How can we let this happen?

[gofire2001]

Last night there was more US fans at Spartan stadium than wales fans. How is it there is more Wales flags and banners hanging up than US? How do our players feel when they walk onto a home field only to see more Wales flags than US flags? Does anyone else agree that something has to be done about this before WC qualifying starts?

[Thomas Flannigan]

I would love to see something done about this but don't count on it. The USSF markets to FOREIGN fans, not U.S. fans. If you want to take a course in ethnic geography in the U.S., just look at where the USSF puts games:
El Salvador in DC, largest Salvadorean population in the U.S.
Canada in Lockhart, FL, where the largest concentration of Canadian "snowbirds" who winter in Florida can be found.
Mexico in Houston.
Wales in San Jose, home of the largest Welsh community in the U.S.
Japan backed out of Seattle, but that game was put there because of the large Japanese population in Seattle. Portugal was scheduled for Boston, in the Portuguese heartland.
The USSF did the same thing with qualifiers last time, but we lucked out. Next time we may not be so lucky.

[Straight Red]

Originally posted by Thomas Flannigan
I would love to see something done about this but don't count on it. The USSF markets to FOREIGN fans, not U.S. fans. If you want to take a course in ethnic geography in the U.S., just look at where the USSF puts games:
El Salvador in DC, largest Salvadorean population in the U.S.
Canada in Lockhart, FL, where the largest concentration of Canadian "snowbirds" who winter in Florida can be found.
Mexico in Houston.
Wales in San Jose, home of the largest Welsh community in the U.S.
Japan backed out of Seattle, but that game was put there because of the large Japanese population in Seattle. Portugal was scheduled for Boston, in the Portuguese heartland.
The USSF did the same thing with qualifiers last time, but we lucked out. Next time we may not be so lucky.

Can you blame the USSF? It's all about money and selling tickets, and you won't find US soccer fans filling a stadium for a friendly.

[gofire2001]

Originally posted by Thomas Flannigan
I would love to see something done about this but don't count on it. The USSF markets to FOREIGN fans, not U.S. fans. If you want to take a course in ethnic geography in the U.S., just look at where the USSF puts games:
El Salvador in DC, largest Salvadorean population in the U.S.
Canada in Lockhart, FL, where the largest concentration of Canadian "snowbirds" who winter in Florida can be found.
Mexico in Houston.
Wales in San Jose, home of the largest Welsh community in the U.S.
Japan backed out of Seattle, but that game was put there because of the large Japanese population in Seattle. Portugal was scheduled for Boston, in the Portuguese heartland.
The USSF did the same thing with qualifiers last time, but we lucked out. Next time we may not be so lucky.

But if only a couple of hundred US fans brought a flag or banner and was able to cover the stadium that would be a small victory for us.

[yellowbismark]

Originally posted by Thomas Flannigan

Wales in San Jose, home of the largest Welsh community in the U.S.


huh? there's a Welsh community in the US??

[Thomas Flannigan]

I am all for making money. There are cities in this country that are dying for a game. The national team hasn't played in Chicago in 10 years. The last game was a US Cup game, a kind of friendly, against Germany in 1993 that drew 36,000 under threat of rain. That's 3 times what yesterday's crowd was and 9 times the Lockhart crowd. I have no problem with playing Mexico once a year in a venue where the Mexicans will pack the place. But every single game does not have to cater to an ethnic market. You can make lots of money from American fans too.

[pweakland]

Originally posted by gofire2001
How do our players feel when they walk onto a home field only to see more Wales flags than US flags?

i doubt they give a rat's ass. but what do i know...maybe landon thinks, "damn, those welsh have more pretty flags and banners hanging around the stadium, maybe i won't play as hard as i would if there were more pretty american banners and such around the stadium..."

[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.

[eric d]

Originally posted by Thomas Flannigan
I would love to see something done about this but don't count on it. The USSF markets to FOREIGN fans, not U.S. fans. If you want to take a course in ethnic geography in the U.S., just look at where the USSF puts games:
El Salvador in DC, largest Salvadorean population in the U.S.
Canada in Lockhart, FL, where the largest concentration of Canadian "snowbirds" who winter in Florida can be found.
Mexico in Houston.
Wales in San Jose, home of the largest Welsh community in the U.S.
Japan backed out of Seattle, but that game was put there because of the large Japanese population in Seattle. Portugal was scheduled for Boston, in the Portuguese heartland.
The USSF did the same thing with qualifiers last time, but we lucked out. Next time we may not be so lucky.


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.

[gofire2001]

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.

Your right. You would think a supporters club with 10,000 members would have more than one shity banner.

[AndyMead]

Originally posted by gofire2001
Your right. You would think a supporters club with 10,000 members would have more than one shity banner.

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

[Thomas Flannigan]

After the Venezuela game there was a thread here that really ripped the banners displayed behind the goal at that game. One showed the Grateful Dead logo, another Earnie from Sesame Street. Some people didn't like these banners, although I thought they were fine. The more the better. But I could imagine people being reluctant to bring banners after the cruel comments made about their selection.
Now we have a thread saying there really should be more banners.

Which is it?

[BhoysFC1995]

Originally posted by Thomas Flannigan
After the Venezuela game there was a thread here that really ripped the banners displayed behind the goal at that game. One showed the Grateful Dead logo, another Earnie from Sesame Street. Some people didn't like these banners, although I thought they were fine. The more the better. But I could imagine people being reluctant to bring banners after the cruel comments made about their selection.
Now we have a thread saying there really should be more banners.

Which is it?

what are we in second grade????? if someone could be soo easily swayed by peoples opnion here at BS, or even at a game for that matter, to not bring a banner- they are complete morons.

[monster]

Originally posted by BhoysFC1995
what are we in second grade????? if someone could be soo easily swayed by peoples opnion here at BS, or even at a game for that matter, to not bring a banner- they are complete morons.

Dude, they are.

[Thomas Flannigan]

Everybody has a differrent tolerance for humiliation. Some fans here in Chicago stopped going to Fire games after repeated cyberlynchings. The soccer world is small. Sure, some people may ignore insults and go about their lives. Others might think why bother if I am going to get reamed over a trivial thing like a banner.

[Minnman]

Originally posted by yellowbismark
huh? there's a Welsh community in the US??

Since you asked:

Census 2000:
There are 1,753,794 persons of Welsh ethnicity living in the United States, according to Census 2000. The states with the largest Welsh-American populations are:
1. California- 188,414
2. Pennsylvania- 182,289
3. Ohio- 132,041
4. Florida- 91,683
5. New York- 85,356


Now, I'm not sure where Tom got his info on SJ having a substantial Welsh-American population base. CA is no. 1, but it's a huge state. The W-A population in CA as a percentage of the overall population is a whopping 0.6%! In PA it's 1.5%. So, yeah, the USSF really does seem to have dropped the ball on this one. This game should have been in Scranton.

[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.

[pweakland]

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.

i agree that a "crowd like that" could be motivating or encouraging or make a player feel all warm and fuzzy inside. i just don't think that a bunch of silly banners will do it. i think people matter much more than flags and painted-on sheets. which would you prefer? a bunch of soccer moms sitting on their hands mouths shut, but with a whole bunch of pretty banners flying throughout the stadium... or not a single banner, and a rabid crowd jumping, singing, screaming, etc?

[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.

[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