to the US for reasons so surely they like the place. If they don't sprint to the front of the line to buy tickets to cheer on the US when they play Bermuda, big deal. There are more important issues to worry about.

[Dignan23]

The solution seems pretty clear to me. Let's just play our home games in Canada.

If the recent immigrants want so badly to cheer against the USA, let them travel to Halifax or Saskatoon to do it.

[billf]

For what it's worth, I ended up in the upper level too w/o a hispanic name. I really feel bad for this guy, but I ended up paying an extra $70 a ticket to some dude to get a lower-level seat while I was in the parking lot. I was glad I did that too, because I would not have been comfortable sitting where my original seats were located. He could have shown up at the stadium in a US shirt and did the same thing.

When I called the DC United office, I was told that lower-level tickets were not available also. I don't have a hispanic name and no one would mistake my Jersey accent for that of a Honduran supporter.

Also, if this guy was a DC Untied season ticket-holder, he should have gotten tickets to the game with the season ticket package.

The real problem was playing this game in DC. That's not a kind venue for the US in terms of support when the opponent is from Central America.

All of that said, the guy probably has a good case. I also didn't read the article the first time because I thought this was related to the Honduran embassy staff having a hard time getting tickets in the lower-bowl. I should have read the article first.

The question becomes this. Our team plays qualifiers that draw significant numbers of hostile fans. They throw projectiles and hurl abuse at our fans and players. No one wants to lump anyone of hispanic decent together, but how do you prevent such activity with out being un-PC or outright breaking the law? Do you hold a game in DC and only sell 15,000 tickets, or do you simply hold matches in remote areas of the country?

[seraph]

Originally posted by Dixie
Its simple:

Play Mexico in Kansas City or Columbus not Texas or California. Plau Costa Rica and Honduras in the same places not in Florida or New York. Play Canada in Florida not in Seattle or New York.

Play where there would be the least amount of fans for the opposing team and in the climate that they are not used to. Play Jamaica in the North not in the Deep South. Thats not racist or prejudice or politically incorrect its just smart marketing and football practice.

Depends on what you consider "smart marketing". If you want to sell lots of tickets, you will play Mexico in the LA coliseum. If you want your team to have a chance to succeed in front of a home town crowd, then you play in Columbus. I think USSF are finally figuring out that the long term benefits of success out weigh the short term ticket revenues that they have been selling us out for.

[Dixie]

No, its more important to have a home field advantage and I don't think many will argue with me. I'd much rather Play Mexico in Columbus in front of a packed house of 25,000 or in Kansas City with 35,000 being mostly US fans than play in LA and have 100,000 fans 75,000 of which are wearing green.

If its about $$ then of course put it in LA but I sure hope its about winning.