History of the Supporters Shield

(Taken from a discussion on Bigsoccer, October 2004)

Jimjamesak
Since we are near the end of the MLS regular season a lot of talk has been revolving around who will win the Supporters Shield and the Domestic Treble. Now I know what the SS is and how it's awarded and all that but what I don't know is the history behind it (with the exception of the Miami supporters and Bigsoccer's 10 most wanted list), and I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't know it either. So would anyone care to explain? In a polite manner, if your gonna bring up single table or any crap like that then go away.

AndyMead
Sam [Sam Pierron, a KC supporter] first presented the Shield to the LA Galaxy supporters at the Rose Bowl in the pouring rain in the summer of 1999. Since then the holding supporters, with one exception, have presented the Shield to the at the Supporters Summit prior to MLS Cup to the new winners. In 2002, Sam Pierron did the presentation as none of the Miami Fusion supporters made the trip - in fact, they spent much of the summer debating whether to hold the Shield hostage, destroy it, send it to Argentina, etc....

Mad_Bishop
from an interview with sam that I think sums up quite a bit of the history

"JH: What was the motive behind coming up with the Supporter’s Shield?

SP: Well, as you know the Supporter’s Shield is the award given to the regular season champion, which is determined by the team who has the most points at the end of the season (i.e., winning and drawing the most games).

It wasn’t my idea. It was the brainchild of a Tampa fan, who wanted to call it the Scudetto, in honor of the regular season champion of Italy. And he had a sculptor friend come up with a design. But then he needed to raise money to have it made. I was selected as the chairman of a committee to raise money and discuss various issues with the trophy.

This was in early 1997, before the Supporters’ Summit was started. This was a product of communications between the supporter’s clubs. In the discussions over the name of the trophy and the format of the trophy, [the Tampa fan] got mad and because most people didn’t want to name it the same thing he did and didn’t like Scudetto. They thought that we should give it an American name for an American League.

At the time MLS had the shootout and there was much debate whether we should use shootout points in the standings. There was big yelling and screaming match [the Tampa fan] quit, and the project went on the back burner. About a year later, somebody brought it up again, and I just decided, “screw committee work. I’m going to get this done; I’m going to raise the money. I’ll find someone to design it and build it, and we’re going to get this done.”

So there had been some money raised by some of the clubs, and I figures out how much that was. I then sent out a notice asking for more donors. I got a pretty strong response, so I was able to have a target in mind. I was talking to Phil Schoen who was then the ESPN major league soccer announcer got a hold of me, and told me that he wanted to donate. At this point I probably had $600 in the account, and I didn’t know how much more I was going to get. So I visit Phil at his hotel the next time he was in KC, broadcasting a game. He writes me a check for five hundred bucks. And that single handedly changed the scope of things.

When you go overnight form $600 to $1100, and you know you’re going to get more donations, this changes everything. It kicked the project into another gear. That year was the year of the first Supporter’s Summit, which as you know, is a gathering of all the Supporters Clubs to discuss issues and then have a good time. That year I brought with me a sketch that I that I had made in conjunction with a KU metal works student, for the Supporters Shield. I picked her by going to an arts festival in Olathe, just wandered around looking for sculptures that I liked. And I liked hers. And I also figured that “hey she’s in Lawrence, it’ll be easy to communicate. Two, it’ll be cheaper because she’s a student and she’ll do it for very little. And also, she was very cute. This is the way history happens I suppose.

So I went to the Supporters Summit with the sketch and my plans for the way the trophy would be presented, and for the way it would be earned. I said “look, we’re going to award it based on however MLS determines the regular season champions, because that’s the way that the teams are playing by. In the meantime, we’ll try to change the rules to the way that we want them.” And that was one of the big themes of that first Supporter’s Summit. The Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner [of the MLS] came out, and we told them in one voice “Look, we don’t wan the shootout. We want the game to be played like it is in the rest of the world. With draws; we want the clock to move the right way. AND we want to present THIS trophy to the regular season champion. To give them something tangible to shoot for, so they know that those 32 season games weren’t meaningless, or a prelude to the playoffs. The presentation was, if I may say so, a rousing success. At that point the other supporter’s clubs just started handing me checks. I ended up raising about $3000, which paid for the Shield and some attendant plaques that were about $2200. This leaves us a nice little nest egg to work from, to fix problems and to make a new nameplate every year. And then maybe to build a bigger and better Supporter’s Shield in some years.

At the time I made the presentation to the league, I suggested that the winner of the Supporter’s Shield get one of the continental qualification spots in the Americas and in the Caribbean tournament play. Now that’s happened. At that time the supporters were all stating very strongly that they wanted the end of the shootout. The next year, they took out the shootout. I think maybe the moral to that story, and maybe something to tie everything together is that one of the chief goals of the Mystics and every other supporters club in the United States is working together towards common goals, and I think we’re really proving that collective action can really work. We’re kind of a little laboratory, taken out of oh-so-serious things like labor negotiations or environmental policy. We’re kind of like a collective action playground. We make up a small minority of any given population at a MLS game, but we do make up a larger population of those who are there every day and every game. Come rain or shine. I like to think that we’ve done a lot to make the soccer experience in America look something more like what we want it to look like. Even if we haven’t always succeeded at least we’re giving a good fight and giving a base for it to grow in the future."

