Don Garber gave an interview to Sporting News, and in part 2 of the writeup, he was asked about fan support and ended with these comments: "One thing I want to say, though, as I attended the game on Wednesday at Red Bull Arena. While the crowd wasn’t what we would have liked it to have been (for an afternoon match that was marketed heavily to youth and families), the (“You Suck A**hole”) chants (popular at stadiums around the league when the opposing goalkeeper takes a goal kick) were far louder than they would be during a Saturday night at a sold-out match. That is just infuriating to me. It’s just so uncreative and ridiculous, and we need to stop it. Our broadcast partners don’t like it. When vulgarity is going over the air, it’s an issue with the FCC and we’ve got to stop it. (New England Revolution president) Brian Bilello stopped it in New England, and I really appreciated what the Midnight Riders did. They weren’t happy about it, but I looked to that as I sat with Sunil Gulati at the (Red Bulls) game and I said, “How’d you stop it in New England?” He said, “We sat down with them and said, ‘You’ve just got to stop.’ ” They need to stop it in New York, and they need to stop it in a handful of other markets. And if they don’t stop it, we’re going to have to find a way to eradicate it from our game. We can’t have young kids in stadiums listening to vulgarity. No other league would tolerate it. No other public event would have it and we can’t tolerate it in Major League Soccer." http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2012-07-21/sporting-news-conversation-don-garber-part-ii In this article, Garber is otherwise very enthusiastic and appreciative of the supporters groups and their leadership. But I guess this means we'll soon see an end to the Ultras "We don't give a f*** about LA" chant?
Here's an opposing view on Garber's rant: http://www.eightysixforever.com/201...-asshole-and-mls-threatening-its-golden-goose
We have had this discussion around profanity being used in cheers from supporters groups. I'm not sure that we will tread any new ground in the discussion or change anyone's minds. I'm pleased to see how the supporters groups have evolved over the years, but in this respect, I agree with the commissioner and would like to see it eliminated from the chants. Of course, I'm sure that we going to get into a discussion on what would be termed a profanity. Kind of ironic in that the NFL Comissioner made recent comments that he would like to see NFL games have more spirit and atmosphere like soccer games.
I'm sure Don Garber is pleased with how the supporters culture has evolved, as well, because it is the focus of every team's advertising, without getting releases from the individuals depicted. There's a difference between wanting profanity out of the game and imposing censorship, as for example in the lifetime ban (you read that right) to the fan from Colorado who allegedly uttered a profanity when the Quakes beat his team. And you don't need to define profanity if you don't go down the road of censorship.
He's upset about this and yet he doesn't give a rat's ass about spruiking the diabetesity-inducing Red Bull to children. Follow the money.
Don Garber can ******** my ********ing ******** ******** ******** ******** ******** ********. ****************. In the past, I was annoyed by the Ultras' chant that included "******** LA" at every game -- "but what about the children?" Well, my son has been going to Quakes games for five years now, and he absolutely hears worse in his after-school care and summer camps than he has ever heard at a Quakes game. And anyone who thinks that "******** LA" is not the divine truth as handed down from God himself is just wrong.
Garber has to clean his own backyard first !...what will be next ? punishing Beckham for a F-bomb? showing a red card to a coach for being upset at a call from a ref ?... BTW it's called "STADIUM LANGUAGE" and like I tell my kids "what happen in the stadium stays in the stadium"
The authorities will be able to more easily control "indecent" language at the new stadium with supporters consigned to the terraced jail section. Perhaps surrounded by rent-a-cops.
No shit. In the long run what is going to harm children more, a couple of F-bombs, or that horrid swill.
