1906 Ultras Statement Regarding Protest We are protesting the unjust probation that the Earthquakes front office have imposed on our group as punishment for our Tifo (overhead banner) at the Seattle home game on April 2nd. We will not stand for the front office’s unwarranted attempt at censorship. Three days after the Seattle game, Ultras leaders received an e-mail from the Earthquakes front office notifying us that a Seattle supporter complained about the tifo on Twitter, and that the Earthquakes front office agreed that the tifo was vulgar, a violation of the fan code of conduct, poorly represented the club, and that as a result the Ultras were being punished by being placed on probation. The tifo at the Seattle game was in no way vulgar or obscene, and in no way violates the fan code of conduct. There was no nudity, no sexual acts, and no profanity. The tifo was merely an irreverent take on Charlie Sheen, something which the Earthquakes front office itself has indulged in (see their youtube video from a few weeks ago). If the tifo was so obscene and such a violation of the code of conduct, why did no Earthquakes staff member ask us to take it down, or complain to us during or after the game? Why did not a single Earthquakes fan complain about the tifo? Why did the front office not say anything to us for three full days? For the Earthquakes front office to now come forward and suggest the tifo was obscene is extremely insulting to the Ultras artists who spent countless hours of their free time making it. Our protest will continue until the unjust probation is lifted. Sincerely, 1906 ultras leadership
I agree with the quakes office on this one. There was absolutely nothing on that banner that had anything to do with the soccer game. There is a lot of different fans at the game including families. There is no need to push the envelope purely for the sake of pushing the envelope. I wasn't offended personally, but I can see where some would be.
I'm not there for the same reason, I ban my self from this game, in fact I'm so desapointed with the way the FO is handeling this situation that in protest I decided to burn my ticket. But the baning doesn't stop there, I always bring my wife and my three kids + a family friend (every game is a different family friend), obviusly non of these ticket were purchase for this game. I really cannot find the logic for the FO behavior, I have been a very loyal fan,I drive more than a 100 miles to cheer and support our boys. even for the tifo against Seattle I was there helping to paint it, I didn't find anything offensive or disrecpecful to anyone including Seattle fans. This non-sense has to stop...or maybe, the FO doesn't want me there...? BTW, this has nothing to do with our boys on the field, Im rooting from my heart and I wish for them to win. GO QUAKES ! LA LUCHA CONTINUA !
As a visiting Sounder fan, I was too far away to make out the pic or the words. But I figured it was something related to the Sounders, in anticipation of a large contingent of Away fans, and was glad you'd seen fit to put up some displays. Its readability and execution are of course hindered a bit by the cramped dimensions of the Garden Shed: there will be much more real estate to work with at [TBA] Stadium by 2013. But the important thing to me is that, when we make the investment to travel in numbers to your pitch, I look forward to you putting up some big TIFO as a marker of the occasion. If half of it is anti-TIFO, oh well. The important thing is that you put something up: it's more offensive to me if you do nothing. Avoiding acknowledgement of what's offensive about the scene pictured might only serve to give your FO confidence it made the right call. You could try explaining to the FO that offending the visiting fans just might be the point. Once I saw a photo of the artwork, I thought "hmm, any group doing that up here would probably be done doing overheads for a while." I didn't get the Sheen reference til I saw it mentioned here, but 2 scantily clad women in what look like subservient positions, in today's PC climate, doesn't really need an explanation for the viewer to understand it's likely to offend. To me, as an ECS member, the TIFO that mattered most was the "Respect for an enemy - RIP Zac Chrisman" banner. That showed the kind of class all SG's can aspire to. Good luck living out your Double Secret Probation. If the Fire's 2009 "ban" of Section 8 is any indicator, it's going to be pretty short.
this is some BS. Is it true that action was taken only after some human tampon from Seattle complained about it to your FO on Twitter? If so, please out their handle.
