There are more important things than the results of a football match. Even when this football match is between bitter rivals whose supporters prefer to break their heads than shake hands.
THE Traffic match Lafc and the galaxy is one of these appropriate rivalries. In just eight seasons, he flourished in the most intense, significant and emotional rivalry of the MLS. And sometimes, especially in the first years of the derby, this emotion was largely controlled, some fans seeing their nights end with handcuffs or an emergency room of the hospital.
Last Saturday was different. Well, at least it started differently before ending with the same wild raucous who came to define El Tráfico. Learn more about it in a bit.
But first, some history.
More than six weeks ago, masked federal agents, which will soon be supported by National Guard troops And US Marinesstarted to invade neighborhoods across southern California during immigration raids that Times reported increased fear while leading to more than 2,700 arrests. More than two -thirds of those arrested had never been recognized as guilty of a crime and 57% had never been accused of a crime.
And that’s where history becomes football.
Football, by custom and reproductive, is an immigrant sport. Like pizza, sushi and Halloween, football was imported into the United States by immigrants and was popularized in immigrant districts before spreading to culture as a whole. So, for many football fans, the violent raids, which upset families and communities, were personal.
Angel City FCThe national team of the National League of Football of Los Angeles, and Lafc immediately reacted. A few hours after the first raids, the two teams published declarations of support for their fans.
“When so much in our city feel fear and uncertainty”, Laftc Declaration reads in part: “Lafc stands in the shoulder with all the members of our community.”
THE Galaxy And his parent company, AEG, like the rest of the MLS, has so far been silent – a silence that has been deafening to so many of its supporters, they began to boycott the team and its activities. The longtime holders of the longtime season have canceled their orders and in El Tráfico on Saturday at the BMO Stadium, the three sections of the upper bridge reserved for fans of the visiting team were almost half empty for the first time.
The Syndicate of LaFC supporters has therefore entered the void, transmitting the message that Galaxy fans have not yet obtained from their club: we have their backs. Just before kick -off, LaFC fans in the North stand deployed a massive banner that was read: “Los Angeles Unidos Jamás Será Vencido” (“Los Angeles, United, will never be defeated.”)
Lafc fans show their support before the team’s rivalry match against the Galaxy at BMO Stadium on Saturday.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
The message is a vision of a revolutionary slogan that begins “the United people”. He is from Chile in the 1970s, but has long been popular with basic movements in Latin America because his meaning transcends political affiliations – and football – to offer a universal truth about unity and justice.
In this fight, LAFC supporters said that the two local MLS teams were on the same side. He did not join exactly to the supporters of Galaxy and did not sing “”Kumbaya. “But it was close.
Given the history and heritage of football, it is both sad and revealing that the LAFC remains the only MLS organization to have spoken of the fear and frustration that the immigration raids have caused. It is not a political question, after all; The brief declaration of 49 words from Lafc, including an unauthorized league source to speak publicly, said has been approved by MLS, never mentions policy or immigration. Instead, it celebrates the importance of diversity.
However, no other team, in a league which owes its very existence to immigrants, has had the courage to even do this stage. Rolling Stone, citing league and team sources, said there were concerns to take a position would lead to the Trump administration, which launched the raids, to retaliate. They cite the example of dodgers, which were pursued by a conservative legal group aligned by TrumpAfter committing to giving $ 1 million to support families of immigrants.
A league leader, not authorized to talk about the file, rejected on this.
The closest to the League has come to make an official policy of policy on such questions, said the executive, is a code of conduct for fans of two decades which “prohibits fans from displaying signs, symbols or images used for commercial purposes or to defend or against any political, party, legislative or government action.”
The league may tacitly have encouraged the teams to remain silent, but its policies do not expressly prohibit the galaxy, or any other team, to support immigrants and to oppose the arrests of legal residents. However, Lafc – and Angel City and the Red Stars of Chicago in the NWSL – are the only high -level football teams that have done it again.
He therefore fell on fans to take action, with MLS supporters in Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Nashville, Austin and elsewhere in bankruptcy and staging boycotts.
But if the ice is a common enemy, it is not the only one. After the Galaxy rallied twice from two goals deficits on Saturday to equalize the Lafc on the final touch of the game – a game spoiled by a mini -branch involving up to 10 players at the start of the stoppage – the rivalry was back, with the Fans of Lafc who sparing the referees with beer and trash and the argument with Galaxy supporters.
Solidarity, it seems, has its limits.
⚽ You have read the last episode of soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and highlights unique stories. Listen to Baxter in the episode of this week of “Podcast Corner of the Galaxy.
