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MLSNet.comBanana throwing, Nazi Chants and "The N Word": American "Heartland" Racism du Jour meets Football.Fútbol.Soccer.
Someone as a followup to our report on the wild weekend in MLS sent us a disturbing video of Columbus crew supporters hurling racist epithets and hurling full bottles at 24 year old Zimbabwean striker Kheli Dube after his goal against Columbus. This is a disgusting and classless, cowardly act we will call for what it is, hooliganism. Fans can be heard shouting "f*ck you, f*ck you, you piece of shit, you're a f*cking n*gger" and "Sieg heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!"
Frequent readers know that we at MLSR do not shy away from difficult subjects and this is no exception. We also do not in any way condone throwing hard objects at players and definitely do not condone this kind of racial abuse hurled at players.
To Dube's credit, as a professional he did not react but he would not have been wrong in doing so. Racism has no place in our sport. It undermines it.
The sad thing is, Dube is exactly the kind of exciting, young, promising player MLS should be attracting to the league from around the world during this period of expansion. Racism like this can have a negative impact on a league still striving for global brand credibility.
Great way to lure Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho to the league isn't it?
It is our hope that in publishing this video that word gets back to MLS to crack down.
And in this posting on a message board a Crew supporter jokes about keeping "Batteries and Bananas" off the pitch. The practice of throwing bananas at black players in Europe has met with anti-racism ad campaigns and initiatives.
In Europe, UEFA has asked for measures such as stopping a game and forfeiting it as well as banning fans from stadiums in closed games in locales where racist chants are a problem.
It is hard to see how doing that in Columbus's case would negatively impact the team or supporters since so few actually go to games in Columbus on a regular basis. Saturday's game was a recent exception.
Still we hope something is done to dissuade this kind of thing. You can make your thoughts known to Commissioner Don Garber at this email address, and this one.
Here is the email address at CONCACAF. They have been known to fine and ban fans in other leagues under their auspicies. If MLS refuses to act, we say take it to CONCACAF. We're sure Jack Warner takes a dim view of racism in football.
Let's Kick Racism Out Of Football and Out of MLS
Disgusting. Plain disgusting.
Once again props for your cutting edge reports on this subject.
It's funny how the Crew fans pointed fingers at TFC just two weeks ago when I did that show w/ Brimson. Now it seems they have more than outdone TFC, they have brought the whole thing to a new ugly level I had hoped we would never see in MLS.
Well done Columbus. Clean up your own act and police your own fans before attacking others.
great find. u r famous now. fuck columbus
What a pathetic city. First of all, they are going to get streamers banned because they are too stupid to do that right without throwing projectiles at the players.
Second, they are a bunch of redneck racists and showing their true colors.
Sensationalism?
Don't get me wrong, Racism in any form should not be tolerated. However, the ONLY racist thing I heard was one, "You're a fucking nigger" and thats it.
The idiot started shouting "RED CARD, RED CARD, THATS A RED CARD" after Shalrie flipped them off. Yeah the guy didn't enunciate his words properly. But if you listen his angry voice clears up a little and he is clearly saying "Red Card"
next, go read that whole thread on BigSoccer where the author of this "article" took that post from.
"Well, i hope you you're happy you think we gained "rep" or something last night because I was pretty embarrassed about our behavior." was posted right before the comment quoted in this "article."
Comments were chosen to make this video seem worse than what it was and there was no "Sieg Heil."
Look, the guy who took the video is an idiot, but lets not blow it out of proportion either. There was one person who shouted "you're a fucking nigger" one time and that was it. There was no "Sieg Heil" chant that I heard in that video.
Again, Racism in any form should not be tolerated in any form, and neither should race baiting. But lets look at this video from a rational perspective.
Do you really hear "Sieg heil?"
I heard one "you're a nigger" and thats it.
This is a very serious incident. I thought it very well could be sensational.
However a click of the you tube clearly shows what was happening, with the racism and all as well as the event staff starring down the section.
Very very bad for MLS.
Sieg Heil was never chanted in that video.
It was some idiot who wasn't thinking straight saying "you're a fucking nigger" one time in between a bunch of "fuck you"s and then a bunch of "Red Card"s.
It is clear in the video what happened.
Racism shouldn't be tolerated, but exaggerating an incident and sensationalizing it can actually hurt the real point to be made.
"Sieg Heil"? Are you fucking deaf?
Some moron - one guy - calls Dube a "fucking nigger" and suddenly Columbus are the Lazio of MLS? Guess what - there are racist assholes everywhere. In fact, I'm quite certain that this reprehensible word has been uttered at every MLS venue at one point or another. There was no "sieg heil" chant, there was no organized racism, there was NOTHING that this article alleges in the video.
There was one guy, and one guy only, saying something racist. I've got no tolerance for racism in football, but blowing this out of proportion doesn't help matters.
It's terrible to see this in MLS.