When taking a break from playing some ultra violent video games, and waching catoons and reality shows filled with sex, promiscuity, alcohol, drugs and violence the kids will go to a Quakes game. Out there they will see role models such as Beckham or Eddie Johnson shoving and punching Quakes players and mascots, listen to the guys on the field cussing at each other or at the ref like sailors, while their parents drink a few cold beers next to them. What a great day for the kids....but wait, the Ultras are singing a song about f-bombing LA! Unacceptable! Ban the Ultras! Regarding the other pro-sports events, Garber is right. If you don't consider "Bullshit" profanity, they don't have organized chants containing profanity. Only some stabbings, brawls and shootings. If those fans are so peaceful maybe Garber should send his kids to a 49ers-Raiders game, and then have them look for Anthony Wayne Smith and get his autograph. I am sure Brian Stow would prefer to go watch another game at the Dodgers stadium, rather than being exposed to the Ultras' language. With some of his statement Garber is not only insulting our intelligence, but also losing his credibility. By the way...no, it is not a gift for us to be fans of a team. It's a choice. And we pay for it. Gifts are free. It's a gift for him and for the league to have fans and supporters willing to support them financially and provide them free PR with their tifo, songs, road trips and all the recruiting efforts they are doing. The funny part is that there are probably more kids in our section than in the whole family section. We have parents bringing their kids over and asking if it's ok for them to stand with us. I had to assign guys whose only task is to make sure the kids are out of the way when the group rushes the railing area. I think parents would prefer to have their kids spend a Saturday night in our section exposed to and participating in some f bombs chants, than locked in their rooms, glued in front of their xbox playing some shooting game, or watching Snooky, Kim Kardashian, or some teen mom's adventures.
Send the fella over to watch a few EPL derbies like Spurs v Chelsea, Man U v Liverpool or Newcastle v Sunderland. It might give him a different perspective on 'bad language'. Although it has improved since the 1970's/1980's when anything went, it remains pretty industrial. When we can't think of anything particularly witty or clever to sing we have been know to goad the reprehensible racist John Terry (Chelsea Captain) with 'Terry, Terry, you're a c***!'.
I don't like the YSA chant, and I am pleased that the Timbers Army has stopped doing it. Also, I notice that the SJ Ultras don't do it. Sure, some of your (our?) chants are vulgar, but they aren't as recognizable on TV and I think that's the big issue for Gerber. The most important part of his statement was: "Our broadcast partners don’t like it. When vulgarity is going over the air, it’s an issue with the FCC and we’ve got to stop it." If it weren't for that, I don't think he'd care. And he has attended soccer matches in Enguland, in the early to mid 90's. So he knows what goes on there. I'm all for singing vulgar songs at the enemy, or the refs, or that nasty, foul, pestilential city to the south. But I also understand Gerber's concern about the TV contract. Ultimately, it's the sponsors and advertisers who make the game work at this level. (Sad and pathetic though that is.) And yes, the counter argument is that without the fans would not be any game at all is quite true. There has to be a solution that doesn't include censorship. Heck, you hear or lip read a lot of swearing on reality TV shows, or just high up the dial on the cable shows. We've long ago given up trying to enforce Puritanical values on our media, so a few vulgar chants at a futbol game really shouldn't be viewed in a wildly different light. GO QUAKES!!! F#$% el-lay!! <- Is this really not vulgar? Is anyone fooled? - Mark
OK, I really enjoy the energy and entertainment Ultras give to the game --BUT ultimately I'm sure no one here thinks that we can alter FCC or censorship rules for TV broadcast. So how do they solve that problem? Do ultras chant swear words in England? How are they not broadcast if so? I have worked at a radio station and ran a recording studio. All you can do is try to mic/mix out what you don't want. I doubt a more complicated elegant solution exists, or would be considered. It might be difficult, but I think in some stadiums it can be done. Obviously, attendance would be a critical factor to be able to pick up the non-ultra crowd sounds. As for an *in-stadium* complaint, well I don't know an agreeable solution but I bet if you could at least broadcast audio to acceptable censorship levels then it might solve what is the most important issue here. For some reason I'm doubtful that solutions will be searched for that could preserve all the best aspects of what supporters are giving for the entertainment and expansion of MLS, though. Brilliant.
