How can we let this happen?

[The Magpie]

The Midnight Riders are bringing a "New England Brigade" banner to France that's based on the first Flag of New England seen below:

http://www.midcoast.com/~martucci/flags/images/NE1st.gif

It's not too big, about 3 feet by 9 feet.

The Magpie

[eric d]

Originally posted by Sachin
One thing that would help is if various supporter clubs brought their banners -- or a USA version of their banner -- to national team matches.

La Norte brings one to every Nats match we attend. It would be great if the ESC, Screaming Eagles, Mystics, BarnBurners, Ultras, etc. did the same.

Sachin


Err- no it would certainly not be a good idea. If a good idea means turning people off from a club v club rivalry then it would be a good idea. That is almost a good idea as wearing a Fire or DC kit to a US match- bad form.

[Sachin]

Originally posted by eric d
Err- no it would certainly not be a good idea. If a good idea means turning people off from a club v club rivalry then it would be a good idea. That is almost a good idea as wearing a Fire or DC kit to a US match- bad form.

One would hope that we would all be putting our club rivalries aside for a national team game. I can't imagine a bunch of banners professing various clubs USA support as being that much of a problem. It didn't get shown on TV, but during the Argentina match, a number of club fan bought Argentine flags with their club name written on it. There's no reason why we couldn't do the same.

Sachin

[The Magpie]

There are ways you can shown your allegiance and club affiliation without wearing your club's kit, note the various styles of the St. George's Cross that you see at England matches.

The Magpie

[tame1999]

just bring a flag and hang it..not that difficult.

[DevilDave]

Originally posted by vflkirwan
English/Welsh/Irish/Scots are well known to cover the stadium from top to bottom with flags and banners.... that is certainly not something American fans are use to seeing. At any other US sporting event, they are not prohibited.

I doubt that 98.7% of the 8,000 - 10,000 people at the game even read the banner thread and I'd say that only 2 people being generous here were 'swayed' from not bringing banners to the game.

Exactly. I was at the game last night. There were some U.S. flags waving in the stands, including the little "big-a$$" flag Sam's Army was sporting. But fans from the nations that make up the UK will always bring flags to hang, and their flags sport team and town names representing every corner of the country. (FYI, our flag etiquette in this country does not allow us to desecrate Old Glory with lettering of any sort. But apparently it doesn't matter with regard to the Union Jack, St. George or St. Andrew's crosses and the Welsh dragon flag.) I couldn't tell you where on a map half of the Welsh who hung flags in the South End came from. I should have asked the native Welsh speakers behind me in the line for the restroom.

[supersport]

Originally posted by eric d
Tom "Pass The Buck" Flanigan at it again.

Maybe if some of those fat old duffs in Sam's Army got off their ass, left the tailgate early and hung some banners in the stadium, it wouldn't be an issue. But I guess 1 kinkos made Sams Army Banner is suficient.

Yes, SJ Ultras a group whose numbers are about two dozen, brought and hung up just about every one of the pro USA banners, and US flags that were seen in the South End. Aside from the one "Sam's Army" banner in the North End and their Huge American flag, nothing. You guys really need to do something about this. Take a clue from the Euro supporters, there should be flags and banners representing all the various states, cities, regions that the Sammers come from. Sad thing is not even the local Sammers/Casbah had anything. I'm not trying to knock you guys, but flags and banners bring loads of atmosphere to the matches, and it doesn't cost much. This is a situation that should be addressed at future matches. Hell, we even had our SJ Ultras banners up.

[supersport]

And yes, I realize banners and flag aren't the last word in club/country support, but it is a no brainer, 10 banner/flags are better then 1, and 20 are better then 10, and so on.

[CrewToon]

Originally posted by Thomas Flannigan
Of course they care! Doesn't anyone remember what Earnie Stewart said while walking through an empty Saprissa Stadium in Costa Rica after our WCQ loss? "Just once, I wish I could play in front of a crowd like that." Josh Wolff wrote on his website that coming out of the tunnel for warmups in Columbus before the Mexico game was one of the greatest experiences of his life. Finally, we had a home field atmosphere for a game against Mexico.

The answer is simple: All future U.S. matches in Columbus! :D

[gofire2001]

Originally posted by AndyMead
So the 100-200 "Sammers" hung a banner. What about the other 8-10,000 US fans. Where are their banners?

That is what we need to work on the most. If one out of every couple hundred US fans hung a banner or flag the stadium would look great. All I am saying is that a group as big as Sams Army should have several nice banners.

[SABuffalo786]

*sigh*

Get off your ass, get a US flag, some tape, and hang it. If you want to personalize it, right your town name in Sharpie on the stripes. Thats the only way to solve this problem.