I do agree with others though, someone is yelling "red card." It seems pretty clear too.
First time I played it I thought he said "Seig Heil" but I think its just Fuck You gone a bit blurry.
As for the bananas, I don't think they were aimed at black players.
no banana was ever found or seen and it is a WHITE player that claimed to be hit by one.
one guy yelled one word. that guy will be identified and taken care off. what he said is not to be tolerated. but this article is completely off base to claim wide spread racism in Crew Stadium. and it is completely irresponsible for you to write it that way.
shoddy reporting, go figure.
I usually laugh when people yell at MLS Rumors for what they report. Now I see why they get so upset. I understand the role that MLS Rumors is trying to take but they are not helping this situation any by doing this. Get the facts right first then write something.
This is the site of that loser poser JadeMLS, "I'm a revs fan 4 life, no wait, I'm DC United 4 life...." correct? Whoever wrote that crap article you're fucking idiot. Every team has its idiot supporters. To call the Crew racist because of one moron is piss poor yellow journalism. You should be fired.
Fucking dirty Crew cunts. Come to Toronto throw a banana or call any of us the "n" word and we will see what happens to ya.
This level of reporting borderlines the National Enquirer.
I never heard Sieg Heil. I did here the racist chants tho, but it came from only one person. Some of the people posting here saying all of Columbus are racists is totally untrue. Come on, it was one person. Flip the coin a second here. It could have easily been a NE fan making his own video to trash the Columbus fans. Most likely not, but hey, I can go do it to any MLS team if I really wanted to, right? And give that teams fans a bad name? Al 20,000 fans a bad name because of one fan? God, you people are dense. It was one idiot, not the entire stadium chanting that.
I have no prob with the streamers, but the racist chants are uncalled for. MLS Rumours should come up with solutions to these problems instead of feeding them.
PS... Is Dube related to the wonderful African reggae singer Lucky Dube? Anyone know?
These same asshats are the ones who pulled a gun on us last year when we came up of from DC.
I challenge any of these racist fucks to come to a United game and shout the N-Word at one of our players. They won't survive the stadium.
I dare them to do it outside the stadium anywhere in the Southeast DC and it won't be United fans who deal with them.
Seriously you fuckwits, come on down to DC and try it and see what happens to you. Make your will first though.
Any Columbus fans coming to LA? We "love" racists.
Jade is a lying sack of shit slut. Still a Revs fan for life? You are scum.
wow i can't believe this site,laiming Racism in a city as diverse as columbus is idiotic! one idiot yells one stupid thing and you guys blow it way out of proportion.
you claim not to be a journalistic site and yet you run these "reports" well guess what that's a journalistic approach and if you're going to do that make sure you aren't blowing one douche bags comments way out of hand.
by the way I was there that guy got a beer tossed on him after he said that, this site just gets worse every week.
One more reason to hate columbus.
Dear god i hate columbus.
If columbus fans are racist then I wonder what they think of their own Ezra and Epko.
sad to see
As a Columbus Crew fan and a fan of the City of Columbus, I am sickened and dishearted by the clown heard on the video. His racist garbage has no place in MLS or in Columbus. If the Crew can figure out who he is, I hope his season tickets are revoked. We don't need him, or want him.
The league and supporters of the league have always dogged on Columbus since the beginning of the MLS.
People seem to forget we are "the" charter member of the league, the first SSS in America, and owned by one of the best ownership groups in all of sport.
But people's ignorance towards Columbus over many years is what you ever heard about in the MLS circle.
Now a very small handful of people puts Columbus back in the spotlight, and gives everyone a new reason to hate Columbus.
I am a season ticket holder, a member of a supporters group, and someone who does not condone racism or the throwing of hard objects.
I am someone though who loves my city, my team, and respects humans. Is what being said about Columbus now any different from the actions that a "few" people displayed Saturday night?
Don't throw all of Columbus under the bus. Also, MLSR, I wish that your journalism and reporting was much more unbias at times. Their was a proper way to report this story, and the wrong way.
You choose the wrong way, and with some of your comments are no better than the person in the video.
MLS....
ru·mor
Pronunciation: rü-mər\
Function: noun
1: talk or opinion widely disseminated with no discernible source
2: a statement or report current without known authority for its truth
3archaic : talk or report of a notable person or event
4: a soft low indistinct sound : murmur
KKKolumbus KKKrew
Trying to tone down the accusation of racism by saying thre was 'just one 'Fuck you nigger' and no sieg heil is pretty stupid. Sieg Heil is worse just because it's about jews? They're both horrible but 'fuck you nigger' is worse.
wow did you guys see the videos under "favorites" in that guys youtube page?? this guy is a total nut...ban him from mls, he doesn't deserve to be a fan..
Wow, how do you hear Sieg Heil when the guy is clearly saying Red Card. The other stuff is unexcuseable but give me a break with this whole wannabe expose thing. Stick to the rumors, at least you get that right once in a while.