Söccer Röcker

Who doesn’t? You get that feeling that you know what’s really going in the world and “the civilians” don’t. Conspiracy theories are older thanTony Meola’s Weight Watchers’ membership for a reason. They spread, they get digested into the culture, they become something your older brother tells you about when he thinks you’re old enough. As long as you don’t really believe Radio Shack is asking you personal information to use later when they kidnap and build a moon base for the elite, you’re ok.

Can we get a Revs DP in here?

Let me tell you a little story. After I graduated from high school I first attended the illustrious institute of higher learning known as Suffolk County (N.Y.) Community College before heading to Northeastern. I was an editor  on the school’s paper. We were a rowdy and rascally bunch who would actually look into the blantant mismanagement of the college on a pretty regular basis. We got the school’s president on tape saying that any idiot could run the school better than him. He knew he was being taped, by the way

So after a few stories we’d written got into the larger Long Island media the adminstration, never fans of ours, took matters into their own hands. They tried first to shut us down which failed. Then they tried to pressure our advisor to clamp on us, which he refused to do. Finally they started their own “student” paper in the hopes of drowning us out. Technically the school had two official papers fotr a while there. It was obvious that we were the actual voice of the students while the administration’s mouthpiece was….well, just that.

I told you that story to tell you this one. Remember when you heard about this Latino fan group that had suddenly formed and was coming to the Dynamo home game? You probably read it on MLS Rumors or BigSoccer. Hundreds of people signed up, getting their own section, big doings. If I recall the original BigSoccer post correctly the guy in charge of this said something along the lines of, “The next home game’s going to be fun.”

Then you started to hear how they’d bought 200 seasons tickets. People I know at the Pro Shop told me how they’d heard that hundreds of Revs jerseys and shirts had been bought. I started to think maybe this whole thing was for real. I mean any new group of supporters is of course welcome. It isn’t like we don’t need more Revs fans. I don’t care if they’re Martians. However in my time in the Midnight Riders there had been some…let’s say…problems between the team and the larger Latino community. After Jose Manuel Abundis left the team in 2006, the story goes, he told a local Spanish-language network the Revs management were racist and anti-Latino in general. I have heard variations on this conspiracy theory from no fewer than 10 different people of Latin descent. A co-worker once told me he’d love to attend Revs games but “the cops and the white fans, they’re not interested.”

Here’s an entire video about the Revs’ problems with attracting the Latino fan base. So it was with great anticipation that I attended the last home game, thinking we’d see a real live bouncing “barra” of fans. Not really so much. Despite Brad Feldman’s assertions on both the Revs’ blog and on MyRevs that there were 200 of them there were fewer than 50 by the time I saw them ’round about the 20th or the 30th minute of the Dynamo’s shaming of the boys in blue. It was, to say the least, disappointing. They had what appeared to be about 5 people really into it (including a guy in a devil costume) but as the game wore on and the rain began to fail more and more drifted away. Not up in the concourse, you would have been able to see them. No, away as in “left the building.” By game’s end there was just 5 or 6 of them left in the section.

I mean I don’t blame them totally. Most people of Hispanic descent I’ve spoken to about this league have an inclination to believe that they and 10 of their friends from work or family members could easily whup on the defending MLS champions in a game held the following day. So bravo to the people who showed up. Sadly the Revs this year are worse than they’ve been in many a moon. So that, added to a another stellar showing of less than 10K for a home game, is going to confirm certain ideas about MLS and “mickey mouse.” It was of course also raining and as we know Revs fans seem to have a strong aversion to getting wet at a match and stay away when rain is even threatened. Or it could be the awful marketing but that’s another column for another time.

Moving on, I was disappointed. Not just in the small (and quiet! Dude. Besides El Diablo and his friends there wasn’t much going on) turnout. I have to say I’m bothered somewhat by where they’re at in the stadium. Do we need MORE segregation of fans in Gillette? Before Sunday you already had The Morgue for families (true or not) and The Fort for the “loud” fans (true or not) in the minds of most Revs fans I know. Family members of mine who’ve tried to get things going on the Morgue side have been told by people around them to move to The Fort if that’s what they wanted to do. Now we’ve added a section for Latino fans. Terrific, chop up the base more.

I don’t understand why La Barra Revolución Latina couldn’t have taken up residence in the newly-enlarged Fort and hey, if they were going to bring such huge numbers expand into the section next to it. The Fort is already home to the team’s two supporters groups, why not the newest? I guess that’d be a question for the team’s front office. As it was giving BRL its own section added to the overall disappointment factor as they didn’t half fill it. 200 people my skinny white arse, Mr. Feldman. His comment in the blog about a “late arriving crowd” also smacks of malarkey. Non-existant is more like it.

Now before you go posting how I’m a racist and have swastikas inked underneath my scally cap, don’t. I was mainly disappointed because I’d love to see a big Latino turnout. Hell, I’d love to see a large turnout from any ethnicity (or at this point species) at a Revs’ game. I hope BRL grows and turns into a loud and proud piece of Revs culture.

The entire thing just seems to me like a Revs PR stunt gone awry. The entire thing doesn’t really seem organic at all to me. I’m not saying the team went out and paid a bunch of people to show up or made their sign or anything (although I thought about the latter). I’m saying they (”they” being the Front Office, not the Council On Foreign Relations) probably had a big hand in organizing this group. I have a hard time believing that all of a sudden a barra formed this offseason. Probably especially this offseason.

Why? Think back to my newspaper story. The Riders and Rev Army…well, we’ve had our runs-in with management. We’ve protested. We’ve pushed the boundaries. Probably caused some headaches. Wouldn’t it be nice for the FO to have a counter-weight like…oh I don’t know…a supporter’s group they have a hand in? Just sayin’…JJUUUSSSTTTT sayin’.