Wait ‘Til We Get to the Hills

Some clarification needs to be made about our silent protest from last night’s 1-1 draw with TFC.  Admittedly, the letter that was written and distributed around Buck Shaw was not completely clear of the reasons behind the protest.  After reading this blog you will see that our explanation was simply too long to condense onto a one page letter.  This protest goes beyond the tifo in question (see the previous post for the picture), but about a culmination of unfair, hypocritical, inconsistent behavior from the FO.  The FO placed us on probation, stating that the tifo was vulgar, a violation of the fan code of conduct, and poorly represented the club and any incidents or inappropriate tifo in the next few home games would come with bans.  This was just the boiling point in a long list of reasons why we have been constantly unhappy with our treatment from the FO.  Here are these reasons

1. The FO only acted out after a Seattle fan complained over the display on Twitter.  The display itself was held up pregame for close to 5 minutes, plenty of time for FO or security staff to deem it inappropriate.  That is the time to get something done, not over an email a few days later.  There have been times in the past where a flag or over-the-head was seen as not appropriate, asked to taken down, and was taken down.  The only problems seen at these times was whether to confiscate the flag completely, which was not done because we did not want to lose a flag we worked hard on but promised to not hold it up again (we followed suit)
2. There have been tifos in the past that could have been deemed offensive/inappropriate by security/the FO but were allowed to be held up with no warning, complaints, or sanctions.  Some examples are 1) the “High on Quakes” tifo.  This tifo depicted a large marijuana leaf with the Quakes logo inside of it, and the words “High On Quakes” and “We are Addicted” being displayed.  Would this not also be a “poor representation” of the club?  Yet we were allowed to keep this tifo up with no warnings, no complaints, and no incidents.  2) The LA Blow-Up doll.  A blow up doll dressed in an LA shirt and X’ed out eyes was put on a noose.  It was not only just allowed into the stadium, but allowed to be kept and displayed for the entire match, no warnings, no complaints, and no incidents.  3) Goat Slaughter.  In 2009, we displayed a tifo of our logo man, Ultra Joe, slaughtering a goat at the Chivas USA game.  Knowing that the Chivas team and fan base are called goats, is this not considered foul? obsense? depicts an abusive gesture?  Yet, again, no warnings and no incidents.  4) Ultra Pin Up Girl.  Last season, we had a display depicting a classic tattoo pin-up girl that was only covered by an Ultras scarf with one banner reading “We Want To Go All The Way” and the other reading “To The Playoffs.”  Vulgar as well?  Misrepresented the Quakes?  Again, there was no action taken against the group for this.
3. Recently, the FO came to our group asking for us to meet and enact a “Supporter’s Bill of Rights” that would lay out what rights we have as supporters, what would happen when incidents occur (ban policy and what not), and everything that would occur with a relationship between the group and the FO (Casbah were of course, as supporters, present as well).  Some discussion was made, one meeting occurred, and we were sent said “Bill of Rights” a couple days AFTER the first game of the season.  This “Bill of Rights” was essentially a copy-and-paste of MLS guidelines with no changes whatsoever.  What was the point?  The FO essentially wasted a lot of our time and effort, with some wasting money from driving long distances and using large quantities of gas, to make no step forward.  A “Bill of Rights” is something that is mutually agreed upon by all parties and this was thrust into our faces with no chance to make notes/amendments to talk about at later meetings, and was put straight into effect for incidents at that game.
4. The first two games of the season saw two incidents in the FO’s eyes.  One was the flare that was lit at the RSL opener.  The individual was issued a “red card” and banned.    The individual was not a STH, had only bought a single game ticket from us for the game, but is not a part of the group.   The Seattle game saw an incident of scarf stealing.  Again, the individual was not a part of the group, did not have a ST in our section, but obtained a ticket for the section outside of our leadership, and stole the scarf on their own accord.  The theft was confessed to, the scarf was returned, and the individual was let go from security with no incident and no threat of banning/suspension.  The 20 GAME SUSPENSION put on the individual was cited as an incident from the group.  Since the individual was not a member of the group, we did not file an appeal for them but the large suspension was still cited as being a part of our group and creates a terrible precedent for any future incidents because the 20 game ban/suspension was also one of the reasons behind the probationary period.  Any person with a ticket in our part of section 109, whether it be an Ultra, an opposing fan, a casual fan, a newbie, a homeless guy, or whatever, and their actions is seemingly automatically affiliated with us, despite the fact that our tickets are open to the public.  Yes, we are responsible for our members, in and out of the section, but we have no control over people we do not know and have not seen before.  Also, when asked for the reasons behind such a heavy ban (the 20 game ban), none were given.  If the FO has unjustly placed the responsibility of someone else’s actions on the group and their ban affects us, then we have the right to know why such a large ban was placed.
5. The “Bill of Rights” mentioned earlier promised an appeal process, but thus far there is no appeal system to be seen, with “appealed denied” being the most common, better yet the only, phrase we have seen. This sets up another terrible precedent for future events.  If you promise an appeal system then you follow through, but as it stands now the appeal system is an automated email that simply says “No.”  Whatever the FO decides is final word, despite their promise of having appeals.
