Fan Violence 8/13

Section 37 · 08-14-2005, 10:49 PM

Or, as was mentioned before, some sort of pre- game crowd display. Those sorts of things really get the crowd into it.

rabble-rabble · 08-15-2005, 10:03 AM

Last Saturday showed both the best and worst in fan behavior. The match showed that despite falling behind by 3 goals, the home crowd would continue to support and cheer for their team. The team was motivated and scored two goals including Jason’s 100th career score. (Congratulations Jason, too bad your historic goal was bittersweet as it came in an RSL loss.) We also saw the crowd give cheers to the losing home side after the final whistle had blown. Throughout the season, the RSL fans have proudly and patiently supported our team as they struggle through being an expansion team matched against much more experienced opponents. The support groups came up with a few new wrinkles on some of our cheers and had great fun cheering together.

Unfortunately there were a number of fans who were disappointed with some of the calls that took place near the end of the match and took out their frustrations by throwing debris onto the pitch, and at visiting players and game officials.

Let me first emphatically state that I am not directing this towards any particular support group. The majority of fans from the various groups sitting in the NE corner are very passionate, vocal, and supportive fans that help produce a very positive and enjoyable atmosphere both for the home side, visiting side, and other fans. Leaders from 2 of the largest groups have already openly condemned throwing objects on the pitch. The majority of members of all support groups are against throwing items onto the field and I hope that we can all avoid blaming groups as a whole for the actions of a small number of people who may not even be members of any particular group. It is a few individuals both in the NE corner, and elsewhere who badly need to clean up their act. (It started in our corner, but afterwards spread over many other parts of the stadium.)

The supporter’s section in the NE corner is for fans that SUPPORT the team. We stand the entire match, are loud, colorful, and energetic. We welcome all fans who want to help make lots of noise and let the team know we are fully behind them, whether they are on the happy side of the scoreboard or not. However, sitting (or standing) in or near our sections is not a free license for uncivilized behavior. If you must resort to littering the pitch when a controversial call (or non-call) goes against the home side (and that happens in soccer, so DEAL with it, referees are human and make mistakes), then you are not welcome in our section, or anywhere else in the stadium for that matter. People that throw items on the field are embarrassing and humiliating to the team and to other fans. As for those of us in the support groups, I think that pretty much all of us want our section to be as large and loud as possible, but I have to wonder how many fans will avoid sitting in our section because they don’t want to be associated with the small number of people in our section who have participated in inappropriate behavior. Throwing objects on the field isn’t going to help attract anyone to join our groups.

I also can’t help but wonder how many casual fans attending their first soccer match last weekend observed the sad unsportsmanlike display at the end of the game and made a decision to not return. This behavior, if it continues, is going to hurt attendance in the long run and it must not be allowed to continue. Too many people have the misconception that soccer fans are in general unruly and violent, but this sort of thing only serves to justify their opinion. RSL needs all the fan support it can get and can’t afford to have people leave with an unfavorable attitude about their experience. I also wonder how many fans that left Saturday with a negative feeling about the match are going to complain to their peers and persuade others from attending matches.

In a few earlier postings on some of the boards, I’ve noted that various fans and groups need to try to be tolerant of each other’s differences, but as others have said, we need to have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to this sort of behavior. We need to draw the line when it comes to this issue. At the very least, when someone throws (or is about to throw) an object onto the field, other fans need to immediately confront the individual and firmly tell them to stop or they will be promptly reported to security. We need to make them feel very uncomfortable about their actions. But even call security right away if you want to. We really need to stop this from continuing to happen. Having someone ejected for their first offense is not unreasonable. Any civilized person attending a sporting event in our community knows beforehand that it isn’t appropriate to engage in this sort of behavior.

Rice-Eccles needs to have a reputation where fans will loudly cheer for the home side, and give the visiting team a hard time (within the bounds of good taste). I would hate for us to gain a reputation of being a venue where visiting teams and game officials will be pelted with garbage. Landon Donovan visited our stadium in May and we boisterously gave him a difficult time, but when he returned with the National Team for the June qualifier he was quoted in the press before the match saying how much he enjoyed the fan atmosphere during the match in May and how much he was looking forward to playing again in our stadium. Believe me NO visiting player (or official) who gets hit with a full cup of soft drink or other item is going to enjoy the experience.

I guess I better get off my soap box. I expect that we can expect a more visible presence of security personnel (especially in the NE corner) at Saturday’s match. I won’t be too pleased with that. (It’s sort of like when you are driving and have a police car behind your vehicle for a long period of time. You aren’t doing anything wrong, but it just makes you a little nervous and unsettled.) Let’s please all try to be supportive of the home side, but know that there are reasonable limits to how we should act.

Jose Luis Luviano · 08-15-2005, 10:13 AM

Could College Sports TV or someone like that lend a camera?

Isn't that how they cut down on violence in England? By showing juries videos of hooligans and sending them to (the hooligans, not the juries) to jail?

If there's a camera focused on 32 & 33 for the whole game, that will improve behavior.

So would an undercover cop.

With Overheads factored in, an undercover cop in our section would be, what, maybe $80 for a game?

Deuce · 08-15-2005, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jose Luis Luviano

Could College Sports TV or someone like that lend a camera?

