9 comments

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  J Harris

  11 months ago

  The situation is not acceptable and MLS better do something. Short of docking the Crew points I am not sure many options are left. The league banned the fans who shouted racist slogans, the team failed to do anything about the bottles on the field and the team looked the other way as streamers and other trash was thrown on the field in open revolt against MLS' ban. Also as you point out the Crew have been quick to point the finger at other clubs and their supporters as the ones causing trouble. No option remains other than to dock the Crew five points the next time this happens.
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  Max

  11 months ago

  Columbus is a different market than any other market in the league and the situation is different there. You have to acknowledge job losses in Ohio coupled with a major college around the corner makes the area a challenge and MLS' LA centric ways won't counter the problems there.
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  Joseph T.

  11 months ago

  I'm afraid Columbus has run out of chances.
  
  The next step is making them play in front of an empty stadium unless this nonsense ceases immediately.
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  Liverpool John

  11 months ago

  This is what you get for scheduling West Ham!
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  LarryB

  11 months ago

  Let me point out some of the incorrect points in this article.
  
  1. several Crew fans were shouting racial obscenities at New England players as caught on You Tube.
  
  There was 1 individual on a video caught shouting racial slurs. That individual appears to have been the idiot holding the camera. Further, both the supporters groups and the FO has poured over video and other pictures shot trying to identify who the ONE person that is not a regular was.
  
  2. Columbus fans also were caught throwing glass bottles
  
  This is absolutely impossible as there is not a single glass bottle sold in the stadium. There were items tossed. Those being plastic and maybe coins. We didn't deny it and it has been addressed. But lets be honest here. Columbus is not the only ones guilty of this. Just the other day the same thing was done at a Toronto match vs Montreal and then bragged about in the forums. Funny aren't these the same fans condemning everything that is Columbus?
  
  3. Even more alarming was the attempt by some Columbus supporters to go after sponsors of the MLS Rumors site who had exposed the behavior at Crew Stadium.
  
  The supporters were upset over some of the broad characterizations and straight lies that were made about them and their team. IE linking them to some neo nazi material that was later to be proven was photoshopped together.
  
  4. In defiance of a league wide ban Columbus fans began sprayed confetti and streamers on opposing players while attempting a corner.
  
  Again. Lets be honest. There are still clubs, even today that are throwing streamers at corner kicks. Check out the video of the All Star game shall we? And streamers are not BANNED, they are banned in the run of play. Yes they shouldn't have thrown them at the corner, but the ruling was made 2 days before the game. Not everyone had been told. This again has since been addressed and has not happened since.
  
  5. AS for the Sunday incident. The thing is being blown completely and fully out of proportion. I was there. The whole scuffle lasted all of maybe 5 mins and was promptly broken up. Crew management has stepped up to the plate on this one and admitted that it should never have allowed WHU to get where they were in the stadium and this would have never happened, but when you have WHU fans entering a fan section, screaming @ families and spilling/throwing beer at these same families, you best believe that ppl are going to step up and protect the families. Which is what happened. Had security been there to keep it from getting to that point nothing would have ever happened.
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  Paul

  11 months ago

  Regarding point #5, there is no "league wide ban". The day before the San Jose match, MLS issued the following statement:
  
  "As a consequence of this review, MLS and its teams will take the following steps:
  
  1. MLS and its clubs will undertake a comprehensive review of security measures in each MLS facility to ensure that sufficient measures are taken to prevent fans from throwing objects from the stands at players or officials on the field. Additionally, MLS teams and stadiums will fully communicate to all fans attending MLS games the League’s policy that spectators in breach will be ejected and prohibited from attending future games.
  
  2. MLS has reviewed the increasingly coordinated use of streamers at some MLS stadiums to affect play, particularly as a distraction to visiting players as they attempt to take corner kicks. MLS teams will communicate to their supporter groups MLS’s existing policy – that streamers are not to be used to impact on-field competition or thrown toward a player, referee or stadium staff member. While the spontaneous use of streamers and confetti as an expression of fan enthusiasm will not be prohibited, the continued practice will be kept under review. Should issues continue regarding the use of streamers, MLS will have no option but to prohibit streamers.”
  
  The following day, Crew fans, many of whom are quite young, showered Ronnie O'Brien with streamers in the corner just before halftime.
  
  CSC staff immediately shepherded O'Brien away from the corner.
  
  In short, streamers have not been banned, they had in fact been previously applauded in Toronto and Columbus, and it should be noted that the fans in the Nordecke are much closer to the field than those in Toronto.
  
  Your suggestions that Crew management is to blame for a couple of racist fans or that their marketing poster was designed to incite reckless behavior are ludicrous.
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  CLB

  11 months ago

  Columbus is a nice place to live, cheer, and support, maybe it's not a nice place to play... quit hating.
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• 

  C-bus

  11 months ago

  I think Larry B summed it up. I know a small city in Ohio being so successful in MLS just pisses every one off but you'll just have to live with it. Oh, and learn how to spell. My dictionary doesn't contain the words deliberetly, or Dnever.
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  Bill Archer

  11 months ago

  Simply the most ignorant, ill-conceived, least insightful commentary I hve seen on this topic.
  
  It betrays an almost complete ignorance of the facts combined with absurd suppositions and badly flawed conclusions.
  
  In short, this is just tripe.
  
  What in the world did you do while you were doing all this "investigating and fact gathering"? Smoking crack?
  
  If much of what you portray was accurate I would agree with you.
  
  But since most of it is ridiculous, I'll just say:
  
  I used to have some respect for this blog. This post only proves how wrong I can be sometimes.
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