MLS Commissioner Don Garber on Tuesday responded to a N.Y. Times Magazine story posted earlier in the day titled “The Dark Side of American Soccer Culture," which posits that some supporter groups "imitate European traditions while ignoring their xenophobic history and marginalizing a pre-existing Latino soccer culture," according to Matt Pentz of the SEATTLE TIMES. Garber said, “It was factually incorrect, poorly written, not even remotely researched and didn’t in any way, remotely reflect the supporter culture in our league or the demographics of our supporters. I was absolutely astounded by the article. I don’t think that article was really about supporters. It really was about the demographics of our fan base. And it was just factually incorrect. 30-to-35 percent of our fan base is Hispanic. We’re probably the most diverse league in professional sports. ... We have been celebrating Pride games throughout the last couple of weeks and had an event in Orlando that I think was a sporting event that made our country proud" (SEATTLE TIMES, 7/13). Garber: “Frankly, something like this should never see the light of day. This was not some blog. This was the New York Times. They know better. This is just not representative of good journalism." He added, "I’m just so disappointed by the lack of professionalism, the lack of research and the recklessness of it. ... Nobody interviewed anybody from the league. It was just poor journalism" (THEGUARDIAN.com, 7/15).
POINT OF CONTENTION: The TIMES' Jay Caspian Kang in the original piece notes when attending a Sounders game recently, he was "surprised to see small signs in the stands declaring that anyone who said anything racist would be removed from the stadium." About a half-hour before kickoff, fan club Emerald City Supporters "arrived to the beating of drums." In "throaty unison, they sang: 'Take ’em all, Take ’em all, put ’em up against a wall and shoot ’em! Short and tall, watch ’em fall. Come on boys, take ’em all!'" The march "is taken from European traditions." Many of the songs, which "often involve some reference to drinking, come from England." There are now "two separate American soccer cultures: one white, the other Latino." And while "some of the Europhilia can be attributed to the relative newness of American soccer fandom, it’s worth asking why soccer fans in a country with millions of immigrants from soccer-crazed countries in Central and South America would look so longingly toward Western Europe" (N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE, 7/17 issue).