Brewster
The Supporters Shield came out of the first Supporters Summit in Pasadena, prior to the 1998 MLS Cup.
The Supporters Summit was the idea of Mike Breton(President of the Ultras Galacticos Supporters Club from LA and myself as well as the president of the Empires Supporters Club from NY. The idea came from the 1997 party DC had before the 97 Cup final. We thought that if we could get all the Supporters Clubs together in one place at one time that we could somehow influence the MLS.
Before the meeting all presidents of all MLS clubs present, except TB, met for breakfast at a local restaurant to refine and prioritize a list of issues, concerns and suggestions to be presented to MLS leadership, who where going to attend the Summit. The attendees were Doug Logan, Sunil Galati,the GM of Miami and Kevin Payne from DC., as well as representatives from Addidas, Nike and the local press.(Pasadena Star News).
At the breakfast, a selection of Supprters President were elected to raise the various issues with our guests. they also agreed on a mission statement and goals for the Supporters alliance. There were also a newsletter workshop.
The meeting took place at the Ramada Inn in Pasadena. the only thing that I remember was the idea of the shield for best record and Doug Logan contributed $100.00 toward it in cash.
That is preety much what I remember of the Summit on the Sat. before the final on Sunday. After the Summit we all went into Old Town Pasadena(very trendy) and had a party with dinner, drinks and silent auction for charity, with all clubs contributing items for the auction.
So I hope this answers your question. It's been six years, but I kept the program from the summit so everything should be accurate.

First incident of fan violence in MLS stadium

as far as I know that is. I remember there being stories of one or two fights outside of MLS stadiums, mostly between DC and NY fans, but I don't think there has ever been a fight inside a stadium during a game. Nobody wants to see hooliganism raise its head in MLS, that certainly would not be good for the health of the league, and hopefully the league can learn from this incident since it looks like it was caused by poor planning and weak security. This incident took place on July 20th during the Chicago Fire vs Pumas UNAM Superliga match.

(Chicago fans in red, Pumas fans in blue. It looks like the Chicago fans are a little outnumbered.)


(below is a report of what happened taken from bigsoccer.com)

njndirish
From what I've read Pumas fans purposely moved next to section 8?
Any truth behind this?

Es Brennt
Yep true. They weren't provided a section to stand, sing, wave flags, so they took their own.

Our sections were being completely throttled. The guest services and security gaurds were completely focusing their efforts on section 8, inspecting tickets and removing people from our mostly empty sections. Meanwhile one section over, there is no ticket checking, there is no security presence. What started out as maybe 10 Pumas fans standing in the front row had grown to hundreds filling the section by the late second half of the match. They were also somehow allowed to bring in hard wooden flagpoles which are never allowed. Section 8 have to enter through their own gate and have everything rigorously inspected by glaring puff chest security guards.

So late in the match there is a mass of drunk and rowdy Pumas fans right next to us, their team is losing and the songs are not even related to the match any more, just a steady stream of taunting and insulting songs directed at Section 8.

What happened next was inevitable given how badly the situation was being handled.

The Pumas fans moved right into our sections and the fists start flying. Once again, after trouble has broken out and there is a "life and safety issue" in progress, Monterrey Security stands at the top, hesitating. They stood there watching as the two groups exchanged blows. Then after a few moments that felt like an eternity, they went down and finally formed a line in the aisle. The fighting stopped, but beers and projectiles were still flying. Monterrey guards got hit with a few beers and some nacho cheese and decided to pull out. They decided they didn't want to get dirty and that it was just OK to let the fans fight each other. The manager guards yelled at their crew to leave the section, "******** all these guys" and "let them fight".

So they did.

Security and guest services left the section and just let two large groups of fans fight each other. I am amazed by that. I am also amazed that the injuries sustained by both sides in the fight weren't more severe. The fighting dragged on and on for about 8 minutes, which in fight time is an eternity. There were some bloodied people on both sides, but damn could it have been worse. Finally security moved back into the section and asked Section 8 leaders to calm Section 8 folks down, it was far too late for that at this point. Incredibly too late, embarrassingly too late, insultingly too late. We did what we could.

Somewhere in the process security declared it was Sector Latino's fault, which is beyond contempt, SL occupies a section all the way at the other goal from S8 this season. They only came over and backed up S8 after Monterrey Security had pissed themselves and abandoned our supporters section.

Security did not hold their line. They did not extract anybody. They made no arrests. They stood idly by while people beat on each other. They stood idly by while Pumas fans threw bottles, swung wooden poles, and used belt buckles as weapons. These are the same tough guys who love to rough up youngster soccer fans over smoke bombs and smuggled beers. Scared out of their minds in the face real crowd violence. A complete and total failure.

RSL fans pack Rio Tinto, July 24th

Rio Tinto sold out on July 24th 2010 as RSL took on Chivas USA. Fans were treated to a victory and fireworks after the game. A wonderful sight!

