Major League Soccer took steps this year to ensure the safety of supporters groups traveling to road games.
For every 50 supporters attending those road events, their home team must supply an administrator to sit with the group. If the visiting fans feel they are being mistreated by the opponent’s home crowd, they have a “direct outlet” to relay their complaint instead of resorting to behavior that could jeopardize everyone’s safety, said Nelson Rodriguez, the league’s executive vice president of competition, technical and game operations.
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Vancouver Whitecaps supporters cheer on their team during a road game in Seattle.
Photo by: Getty Images |
In the Pacific Northwest, where those groups can swell to 500 attending road games in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, the clubs they support took the program one step further, sending ushers and security personnel in addition to game operations personnel.
“It’s a pocket of support that we feel helps eliminate friction and conflict,” Rodriguez said. “What is unique to our sport is the unbridled passion that is spontaneous and not cued up by an organ or a JumboTron.”
The numbers show the new program is working. There were 25 fewer arrests at MLS facilities in 2011 compared with last year despite 7,000 more supporters traveling to road games than in 2010, Rodriguez said.
For the regular season, there were 447 fan ejections in MLS, two more than in 2010, but with higher attendance numbers, the average number of ejections per game went down, he said. There were also two expansion teams added this year, Portland and Vancouver.
The number of times a group of 100 or more supporters traveled to road games jumped to 35 this year over 19 in 2010. MLS officials expect that number will increase next season as the league continues to develop the program.
“One of our goals is to be the best live in-game experience in North America, and we think our supporters are a big part of that,” Rodriguez said.
