I noticed this weekend that the stadium was awfully quiet. The game started, no drums no chants, it felt like a high school game for a while. At about 10 minutes the supporters groups came in with the drums and the songs, all of the sudden it felt like a Cosmsos game. Everyone in my section started singing along, we all appreciate what these guys and girls do for the game. I've heard and read in other threads that some of the supporters are banned from Hoftra due to some issues during the game against NYCFC. I did notice as I was coming in to the stadium that there was a list with pictures of people that were banned. I'm not sure what happened, but games are not the same without the supporters groups, La Banda del Cosmos, The Borough Boys and The Cross Island crew are an important part of the game day experience. The Cosmos as an organization need to step up and speak up for these guys. As a season ticket holder I wouldn't mind sending some emails, making some calls or signing a petition, even going to a meeting. That is how important I think these guys are to the Cosmos, they arrive early schlepping banners and drums so we can all have a good game day experience, we should all reciprocate.
I remember reading some comments from NYCFC supporters about being mooned on their way out of the stadium. Methinks that would have done it.
That sounds like it would do it, although I did see a couple of guys rush the pitch after the game, I thought that might have been it. Either way it seems a bit much to ban them for life, IMO a few games would be enough. I haven't heard of any fight or altercations so a few games would teach them the lesson...
There is nothing so petty in the world as University politics. Good luck getting any help from Hofstra though, especially when they have the Cosmos over a barrel in terms of having just about no where else to play in the near term. That being said, I agree completely. It was eerie hearing the deafening silence of the, what seemed like an organized 10 minute protest. Both halves started in silence, and it just didn't feel like the Cosmos Country we all know and love! I've been holding off on buying season tickets, simply because I'm waiting for the right deal, but I'd deliver cash to the Cosmos main office for the next couple of seasons in an heartbeat if they could get Hofstra Public Safety to budge even an inch on that Persona Non Grata list. Get the offenders to sign a personal conduct contract, no more traffic flares, whatever... but banning the biggest fans is not how to build a good relationship between our temporary landlords and Cosmos Country.
There was allegedly groups of Cosmos fans attacking and physically assaulting lone, or smaller groups of City supporters after the match in and around the stadium. Apparently, one City supporter fought back and ended up in the hospital. I'm not going to link to another forum, but you can find the stories in the City forums.
I looked in the NYCFC forum, they don't seem have a thread for USOC, under the games thread they coment on the game, but nothing outside of that. What you are saying is some pretty incendiary stuff, I only hope it didn't happen. If it did or anything near that Iwould be embarrassed and apologetic to those people. Then people do deserve to be banned, that's the only way to stop that.
I'll post the thread where they discuss the events here. I'm not very active in those forums so i'm not sure of the credibility of the people in that thread and the event's are bound to be told from a generally biased perspective. However, it's clear that people acted ridiculously (probably on both sides, but the Cosmos were in larger numbers so it will look worse for their fans) that even and if they only received a ban, instead of legal charges, they should consider themselves lucky. Hopefully, these incidents were more isolated than they appear to be in this thread. http://nycfcforums.com/index.php?threads/fights-between-nycfc-and-cosmos-fans.3198/ Mods: I apologize for linking to another soccer forum, but it appears relevant. Also, Cosmos fans let them have their forum. Don't go over their just to flame and troll please. Respond on this thread if you must. Edit: I'll post some highlights directly seeing as they have the same forum software it's easy to quote and transfer. I've removed the usernames.
I see what you mean. All I can say is that I'm embarrased. I never though that our supporters could do such thing, but I guess we only see them when there are only Cosmos fans in the stadium. If this all really did go down then those people do need to be banned otherwise it will get worse. I did see the guy rush the pitch so there is some truth to what they say.