America embraces soccer!

[Bahnzo]

Heh!

Quote:

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.

I can just imagine the english fans thinking they were gonna have some fun and getting their just due......

[ChrisHero]

"We just went over for some tea and crumpets and (the Crew fans) got mad," said the man, who identified himself as Dave Simpson from London.



MLS Hooligans, laughable at best.

[TheUglyOrgan]

Security shouldn't have let them in the supporters section to begin with, and the only thing this does is give people in this country more fuel for any type of soccer bashing.

[therizing02]

I'd love to hear the real story behind what happened with this. It wouldn't surprise me if some idiot Crew fans felt like "wow, here's a chance to show we're the North American version of Green St. hooligans. Hey football matches are about riots and fighting. Let's show everyone we belong."

Some of this crap just seems forced to me.

[Bruins]

Quote: Originally Posted by therizing02

I'd love to hear the real story behind what happened with this. It wouldn't surprise me if some idiot Crew fans felt like "wow, here's a chance to show we're the North American version of Green St. hooligans. Hey football matches are about riots and fighting. Let's show everyone we belong." Some of this crap just seems forced to me.

Crew supporters thought stadium security made a mistake by not preventing the West Ham fans from entering the Nordecke. After that, however, I was impressed by the actions of the staff, the police and the majority of fans of both teams.

Contrary to other reports, this wasn't a large, organized battle between supporters. It was an unfortunate occurence that was made worse by a blazing hot day, a lot of alcohol consumption and the reputation of West Ham supporters. Their history of trouble-making can't be overlooked, but the fans that were in attendance yesterday shouldn't all be painted with such a broad brush.

It should be noted that I have, in fact, seen multiple pepper-sprayings and tear-gassings. Once upon a time I was a young and dumb OSU student around the time that post-game football riots were a very common occurence. What I saw in those days was a heck of a lot worse than anything I saw yesterday.

http://blog.dispatch.com/crew/2008/0..._conduct.shtml

[sportsdude]

Quote: Originally Posted by therizing02

I'd love to hear the real story behind what happened with this. It wouldn't surprise me if some idiot Crew fans felt like "wow, here's a chance to show we're the North American version of Green St. hooligans. Hey football matches are about riots and fighting. Let's show everyone we belong." Some of this crap just seems forced to me.

honestly, the Crew fans have been like that ever since the first meeting with Toronto FC up north, when the fans were throwing a bunch of streamers at players taking corners or throwing the ball in.

And yeah, the West Ham supporters shouldn't have been allowed in the section to begin with, but I've been to a lot of Crew games before and you walk pretty much anywhere you want whenever you want.