I watched the US Nats game at RFK later that night - During the 9th minute, as part of the tribute to Davies - several smoke bombs were let off in the supporters section as they held up the #9. And there was no over-zealous security detail waiting to attack and ruin the moment. Nor did I notice anyone get kicked out for bouncing and endangering themselves. The ending of that game was unbelievable - and Adrian Healey was excellent capturing the moment - especially the angst of Costa Rica missing out on 3rd. Wish he was lead announcer for all Nat games.
There's certainly some logic to bringing on pace at the end of the game when the opponent is tired, but that doesn't make up for fielding an inadequate attack for the majority of the game. Well, in this case it did.
I have to agree, I like both Findley and Williams as super-subs. Don't get me wrong, RSL controlled like 90%of that game. Freak, standing in the south end in the 2nd half sucked for one reason was that RSL had offensive possession for almost the entire time. But it did feel like Western Conference Championship Part 2 for a long stretch there. Thank goodness for good old Andy. And Findley was working his tail off too. One thing I haven't read too much here, but I am curious about, is Clint Mathis done as a RSL player? Just seemed like he keeps losing a step and his touch is more and more off. Personally, if he does retire, I hope he stays with RSL in some way. Imagine Cleetus being in charge of the RSL/Real Madrid Academy in Rose Park? Also, I hope Castro and LBR come back, we need more passionate fans in the stands, not less. If there is anything I can do, let me know.
Naw, Cleetus should retire and become a ref. THAT would be karmic justice--and he'd probably be a pretty good ref, too. He certainly carps like he knows the rules.
RSL needs to get a little more serious about an academy program. They should either buyout an existing youth club in the valley or setup their own. In fact, MLS should get more serious about this in general. College is great but I don't see it as a strong development step for soccer players (unlike it is for football, baseball, and basketball). MLS should be the first pro sport in the US to recognize that talent should developed on the club system. Dutch clubs begin youth systems as young as 7 years old. The Dutch also produce great coaches because there are rarely shortcuts - you have to work your way through the youth before you work with the top. This gives them a chance as coaches to learn and develop (because mistakes can be made without such dramatic consequences).
I did not see lBR leave or be escorted out of the game and only know what I read from others posts about the incident. I have seen and been apart of other over zealous security and pompous RSL staff to have had enough. I called RSL and spoke with a Senior Vice President who said that lBR were standing on the chairs and broke a few after being asked to not stand on the chairs. I told him they are pretty cheap chairs to begin with and I don't condone damaging Rio Tinto. He did seem genuinely interested in my opinion and comments regarding the security and atmosphere at RSL matches. I would suggest if you haven't, many of you probably have relationships with members of the F.O., call the front office and express your support for a soccer atmosphere at RSL games. I was very concerned that he said their is a split in the F.O. about what the atmosphere should be. They get complaints from many about the singing, standing and other soccer related traditions. I told him I would be incredibly disappointed if lBR was not there. Those that want a traditional American sporting atmosphere can not win. If I wanted to sit down and shut up I would still be going to BYU games. I only wish I had said that. I thought about it after I hung up. Call the F.O. and tell them you want a soccer atmosphere at RSL and that the rent a cops need to take it down a notch. One of them was eyeballing the kids in section 3 throwing paper air planes.
Standing the whole game and singing the whole game are wonderful. IBR is a grand addition to the supporting groups of RSL. I have praised the group often here on BS. Standing on chairs is wrong, especially after learning of the first one breaking. It is not condonable (after learning of the first one breaking, because a first broken chair is an accident to learn from). And, if IBR, or any group, is not willing to obey when told to not stand on them, IBR should leave and the game will go on without them. Really, it will. And, the team will survive without IBR. Because, it survived before IBR. If it was about the chairs, this is pretty easy. Chairs are for sitting, not standing. IBR can fix this if it wants to. RSL has nothing to apologize for, if it is about chairs being broken because of people standing in them.