To me, you absolutely have to cater to supporters who help grow the damn game, if you need to figure out the technical stuff (don't broadcast swear words), then DO IT and stop whining. From my perspective it can be done.
That's correct, Garber is probably concerned more about the profanity during the broadcast. Not only they don't have anybody in the studiot trying to filter the potential profanity, but at the last two games they placed mics in front of our sections. They want to pimp out our songs and tifo, but they get all butt hurt and make threats when occasional profanity or offensive tifo is included. We hate to have mics near us. We don't want them in there. We sing loud enough to be heard without them, and the sporadic profanity won't even be noticed during the broadcast. We love our team and we would do anything for it. What does Garber think we should do when Eddie Johnson knocks down one of our guys in front of us? Start a chant that goes "Eddie Johnson shame on you clap clap"? Or when Beckham is acting like a douchebag and starting fights with all of our guys, giving us the finger in the process? Make a banner reading "Beckham, please be nice!"? Of course we are going to react. We hate the YSA chant, and we don't swear just for the hell of it. Maybe we did, 9 years ago when we were 5 crazy kids isolated in a corner at Spartan, but things changed a lot since. We realize that our chants are now audible all over the stadium and we want to increase the Quakes fan base, not to scare people away. Our main goal is to support the Quakes. We are better organized, and police oulrselves better than any other group in MLS. We don't allow people who are just looking to get drunk, cuss and start trouble to join us. Most of our chants are profanity free. When we cuss, we do it because of something heated that's happening on the field, or when we chant about our rivals from LA or Seattle. It comes with the extreme passion that we have for this team. Sometimes it's the regular fans starting those type of chants. The "FU Ref chant" at the Dallas game was not even started by us. If Gerber thinks that his threats are going to stop the profanity at soccer stadiums, he is dead wrong.
I hate the YSA chant and I think anybody caught yelling it should be banned from the game forever just because it's stupid and unoriginal. Personally I'd like to hear '********' used on goal kicks. " Yoooooooou ********!" Would be great. Sounds euro too!
SanJoseUltras Yep, I mean to me, you mic different parts of the crowd, and you can ride 3 or 4 faders to eliminate parts of the crowd as needed. For this to become a bigger issue than that would be a real shame.
Exactly! I bet you could put a filter on the mic in the supporters section that would blur the language a bit, so that it's harder to hear what they are chanting. But we've all seen games where the audience (en masse) chant "bullshit." We've all caught a sports game on TV where some particularly loud fan is near enough to a mic that when he (or more rarely she) yells out something rude, it makes the broadcast. Every sport is subject to this sort of thing. There's no reason for MLS and Gerber to get extra paranoid about it. GO QUAKES!! - Mark
I posted a comment to the article: "FWIW, New England also has the lowest attendance in MLS for 2012. Is that what Garber wants to emulate for the entire league? He needs to go back to bending over for New York and LA -- it's what he does best..."
The solution is to not mic the supporters section during NBC and ESPN broadcasts. We got mic'd for both of these nat'l broadcast games this year. Just remove the mics... you will still hear the noise of the chants but it won't be crystal clear what the words are. Dishing out bans on your diehard supporters like what happened in Colorado is the wrong way to go about it.
San Jose as a whole doesn't get recognition. Go out of the state, and the majority of people that will ask you where you're from, and you say San Jose, they wouldn't know where that is or that it even exists
That's because he hates us, my precious! He wants to gouge our ezes out! </Golum> Yeah, I noticed that. We're top of the table and have been most of the season, AND, we have the very best fans in all the land, and the f#$%ing commish can't be bothered to mention us. He's a turd fondler. I notice that there aren't a lot of articles about us on MLSSoccer either. We don't get a lot of love from the league, nor the media that cover the league. I'd like to tinkle on them. GO QUAKES!! - Mark