On Wednesday night NASL side New York Cosmos beat MLS’ NYCFC in a U.S. Open Cup match 1-0. It was a big win for the second division club, on a nice night that should have been a spirited rivalry game between two New York clubs.
The game was marred, however, by pre-match fights between supporters of the two clubs. Reports vary from both sides about who caused the fight, but the end result was a Cosmos fan bloodied before the first whistle.
The incident happened the same week that fan violence has erupted in France during the Euro 2016 tournament. Russia’s team has been threatened with disqualification after its fans clashed violently with England supporters before a match, and on Thursday police made 36 arrests ahead of the game between England and Wales.
Let me be clear: Europeans are not proud of the hooliganism and violence that exists around the game of soccer there. This isn’t something anyone outside of a small community of nitwits and bros who saw Green Street Hooligans too many times are excited about. It’s an embarrassment to the game.
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The violence there stems from a long history, incidents in the past that have bred hatred and grudges that won’t die. There is history between the clubs there, decades and decades of it. There have been religious clashes between supporters, onfield violence, whole books written about incidents at derby games in Glasgow, Liverpool, Madrid.
It’s all awful, a bad cycle that almost all European fans want to get out of.
Which begs the question: Why on earth do American fans want to start this cycle here?
When American soccer fans get violent, soccer writers here call it “cultural cosplay.” It’s pretend. Dress-up. LARPing in $75 adidas replica kits. There is no decades-long history of hooliganism and fan violence here. But there is over in Europe, and the Europeans are the real soccer fans, right? So American fans think they have to do that, get loaded up and attack people who root for another team. As if that will make soccer “authentic” in this country.
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NYCFC fans were involved in a fight with Cosmos fans that resulted in a Cosmos fan bloodied. NYCFC wasn’t a club until 2013. It didn’t play in MLS until last year. There are current Disney Channel stars who have had longer careers than anyone employed by NYCFC.
There is no history with this club. There is no legacy to defend. There is no violent past, no religious conflict, no political cause, no awful incidents that would cause or create an atmosphere of violence. This is a team that started playing in 2015.
French Police aim their flash-ball guns to disperse English fans in downtown Lille. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
There is no reason for this. It’s violence for violence’s sake.
There are so many wonderful things from European soccer culture that American fans can bring over. Often the fans’ singing is hilarious. Dudes here seem to dig the scarves. Traveling to away games with friends and supporters is a time-honored tradition. There’s so many great things, and none of them involve smashing a bottle over someone’s head just because they’re wearing a different color shirt than you.
So American fans, stop it. We don’t have to do this. It doesn’t make the game more authentic. It doesn’t make us a true soccer nation if you get hopped up on peach Schnapps and break someone’s nose on a Wednesday. It makes you look like an idiot, and it scares off people who might learn to love this game. Enough.