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soccernet.espn.go.com wrote
Fans clash as West Ham beats Crew 3-1
July 20, 2008
A halftime brawl between more than 100 fans marred an exhibition match Sunday between West Ham United of the English Premier League club and the MLS’ Columbus Crew.
The fights, which overshadowed West Ham United’s 3-1 win, began when a handful of West Ham supporters, some wearing the team’s claret and blue colors, entered the northeast corner of the stadium where the Crew’s most boisterous supporters typically gather.
Crew supporters began directing chants toward the rival fans, and fights quickly broke out between more than 100 Crew fans and at least 30 West Ham fans. Columbus police officers and Crew Stadium security staff eventually separated the groups.
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Fans clash as West Ham beats Crew 3-1
By: dredd
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Awesome.
A soccer game with out a brawl is like a day with out sunshine, pilgrim.
Soccer has truly arrived in the US. :lol:
sorry for all the edits….im way over caffeinated.
Another article reported that an ICF (Inner City Firm) banner was unfurled by Hammer fans.
That leads me to suspect that hooligan factions made the trip just to brawl. Or some smartasses were having a laugh.
A.
I was at the game last night but was sitting on the opposite side of the stadium so I couldn’t really tell what was going on. I saw some minor pushing and shoving in the stands but it sounds like more stuff happened up in the concourse area.
A soccer game with out a brawl is like a day with out sunshine, pilgrim.
Soccer has truly arrived in the US. :lol:
sorry for all the edits….im way over caffeinated.
Yep, I have no problem with this. And really, if the police new anything about soccer (and English soccer) they would have seen this coming when the other team’s supporters started walking over. Also, I love how they say “marred”, I’m pretty sure that nearly ever NFL game has at least one fight.
Dispatch article
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2008/07/21/crew_side21.ART_ART_07-21-08_C2_R0AQ9IL.html
references ICF, and if ICF was there it was all about fighting
all english soccer fans know ICF
I sat right next to a few English, West Ham fans who now live in California and flew to Columbus just for this game. They said it was their first time ever in Ohio.
They explained that their hotel was right by the stadium and that they tried to find a place to have dinner the night before, but that the neighborhoods around the stadium looked intimidating. They then asked for directions to a “more suburban” place to have dinner where they would feel safer.
Instead, I pointed them toward the Short North and explained that there were a ton of restaurants there and that is was close by. They asked, “isn’t that near German Town?”
The stadium should have been built Downtown.
They explained that their hotel was right by the stadium and that they tried to find a place to have dinner the night before, but that the neighborhoods around the stadium looked intimidating. They then asked for directions to a “more suburban” place to have dinner where they would feel safer.
Instead, I pointed them toward the Short North and explained that there were a ton of restaurants there and that is was close by. They asked, “isn’t that near German Town?”
The stadium should have been built Downtown.
I couldn’t agree more. If they had more plans to develope around the stadium then it would be a different story.
Should be right where the Blue Jackets are, and the Blue Jackets should be in Cleveland.
THIS. IS. AWESOME.
Sorry to say it (but if you read any earlier posts I’ve written about the Crew, you’d see this coming) – this is probably the best PR for the Crew. Ever. If they’d have won the game, this could go down in Crew history as a storied victory. It’s about time we see more fan passion and a more adult environment in American soccer.
Of course the family environment is important as well as MLS was pretty much founded on attracting families who have soccer playing children BUT it’d be nice to see the small supporters section be the family section and the REST of the stadium be for die hards. A switch in the ratio is something I’d definitely recommend to their marketing decision makers.
It sounds like I’m advocating violence, I know. To be sure, I am not – I don’t want to deal with flares, batteries, or fights when i go to a game either. I just want to be with the drunkest and most die hard supporters. And the Crew’s hands are pretty much tied in having to totally discourage this type of behavior. BUT (and here is another free bit of PR advice – Crew you can send me my consulting check any time) there are ways to “officially” condemn this event while indirectly feeding off of the energy to built support. I would have my Crew marketing team anonymously go on message boards, soccer web sites, espn forums, etc. and talk about how great this game was and how much we kicked the shit out of those Hammer supporters and how you don’t F with our supporters. A nationwide buzz over how hard core the Columbus fans can be is a great legacy to legitimatize the sport in this city and the country and is just what MLS needs.
The reality is, trash talking is passion. Passion makes a franchise storied. If you don’t agree or can’t see it, then look no further than the Dawg Pound as a marketing tool or the brand image of Steelers fans being ruthless and willing to travel anywhere to wave a terrible towel. In sport, there are only two things that makes a brand – winning titles and the personality of the supporters. Winning not necessary. (See “Browns” haha)
Even if by accident, I hope the Crew uses this event to their advantage and not as a terrible PR crisis necessitating more security to protect the bland “family-friendly” environment.
You mean the same Cleveland that already had an NHL team and lost it due to poor fan support? The same Cleveland that ranked dead last in AHL attendance for years?
Nah, the Jackets are just fine in Columbus.
I don’t think anything should be set up in the largest city in the country losing the most people per year. Sounds like a bad business move to me.