This has been the case since day one. It seems to me like about 25% of the FO understands what true support looks like, and do what they can to help the fans. Then 25% (like Trino) hate us because we don't behave like BYU or Bees fans. The remainder don't have much of an opinion or aren't really involved. The FO needs a purging IMO. Keep a few people around to deal with the family sections and whatnot, but the majority of fan relations (and certainly the people who head that up) ought to be done by people who really understand European/Latin American style support. And for hell's sake, get rid of most of the security guys (keep a few roving around in case of a problem, but there's no reason to have a bunch of them trying to prove what big men they are by harassing supporters) and all the Sandy cops--those assholes need to be outside directing traffic, not beating up kids in our stadium. With regard to this particular incident, if it was a case of chairs being broken then there's no reason for LBR to throw a hissy fit--not breaking shit should be a pretty basic principle. Also, considering I've seen some of the larger dudes in the RCB (a group populated heavily by large dudes) stand on chairs without breaking them, there's no way that just standing on them for a better view caused them to break; there had to have been some serious abuse. That said, if the FO and security hadn't caused problems with supporters group relations before (i.e. the aforementioned "Trino calls the cops and they kick a teenager's ass" incident), LBR probably wouldn't have been so quick to throw a tantrum.
If there have been issues with breaking the chairs in the south end then I think an easy fix would be to replace the chairs with benches....they are probably much cheaper and stronger than the chairs. Since the whole area is reserved for the support groups then there should even be an issue of whose seat is where. I personally love the singing and chanting at soccer games. The chanting is nothing new for me...Texas A&M has a very organized set of chants for the football games, but I think I like th esinging more. Watching the EPL games is a blast when you can actually hear the singing over the announcers. We need more of this, not less. On a game note...what was the final tally on fouls? I remember seeing a stat flashed up on the scoreboard that had the fouls at RSL 8 NY 5. I don't think they were keeping track - I don't think it was ever that close. It seemed like RSL was getting calls against them at a 5-1 rate. RSL continues to get screwed in this area while at home.
The chairs? I'm calling BS on this excuse, yes a couple (I think it was a total of three) of chairs were broken in the beginning of the season due to LBR members jumping on them while we chanted. The FO (Trino) came to us and told us we needed to stop jumping on the chairs so we did but most of La Barra still stood on them while chanting during the game. Then the FO came to us again and said that we couldn't stand on them at all. If any of you were close to section ten on wednsday night you mightve noticed how the only two people who stand on the chairs now are the two people who play the really big drum. I personally had a plastic pig come down on me because I climbed over the middle of the rows trying to get to a person a couple oof rows above me. Also regarding to this problem, when section 10 was being taken out of the stadium to make room for the stage, LBR suggested the possibility of putting it back without the chairs so that we would be more free to move around but that was understansibly denied. Some of you think we might be throwing a fit but really all we want is to be able to support our team in our own way, were not trying to harm anyone or cause any damage. I think that what most of us feel right now can be explained in the words of another LBR member, 'It seems that security would be happier if we didn't exist, they harass us and patrol us as if we were criminals, making us feel uncomfortable in our own home. Too bad for them that they're not gonna be able to scare us off, and if we don't receive support from the FO then well find another way to show our support for our team, because we are there for the team, not for anything else. Barra lets keep up that energy and support, do not resort to violence but make it known that we won't take anything anymore from those want to control us at their own will'
Take the chairs out and put benches in, this is the supporters section, it's SUPPOSED TO BE ROWDY. It's the designated mosh pit at the stadium, let it be what it was intended to be.
The chairs cost $17 each. If they are complaining about that, pay them for the damaged chairs. Although, they did come from Europe (Sweden or Switzerland I believe), so you may need to add in shipping costs. When we were building the stadium, I laughed when I saw the seats. They were the least expensive they could find, and it shows.
I'd like to be clear on that too. From goobx1's post, it sounded like the FO was claiming that the ejection came down to the destruction of chairs. If this wasn't the case, and the guy was referring to an incident from the beginning of the season to justify the ejection, well…that's ridiculous.
The FO hasn't commented on the matter from what I know but Castro probably knows what's going on better.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnMWvy0oCMg"]YouTube - War On The Terraces Cockney Rejects[/ame]