I don't agree with the censorship but I would assume that: - you are there to support the Earthquakes, not to simply be the Ultras - your heart was initially in it for the players and coaches, not the front office So why sit down and pout, with self-ascribed "Censored" badges like you've been branded by the Nazis? It was very overdone and very self-absorbed. I love what you normally bring but I think you lost a lot of sympathy from those around you, based on the comments I heard.
Three cheers to the Utras for their unified stance. I missed hearing you tonight and wondered what was up. The stadium was markedly lackluster in your absense, although I will take a moment to thank the Casbah for taking up the slack. I'm a 50something old fart in Sec C, and for the record I don't care how blue or irreverent the Ultras are or can be. In that regard, I say screw the front office. Your group provides some balance to the legion of ambivilent soccer parents populating my BS neighborhood. The AYSO crowd is as important a core group to the Quakes as anyone, so I emphasize *balance* as a keyword. Hope to see you guys back for the Chivas match, but do what's right and don't just cave in.
Some of our members were so upset about this issue, and the stonewalling from the front office, that they burned their tickets and refused to attend the match today: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RNrl_ZiInk"]YouTube - 1906 Ultras Protest[/ame]
The Earthquakes front office Charlie Sheen video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFnR6_LhTvg"]YouTube - Charlie Sheen: Motivational Speaker for the San Jose Earthquakes[/ame]
i didnt go for a different reason. the FO has been way too inconsistent with their rules on bring in flags. on some days they let them, on others they go full fascist. last week, they wouldnt let me in, and even brought in supervisors to tell me flags on poles are never allowed in Buck Shaw. i reminded her that i came to the first game, through the same gate, in the rain, and had nary a problem. she said just throw it behind a bush, get rid of it, because i wouldnt be allowed in with it. I didnt know what to do with the flag, so i tried another entrance to see how consistent this issue was. it was my own personal flag and pole (not bought by the ultras), signed by many earthquakes players over the last couple seasons. i am NOT going to throw that away. at the next gate over, the supervisor at this gate told me that i could bring a flag in, but only before 5:30 pm. since i missed the time, I kept asking why are the rules so inconsistent. they said no one could bring it in after 530pm. NO ONE, they repeated. any flag or banner needed to be brought in before that time or else it wouldnt be allowed in. then come some overhead banners and flags around 630. and simply says to me that they are part of the crew. i love you earthquakes, but i hate the fact i cant bring my flag in. i wave it like crazy to distract your opponents alongside the roar of the ultras. I defend your name against ignorant soccerhaters, europhiles, and visiting supporter sections alike.
I'm not offended by "Amway" on the Casbah flag, but I can see where some would be. In a free society, artists are not punished for merely offending the sensibilities of others. "Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself." -- Salman Rushdie
ultras come back, the team and the fans need you. i just hope no potential stadium sponsors came to the game tonight as it was like a morgue there without you guys.
No because showing or explaining what they objected to would put it in context. Saying the Ultras are being punished for something that was deemed offensive, gives little context as to what was actually deemed offensive making it hard to have a position on the Ultras punishment one way or the other. Right now it's basically the FO's word vs the Ultras' word...
After the last FO performance on the Ultras. I decided to not even come to the game with my son. Its easier just to put my @ss on my sofa than travel all away from Concord, to seat in the stand. Lol, the game on tv was so quiet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it Your need to see the tifo gives the mental image of a bunch of octogenerian justices retiring to the Supreme Court movie room to watch porn. But by all means someone post a photo of the Seattle tifo. It's not obscene by any legal definition.
so...I'm just supposed to take everyone's word for it? are you drunk? and who cares about the legal definition? are the ultras under probation by the legal definition? what good does posting the charlie sheen youtube video do if i have nothing to compare it to? surely there's no way that a group not famous for their sobriety or their ability to chant without swearing would misjudge something's appropriateness. A68's comment about context was spot on. what probation are the ultras on, anyway?