I agree with the comments about PR, but this sentence made me laugh. “Adult environment” = Adults acting like children. ;)
Lamar Hunt tried to do just that, but was blocked by the city’s elite. I recommend picking up High Stakes by Tim Curry and Kent Schwirian at the library. Sometimes it’s dry and academic reading, but it’s got the whole sordid story behind the development of Crew Stadium and Nationwide Arena.
Saw this eariler on the Dispatch. Now it’s on Drudge.
You mean the same Cleveland that already had an NHL team and lost it due to poor fan support? The same Cleveland that ranked dead last in AHL attendance for years?
Nah, the Jackets are just fine in Columbus.
Because Columbus is really going to see them right?
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2008
Been going down the last three or so years…
And you cant compare AHL hockey that nobody cares about to the NHL that people kind of know about. The Barons merged with another failing NHL team (arent most of them anyway) and are now the Dallas Stars. And how hockey failed in Minnesota back then to even get to Dallas is beyond me…Minnesota is a hockey state.
Ohio (and most of the US) is just bad for Hockey, period.
I don’t think anything should be set up in the largest city in the country losing the most people per year. Sounds like a bad business move to me.
People might be leaving the city, but all the people in the burbs go to the games.
As you can see since Cleveland was 7th in NFL attendance last year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/attendance
Granted the Indians have been in the bottom third of attendance the last few years. Cleveland was also 3rd in attendance in the NBA last year. Basically, people in or around Cleveland go to support the teams there.
Even the Crew only fill that stadium 50-60% from the numbers you can find on the Internet. Putting them in the middle of attendance in the league.
As much as everyone loves the Buckeyes here, those same Buckeyes are what prevent major sports from doing well in the town. Nobody can carve room out of their hearts or wallets and get out to see the other sports in town.
I agree with the comments about PR, but this sentence made me laugh. “Adult environment” = Adults acting like children. ;)
Haha. I guess in the grand scheme of things, yes!
I really just think soccer fandom (not playing, watching the pros) is for the pub culture. Not exclusively by any means, but it should live in that realm how the NFL lives in the realm of “manliness”, baseball has “tradition” and the nba has “style/hip hop”.
Mostly i absolutely detested the beginnings of soccer (well, the 19th attempted revitalization) being marketed in this country. Growing up I would watch an English league game (once a month at 2am was all we had in the early 90s) or skip church go to the Italian men’s club to watch AC Milan games. The 94 World Cup and MLS was for sure the news of my lifetime.
Until MLS started. Understandably, money trumps all and advertisers knew very little about the size of the legitimate fan base in this country. So the programming and marketing was incredibly dumbed down to fit EVERY demographic. And we soccer fans had to deal with Seamus Malin explaining what offsides and corner kicks were in that first DC United-San Jose Clash game in 96.
It all seemed like everything was exhibition – a single entity league trying to draw families for a fun day to watch some fabricated “stars” (Doctor Khumalo? Seriously? How about letting the stars develop through play? Like this McBride kid.) and really just be happy because everyone gets to play. And if your team didn’t win it was ok because the most important thing is horray for our new league where you can bring your family. It felt like a suburbanite soccer mom version of takin the kids to see the Globetrotters when they were in town. It was hugely entwined with that suburbanite image that the US Soccer Federation had used to grow its Olympic Development program in the 1980′s – kind of suburban around major metro areas and somewhat elitist and preppy.
It was offensive and in my opinion a huge misstep/missed opportunity. I truly believe that a lot of fans were turned off to the MLS’ marketing, not the slow pace of the league (Euro games were/are MUCH quicker and more skilled). Either way, it wasn’t appealing and thankfully when the MLS was formed the owners like Lamar Hunt were gracious enough to be patient AND convince the advertisers to be patient – the hard lessons of the NASL along with tons of marketing research were put into it. The “Die Hard Fan” market just wasn’t accessible enough to be asked for their opinion. So the focus groups involved families – who had kids actually playing the game at the time. And we got left out in the cold.
We life-long fans felt as if we finally got to open a Christmas gift and instead of that sweet new Man U jersey we wanted we got Bambi on DVD.
1996 MLS: “It’s safe! It’s sweet! It’s cute!”
1996 Fans: “It’s shite. Pass an Amstel Light – Champions League is on.”
Holy crap that was a long rant. Stepping down off my soap box now.
I still agree with that about the MLS, BUT it has gotten a LOT better. The play is much better and the attendance is on par with leagues like Serie A now.
Yes, and unlike Sere A, you don’t know who’s going to win before a match…
Well that, and comparing MLS to Serie A is like comparing NBA to womens high school basketball
If you like basketball, you’ll watch both, just one is way more fun to watch.
I agree with you about the Buckeyes, but I think over enough time people will care about both The Crew and The Jackets. It takes a lot of time to build up a sports fanbase, and both of these teams are relatively new. And including the population growth Columbus is projected for, new fans are still coming to the city.
I don’t bother following Serie A because of all the match fixing. Also if there was any more diving in that league they’d need to play in snorkels and flippers. I hear they do win awards for acting.