As a Reign fan this is an interesting situation. I understand the fans who are angry about this situation but I think returning season tickets is a bit extreme. The league needs every support it can get and I'm sure there are ways to show their anger other than canceling season tickets.
Because they are unhappy, I see it at every men's game in England, fans have scapegoats and abuse them on regular basis.
Far be it from me to advocate fans support their team no matter what but in this case we are talking about a league in which each butt in a seat makes a difference and a situation which is at best subjectively controversial. One can even argue that booing Taylor might be a more effective form of protest because it will definitely draw the attention of everyone in the stadium if the home team is booing one of their own players.
Please share what Taylor said that is so unbearably offensive. Direct quotes, not someone else's descriptions or interpretations of what she said.
As I understand it, Taylor's sins may be of omission rather than comission. Taylor gave an interview (it's on Youtube) in September in which she denied being aware of any racism on the English team and portrayed everything as just hunky-dory. This was after Aluko's claims of racism were featured prominently in the press, she had been paid 80,000 pounds by the FA, and Coach Sampson was about to be fired. It would have been wise for Taylor to have said, "I have not personally witnessed any indications of racism on the team or by the coach, but I am aware, of course, that other team members have raised serious issues which should be investigated." Taylor was in effect throwing her team member under the bus. Did Aluko deserve it? Might Aluko be lying about racist incidents? Well, she is a lawyer and is probably the most intelligent woman on the English team. Whatever that suggests to you. Barring additional information, I'll come down on Aluko's side because she was exiled from the English team after her complaint against Sampson. That sounds like retribution to me. And, of course, fear of retribution by powerful men is what scares many people into keeping their mouths' shut. Aluko was not cowed.
Please reread my post again. No where did I make the judgement that what she said was offensive. My point was her comments were subjectively controversial meaning that some find it offensive and others do not. My main point is that I read the comments for myself and I do not think warrants people canceling season tickets, all things being considered.
In my opinion Taylor's only crime is not giving the politically correct answer in this situation. And as a fan of the USWNT who have some strong characters that tend to speak their minds, I do not fault her for it. According to Taylor she didn't witness any racist incidents that doesn't mean to imply that Aluko is lying. It is absolutely possible for two people to have difference opinions on the same situation, especially a racial one which is never black or white (no pun intended ). So these incidents happened and Taylor doesn't think they were racist (presumably she think it was said jokingly) but Aluko think they were. They can both be correct. Not everyone have the same tolerance for race-based jokes. I personally don't think the comments I read were racists but that may be because I have a high tolerance for this stuff (and yes I'm black). It is therefore up to the FA to decide what is acceptable or not. Sampson was fired and the logical conclusion is because he was fired these incidents must be racists. However will they have made the same decision if this wasn't a person who should have already been fired for past incidents? One would never know but it reminds of the Solo comments after the Sweden match. It was just one too many controversies and it was simply the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Sampson was fired for sleeping with some of his players when coach at Bristol Academy, not sure the FA would have fired him for the racist comments.
Galton to Bayern Munich: http://mailchi.mp/a623c14c1f2f/849661-850393?e=9afaf108be That's a blow for SkyBlue, especially with Kerr set to miss the beginning of the season.