There’s a disagreement over fan behavior going on in the blogosphere, and it’s clear that my longtime RFK pressbox pal Aaron Stollar (Fighting Talker, BigSoccer) is better-informed than Ethiene Rodriguez at EPL Talk.
Usually, the better-informed person is right. And Aaron’s usually right. Unfortunately, this argument has hit upon a pet peeve of mine, which is gratuitous bleeping profanity at bleeping MLS games.
There’s nothing clever or entertaining about chanting “&%$# you, ref” after a disagreeable call. Frankly, we had far better chants in high school. (My favorite: “Nuts and bolts! Nuts and bolts! We got screwed!”)
There’s nothing clever or entertaining about yelling “You suck, a&&hole” just as the goalkeeper makes contact on a goal kick.
Forget for a moment — only a moment — that MLS can’t afford to tune out any audience. You 18-35ers who think you own the world have to coexist with the 40somethings and their U12 kids. Apologies to all who want to take the wrong lessons from Toronto’s success in filling BMO, but that’s the way it is. “F you ref” isn’t going to make anyone feel a sudden urge to take in an MLS game; it might get a few people to leave.
The larger problem is that you just look and sound like stupid wannabes. Like so many college basketball fans who copy Duke’s energy without any of the creativity (which, sadly, has faded in Cameron Indoor Stadium over the years), you’re taking the bit of someone else’s atmosphere that’s easiest to copy and running with it.
A lot of the U.S. soccer community has a complex about European soccer. We want the atmosphere at MLS games to be full of raucous chanting like we imagine we’re seeing and hearing at EPL games. Fine.
Now tell me what you think of when you think of Liverpool fans. “%&%# you, you &%$#munch” or You’ll Never Walk Alone? Thought so.
MLS fans are capable of much more than this. Some Toronto and Seattle fans may think they invented passionate atmospheres, but most clubs have at least one solid supporters group with good chants and sometimes stunning banners.
Changing the tone doesn’t mean keeping a swear jar at the turnstile, though they might be an effective way for some teams to afford a Designated Player. It means cutting down the organized pottymouth. You’re not going to intimidate the ref or the opponent. You’re just going to intimidate your neighbor who looks across the stadium and sees a mob missing a few brain cells.
These days, everyone’s asking MLS to raise the level on the field. How about raising the level off it?
Update: Match Fit USA has a typically articulate post defending the notion of MLS fans “being themselves.” I still disagree, of course, and I hope “typical Philly behavior” is closer to what I know of the Sons of Ben rather than the Flyers fans shouting homophobic slurs and starting fights in the men’s room at Verizon Center.
Duresport.com 
Beau, ever been to Fenway Park? Longest sell-out streak in the MLB (possibly any sport in American history, or anywhere for that matter), great family atmosphere where you can take the kids….and sloppy-drunk, loudmouthed, profane and horrifying fans. We are not nice people in Boston. We do not take kindly to missed calls and poor performances. We don’t throw snowballs at Santa, but we are certainly far from censored. Still, that hasn’t kept baseball from being Boston’s #1 sport and the Red Sox firmly entrenched in the lexicon of childhood sports culture. The iconic “first game at Fenway” is a moment every child looks forward to and every father/mother/relative looks forward to sharing with them, DESPITE the harsh language and conduct of the 18-35 crowd who arrive at the park drunk and slog down six $7.25 beers by the fourth inning.
It’s fair to say that homophobic/racial slurs are inappropriate, but I think for the most part fans do a good job of flirting with lines and not crossing them. This is a moot point anyway; the person who originally complained in media form retracted the statement when she learned that the Union fans weren’t saying what she thought they were saying. We’re doing fine so far, Beau.
Beau, I agree with you. But I’m biased because I have children of my own, so if I took them to a MLS game, I would frown at the foul language and probably think twice about returning.
It’s tough because I think as we grow older, our beliefs change. We’re shaped by what happens in our life and what we experience. As a younger adult, I would have agreed with Stollar. But now that I’m older, I disagree with him.
Cheers,
The Gaffer