Quit yer bitching.

[pweakland]

Originally posted by Thomas Flannigan
I can't believe that I agree with pweakland. Noise is more important. One example would be the US-Poland game at the World Cup. The Polish fans really showed us how it is done in Europe. They wore immaculate scarves and jerseys, and decorated the entire side of the stadium with banners.
We had few banners but we were organized and made lots of noice, way more than the Poles. I'd take the noise over the banners any day.

i'm sure we've agreed in the past, it's just more fun to argue...

[dfb547490]

Tom, I'm not sure there was a big Canadian turnout in Miami--could be wrong but I believe most of the Canadians who live in Florida are bluehairs who have never seen a soccer ball in their lives and were there when the Ottawa Senators (first version) won Lord Stanley's Cup. :)

I've got no problem with club banners in the stadium. If we run out of space and someone's got a US flag or banner then the club banner should go, but an MLS or A-League club banner is better than an enemy flag or blank space.

Basically anything helps. US flags, supporters group banners, rattler flags and other historical flags (such as the one with a silouhette of a cannon that says "Come and take it!"), state flags, city flags, etc. Personally I always bring a US flag and 2 rattler flags (one with my city written on it), plus a "Yank Army" banner.

BTW, if you're going to write on a flag it's poor form to write on the US flag--I suggest the First Navy Jack instead (it has the same red and white stripes).

[Captain Canuck]

Originally posted by dfb547490
Tom, I'm not sure there was a big Canadian turnout in Miami--could be wrong but I believe most of the Canadians who live in Florida are bluehairs who have never seen a soccer ball in their lives and were there when the Ottawa Senators (first version) won Lord Stanley's Cup. :)



I was one of the 5 Canuck fans in attendance on that night. We all flew down from Toronto. There weren't any snowbirds on that occasion or in Miami for the Gold Cup in Jan.2002 (I was there as well).

I'm just thankful this time they have put Canada in Foxborough for the first round of the Gold Cup, this time I should be able to drive down.

[Thomas Flannigan]

I agree that the Canadian turnout was small, just like the El Salvadorean turnout was small in DC and the Welsh turnout was not all that great in San Jose. Miami was better but the Argentine turnout fell way short of projections. I think the ethnic marketing strategy of the USSF is backfiring. If we were getting sellouts for friendlies pitched to foreign fans, that is one thing. We can draw 4,000 or 12,000 American fans in many cities without catering to foreign fans.

[metroflip73]

Originally posted by supersport
There should be flags and banners representing all the various states, cities, regions that the Sammers come from.

This is being worked on, from what I hear.

Keep the club rivalry outta this. It would make better sense to keep it USA-only.

Obviously, there will be those who wish to go against the mainstream and make a statement and so on by wearing club stuff, but that's the cue to berate the person(s) so that they don't do it again. And that has been done.

[DevilDave]

As I said in an earlier post, proper flag etiquette in this country is that the U.S. flag should not have any markings of any kind on it. So if you're going to hang a U.S. flag at a match, it shouldn't say "Pocatello, ID" on it or something of that nature.

About the states thing, however, I was thinking though how cool it would have been if someone had thought to hang the California state flag (the "California Republic" brown bear flag) at a USMNT match or even the World Cup, especially given the influx of Californians into the player pool. Unfortunately only a few of our state flags have really and truly distinctive designs (Ohio's weird shaped flag and Maryland stand out off the top of my head.)

[T. Donovan]

I was at the USA v Poland match last year with a number of Sam's Army folks from Minnesota. After seeing all of the Poland banners we decided to get a flag made with "Minnesota Brigade" and maybe "Sam's Army" added to it.

But then, as DevilDave has pointed out, you cann't add anything to the USA flag. So what to do?

dfb547490 suggested the First Navy Jack. Can you post a picture? Any other suggested USA-related flags that can be added to (as the English do)?

The Minnesota state flag doesn't do it, and a banner doesn't quite match up to a flag.

I think we all agree that the sight of St. George's Cross with the names of the various towns or clubs at England matches is awesome. So lets come up with one or more USA-related flag alternatives.

Donovan

[AndyMead]

I've seen numerous US Flags with writing on them. There's a flag at every Wizards home game with "Kansas City" on the white stripe that runs just below the stars.

[Sachin]

Originally posted by T. Donovan


dfb547490 suggested the First Navy Jack. Can you post a picture? Any other suggested USA-related flags that can be added to (as the English do)?


From NavyJack.Info (http://www.navyjack.info):

http://www.navyjack.info/i/clipart/Rattlesnake-flag.gif