6. The FO and security staff had promised a zero tolerance policy when it came to keeping us and opposing fans away from each other.  The movement of ECS in and out of the stadium, to and from their bus seemed to go off without a hitch.  Security deserves credit for that.  However, upon us walking into the stadium on our regular route, there was a group of about 25 Seattle fans just standing near our entrance.  While there was no conflicts at all, outside of the “Who are ya?” and such chants, where is security to tell the fans that this is where the Quakes supporters walk through, you should probably go to Gate A or the area where the ECS bus is to avoid any conflicts.  These 25 or so fans could have been ECS who did not make it on the bus for all we knew.  This also goes with a couple ECS members being able to be near the concessions right next to the Ultras without being told to go back to their own section.  Incidents may occur, and security needs to step up and keep with their zero-tolerance policy.  This does not just apply to the Seattle game, but it is just the most recent in all the matched that has away support. Also, we have discussed numerous times with the FO of opposing fans walking through the walkway in front of our section.  While there have never been incidents and these fans are typically just the regular run-of-the-mill, sit on our hand types, this is still a situation that could have problems in the future.  Security has stated their interest in older and disabled fans who need to use that ramp, and we have been 100% accommodating to those who need to use it, stopping our celebrations and chants in the front to clear a path to let them and their families and friends through.  We have been promised that this will stop numerous times, to no avail.
7. Countless run ins with security, justified or not, has caused said conflicts to escalate further than they should ever have.  We police ourselves.  Anytime security steps into the stands there is an immediately increased sense of conflict, because we never know what may happen.  If the leadership or our security miss an incident in the stands and security wants it to stop, talking with our capo or security will do the job in a much more calmer manner than stadium security ever can.  This has been communicated numerous times to no avail, and the treatment has not gotten better.  It has led to one stadium security pushing one of our members, pushing members and nonmembers out of the way when rushing into the section, among others.  There has been constant communications with FO and security with no movement, causing more trouble than solutions.  When the home supporters feel like they are away supporters, something is wrong.
   “Bitchin” huh?
8. The Charlie Sheen tifo from the Seattle game was done because of Sheen’s recent news coverage and all the humor that has stemmed from it.  According to the FO, it was a “poor representation of the club.”  The antics of Charlie Sheen are public knowledge, being plastered all over the internet and TV.  Isn’t using Charlie Sheen as a “motivational speaker” for the San Jose Earthquakes, with his public persona obviously being inappropriate, also not a poor representation of the club?  Yes, there was no sexual jokes in this video but if the Quakes are so worried about being poorly represented than why make a video using Charlie Sheen’s antics and keep the word “bitchin” in the video?
9. On some issues, the Earthquakes’ FO has refused to discuss matters over email because it would simply “take too much time,” but asks leadership to come to meetings during regular working hours.  This shows a disrespect to those who already put in their time and effort the group to ask them to constantly take time off work (lost money and job security) to drive (lost money) and to meet with them when most things are never resolved, and as stated earlier it seems that the FO’s word is final (lost effort).  We do not get paid to do this.  Each member shovels out a large amount of money each season to support our Boys in Blue and in order to continue this we need to be able to actually work to make money.
10. At a recent meeting, members of the Quakes’ FO stated more or less that in the future we may not be allowed to go to games.  This was another big part of our protest as well as you can see that the game day atmosphere is morgue-like without us.  We do commend the Casbah and the regular fans, particularly just to the left of us, for trying to create an atmosphere.  The Quakes need us and we need them, there is no denying this, especially now.

This protest was not about the team or the players, who have done nothing but impressed us and the rest of the fan base with their quality of place and quality of heart and character.  We are all very proud of the Boys in Blue, despite losing points especially at home.  We made sure that the players knew that this protest was over our treatment from the FO and was in no way connected to them.  We apologized for not being ourselves for this game, and they understood.

We did not want it to get to the point of last night with a protest.  Sitting on our hands last night was the worst torture we could imagine but something needed to be done to show that we do not feel welcome in our own home and, as a recent A’s fan said on KTVU about their own problems with the A’s organization, we feel like second class citizens.  Behavior from the FO toward the Ultras has been inconsistent and, at times, unfair.  We do not expect all Quakes fans to back us, we do not expect them to protest with us, but we do hope that you see the inconsistency of the FO’s treatment towards the 1906 Ultras.  It was only through out protest last night that questions were asked and this could be brought to the forefront.  Let’s hope that things get better in the future for the Ultras’, FO’s, the fans’, and the club’s sake.