She specifically mentioned the fan club as the offenders and wanted action taken against them.... In Philly we are working to get the supporters club together by the end of the season and in place for next season.. as someone who yells and makes alot of noise... Boston has a great atmosphere, all the players in the league talk about playing in Boston and the drums and yelling... We do love hope and have fond memories of her CHarge days here... but we will cheer against her... maybee not as much as Boston, but if she blows off the Philly Fans... We will remember for next year. You can't have these charges against a supporters group and not apologize for using them as a scapegoat to be pissy after a match. Especially as a WNT member you need to sign autographs and be gracious, some of the fans come out just to see a player or 2 and it means so much to the fans (Yes, even us stalkers) to get a sig or pic. Lilly took the time to stop for a pic with us, even came back to us when my camera malfunctioned... That is what makes the WPS special They need the over the top fans who show up, know the players, have a good relationship with the team and players and cheer loudly... Again, if the resolution is soft, the supporters groups may fade into the silent masses (i.e. - the sky blue fans)
I think you have a winner here. If this guy is an indepedant supporter, a single individual in a crowd making stupid noises/shouting should not mean tarnishing the reputation of a supporter's group.
i can see how you make the connection revs fan, but to me that's a stretch. you may be reaching in one direction just as solo might have done in another. i doubt that an accusation of a racist chant in a women's game in the u.s. would be the same as (i'm ignoring the superficial stuff that always happens) some of the ugliest racist behavior in europe.
This quote says a lot especially the mother overheard saying "Oh no don't go RACIST' looking towards the Dock. I'm not saying that members of the Riptide were responsible for this reaction but do think this is pertinent.
Statement's out. Not thrilled with it for a few reasons: 1) Nothing from Hope. No apology, no retraction. The vast majority of her 1800+ twitter followers who read her accusations aren't going to see this press release which explains that she accused the wrong people. 2) This may be nitpicking, but "The Beat and its players understand that the remarks were from a few individuals and not representative of the Breakers organization or the Riptide supporters group" doesn't go far enough in my mind. It's not just that whatever remarks they're talking about aren't representative of Riptide - they weren't from Riptide.
The comments did not,apparently ,come from the riptide but the riptide sure took credit for infuriating Hope.As I said before she was supporting her team-mates.I agree that the tweet was the wrong way to go about sorting out the bad apples it certainly got the matter looked into.As the comments were made from the direction of the riptide ,you have to admit that it's easy to make the assumption that it was someone in that group.Doesn't make things right but any reasonable person can understand this.
And any reasonable person would understand why an apology to someone who was wrongly accused of racism is in order. At the very least a tweet to the effect that she was mistaken in who she accused.
Even if Hope says nothing, I would like some sort of indication that the league is not OK with what she did. I think she should be fined by the league, or the Beat should apologize to Riptide on her behalf, or the Breakers should demand such an apology. Anything less makes it seem like WPS thinks it's fine for its players to publicly defame its supporters groups without consequence.
Any "reasonable person" would determine who to accuse before going public with an accusation. Also, any "reasonable person" would not punish children by refusing to sign autographs after a game, no matter what happened. Finally, any "reasonable person" would have the class and backbone to admit when she made a mistake, and say so herself via the same medium she made the false accusation rather than letting the team do the talking for her. I guess any way you look at it, Hope Solo is not a "reasonable person."
And as someone(suitablyamused) pointed out to me, the so-called "joint statement" was only published on the Breakers website NOT on the Beat site. What does that say?
The mistake Hope made was going on Twitter to voice her feelings but we have all said things in the heat of the moment that we regret. SOMEHOW lost in the shuffle is the FACT that Racist Comments Were made by some ? fans in the crowd and ,judging by where extra security is being located re statement,it appears that person/persons responsible were behind the Visitors bench and near the Dock.The mistake Hope made was directed towards the riptide instead of the so-called Breaker fans.She is a very reasonable and loyal member of the team and she has a lot more class than some of the Breaker fans.
The comments and how to prevent them in the future are a totally different pair of issues from the point that I'm making. I agree that racist comments are unacceptable under any circumstances, and the Riptide (which I'm not a member of, for the record) have made it clear that they feel the same way. The point that I'm making, and which you seem to refuse to see, is that Solo needs to step up and retract her accusation that was leveled very publicly against the wrong group. She needs to do it on Twitter, to the same people she sent the accusations to in the first place. Letting the team do it for her is the act of a classless coward.
If anyone wants to post on Atlanta's comment area, their release of the statement can be found here: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/atlanta/news/press_releases/100809-statement.aspx
The statement said: "it seems clear that a few individual fans shouted comments towards the field that crossed the line from traditional heckling to abusive language that is neither respectful of the players, nor apppropriate for the family friendly entertainment environment that the Breakers pride themselves on." Abusive language that is not respectful does NOT equal racist. I'm not saying racist statement were made or not made but it's not a fact that racist comments were made. Hope's statement was "profanity, racism and rude remarks" any of which would qualify as disrespectful and abusive. I have heard some insinuation but not a single post from someone that directly heard a racist remark Her own team has stated that Hope was wrong. She distinctly targeted the riptide in her tweets and her own team has now said she was mistaken. If she had an ounce of class she would at least make a statement absolving the riptide. She made an accusation she now knows to be false. If she was reasonable and had any class there would be an apology from her already.
I agree with you except the point of her being a classless coward.Actually I think that she will apologise to the riptide for including them in her accusation.
I certainly don't know this for sure but usually when two companies do an investigation and issue their findings they have first talked to the people bringing the issue forward and told them what will be said and instructed them to make no further comment. So don't be surprised if there is no further comment on this from either team or individual players. Just my thoughts. Don't heckle the messenger
I hope that you're right, and if she does then I won't think that of her. However, the longer she waits to make a retraction the more it will look like it was done under duress. She only has a narrow window of opportunity to appear sincere. I honestly hope that she does the right thing.
Ask your G.M. about the Racial comments.He Knows.The Beat management has said she was wrong in what she said on Twitter re riptide BUT not wrong about the comments and remarks being made otherwise why did the Breakers Management apologise and plan to beef up security behind the Visitors Bench and behind the goals.
You could very well be right, and if you are then the statement released today is at least in part a failure since it fails to address a major issue of the incident. If they left it up to Solo to make her own apology or not as she sees fit, then that's one thing, but if they muzzle her from doing so and then issue a weak statement like this, then they've hung her out to dry.
The Beat management said there were abusive and disrespectful comments made NOT racist. As I said earlier I am not saying there were or weren't but calling it a FACT doesn't make it one. They are beefing up security because they want to stop abusive and disrespectful comments, that much is clear but it is not a FACT that any racist remarks were made untill there is some reasonable proof that they were.
That is often the case but I'm finding it pretty hard to believe that if Hope asked Beat management to release a pre-approved statemnt just absolving the RipTide that they would say no