Isn't that how they cut down on violence in England? By showing juries videos of hooligans and sending them to (the hooligans, not the juries) to jail?

If there's a camera focused on 32 & 33 for the whole game, that will improve behavior.

So would an undercover cop.

With Overheads factored in, an undercover cop in our section would be, what, maybe $80 for a game?

That may be a bit over the top...
besides I think even an under cover cop will stand out in a group of howling fans.... It would not take people long to figure it out and then the cost of rotating undercover cops would be prohibitive.

The camera is not a bad idea but I think if fans know it is there, watching, that they will not stand there.

In Europe they have an army of cameramen pointing cameras at the fans...
You never knew when you were being filmed... It is an accepted alternative to being constantly harrassed by security.

However I think it is a really bad idea to point cameras solely at the supporters sections because it will give the rest of the stadium the idea that security cameras are needed for some reason and those fans will just not bother joining us.
And besides all that, the problem is not only in the supporters groups... If you use cameras to watch the fans it needs to be on ALL fans and not singling any group out.

I really don't think that our groups are the root of the problem...
In fact I think that sometimes the passion you find in supporters groups attract that unruly, troublemaking element but supporters groups certainly do not condone or encourage that kind of behavior in its ranks.

In fact I think The FO should stay out of it for now and leave it to us to POLICE OURSELVES and if we can't maintain that security then we ask for there help... or they offer it. I understand that the behavior on Saturday night is totally un-acceptable but before we ask that they adopt Big Brother tactics I think they should allow us to attempt to address it ourselves.

Jose Luis Luviano · 08-15-2005, 11:19 AM

Undercover cops cost less than an Assistant Referee's lawsuit against RSL after said linesman gets smacked in the back of the head with a Jack Daniels bottle.

Aerick · 08-15-2005, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jose Luis Luviano

Undercover cops cost less than an Assistant Referee's lawsuit against RSL after said linesman gets smacked in the back of the head with a Jack Daniels bottle.

I'll volunteer to be the undercover cop!!! Are you kidding me? Get paid to go to RSL games?!?!?!?!? Heck, I wouldn't even have to be "undercover", and I'd do it for half price!! I'd let everyone know that I was there to a) watch and enjoy the game, and b) lay the smack down on anyone that threw crap on the field. Perhaps they would give me a tazer gun too!! Yeah, tazer guns. I think I'd need two though, and a couple of cans of mace - you know, just in case someone got really rowdy!! 😁

Soccerchick · 08-15-2005, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerick

I'll volunteer to be the undercover cop!!! Are you kidding me? Get paid to go to RSL games?!?!?!?!? Heck, I wouldn't even have to be "undercover", and I'd do it for half price!! I'd let everyone know that I was there to a) watch and enjoy the game, and b) lay the smack down on anyone that threw crap on the field. Perhaps they would give me a tazer gun too!! Yeah, tazer guns. I think I'd need two though, and a couple of cans of mace - you know, just in case someone got really rowdy!! 😁

Yeah, I'm with ya, lol 🙂

Section 37 · 08-15-2005, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deuce

That may be a bit over the top...
besides I think even an under cover cop will stand out in a group of howling fans.... It would not take people long to figure it out and then the cost of rotating undercover cops would be prohibitive.

The camera is not a bad idea but I think if fans know it is there, watching, that they will not stand there.

In Europe they have an army of cameramen pointing cameras at the fans...
You never knew when you were being filmed... It is an accepted alternative to being constantly harrassed by security.

However I think it is a really bad idea to point cameras solely at the supporters sections because it will give the rest of the stadium the idea that security cameras are needed for some reason and those fans will just not bother joining us.
And besides all that, the problem is not only in the supporters groups... If you use cameras to watch the fans it needs to be on ALL fans and not singling any group out.

I really don't think that our groups are the root of the problem...
In fact I think that sometimes the passion you find in supporters groups attract that unruly, troublemaking element but supporters groups certainly do not condone or encourage that kind of behavior in its ranks.

In fact I think The FO should stay out of it for now and leave it to us to POLICE OURSELVES and if we can't maintain that security then we ask for there help... or they offer it. I understand that the behavior on Saturday night is totally un-acceptable but before we ask that they adopt Big Brother tactics I think they should allow us to attempt to address it ourselves.

Deuce makes a great point here.

At this point we should police ourselves. We were all dissapointed by a few people Saturday, but it's still pretty rare at our stadium.

Also, the few times that has happened have been situtations of EXTREME emotion.

Like Deuce, I too believe for now the F.O. should let it ride.

We can handle the stands ourselves.

Hiddnfox · 08-15-2005, 01:29 PM

the majority of stuff being thrown was from the 'kids' who end up in our section.
especially one punk kid who threw a full coke and coverd all of RCB/loyalists rather than anyone on the field.

Sctn37:20 · 08-15-2005, 03:50 PM

Hey Schlotsky,

I don't know who you talk to. Granted you have your opinion about the streamers which I respect. You don't like them. That is fine.

The last thing in the world that we want to have happen is these games turn into Jazz games. What I mean is that people just sit and clap and it is boring to watch. That is not how soccer games are anywhere in the world.

Any player I have talked to even the coaches all appreciate the streamers. Other **** being thrown out is not acceptable, but streamers are easy to pick up and people like them. It is one of the many ways to get involved.