Superstitious RSL will debut new jerseys on the road

(by Michael C. Lewis sltrib.com 8-7-10)

For the first time in its history, Real Salt Lake will follow the example of countless other teams in a variety of other sports by unveiling a new “alternate” uniform.

It just won’t do it at home.

Instead, the team will debut its new bright yellow outfits when it plays at Kansas City on Saturday night, in part because it superstitiously fears that switching uniforms at home could jinx its 20-game regular-season unbeaten streak at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Of course, team officials played coy on that point, with coach Jason Kreis saying the decision was made “above my head” and that uniform colors have had little to do with constructing the second-longest home unbeaten streak in Major League Soccer history.

“We had more flexibility of introducing a third kit on the road,” general manager Garth Lagerwey insisted.

Yet the team has had the uniforms all season, spokesman Trey Fitz-Gerald said, and still has no plans to wear them at home — at least until it loses there again.

The team had considered breaking out its new uniforms for the opening game of the CONCACAF Champions League at home later this month, but won’t be allowed to wear them in that tournament because there is no room on the short sleeves of the jerseys for an official Champions League patch.

Yellow jerseys will go on sale at the stadium when RSL opens its inaugural trip into the Champions League against Arabe Unido of Panama on Aug. 18, but the team still will be wearing its usual red and white uniforms on the field.

“If you’re winning and doing well, it’s a nice uniform,” said defender Chris Wingert, who used to wear yellow regularly as a member of the Columbus Crew. “But if you’re not doing well, I don’t think you want to be out in bright yellow colors.”

Several other MLS teams have introduced “third kits” this season, most notably the Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC.

While Toronto has played in pink jerseys to encourage breast cancer awareness, the Sounders have used a garish neon yellow-and-lime-green kit nicknamed “Electricity.”

The yellow RSL outfits made by adidas are known as “Victory Gold,” and the defending MLS Cup champions will wear them at Philadelphia next week, in addition to the game in Kansas City.

“Obviously, we hope that fans like the jerseys and will buy them,” Lagerwey said, though the team is not expecting an overwhelming consumer demand.

Meanwhile, the team is hoping for a strong start to its rugged stretch of 14 games in the next 56 days.

It lost its last road game last month to snap a franchise-record 10-game unbeaten streak, but beat the Wizards 4-1 earlier this season and is coming off a 3-0 home victory over last-place D.C. United last weekend.

It remains the highest-scoring team in the league with 32 goals, with one of the stingiest defenses.

The original soccer club

(by Dale Johnson espn.go.com 2-11-05)

The village of Dronfield may not be renowned amongst football fans across the globe, but it now holds a unique place in the game's history. The Coach and Horses Ground is home to Sheffield FC, the oldest football club in the world.

Nestled in between Sheffield and Chesterfield in the footholds of the Pennines, Dronfield provided a solution to a problem which had dogged the club throughout the first 144 years of its existence. Until April 2001 it had never had a ground to call its own and had endured a nomadic existence which had put its future under threat.

But the move to Dronfield gave Sheffield FC a base and real hope of moving forward from being an anonymous club amid the might of Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United to one which holds a place within the global footballing community.

If the initial results are anything to go by, those in charge are succeeding. They have become one of only two clubs to be bestowed with the FIFA Order of Merit - the other being Real Madrid - as part of the govening body's centennial celebrations. FIFA awarded the honour to Sheffield FC for being 'the oldest club in the world, founded in 1857, and a symbol of the role of football as a common denominator in the community and in society'.

Numerous clubs have come in wishing to play Sheffield FC, looking for the kudos of facing the world's oldest club.

Sheffield FC was formed on October 24, 1857, by two businessmen, Nathanial Creswick and William Prest. It was spawned from the cricket club which was eager for a sport to play outside summer when the sound of leather on willow had been silenced by the rain and the gloom of the winter months.

The formation of Wednesday was remarkably similar. Both were formed from cricket clubs (Sheffield Cricket Club and Sheffield Wednesday Cricket Club) and both had their inception during a meeting at the city's Aldelphi Hotel. Similarly, United was the brainchild of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

Although it would be three years before Hallam, also from the Sheffield area, became the second football club, Sheffield FC would arrange special matches against specific groups.

From time to time they would have people whose name began with letters from the first half of the alphabet (A-M) against the rest. Married men would line-up against the bachelors and there would also be fixtures for professionals against workers.

It was football in its most primitive form, but when you are the first club in the world the options are limited.

The club possesses the first ever written version of the laws of the game, as well as the first printed version, testimony to their standing within the history of the beautiful game.

By 1862, 15 teams had sprung up in the Sheffield area and there was a similar growth beginning around London. And four years later Sheffield met London in the first ever game of its kind, with the capital coming out on top.

The Londoners were shocked when Sheffield travelled down for another meeting in 1875. They had never encountered 'heading' before and the sight of the northerners doing so caused much amusement among the thronged masses.

The lawmakers in Sheffield also introduced the wooden crossbar - it had merely been a length of rope - corner kicks, free-kicks, throw-ins and floodlit football.

Sheffield, nicknamed 'The Club' as an indicator to it being very first team, continued to have a leading role until the game began to turn professional towards the end of the 19th century. It was determined to remain an amateur side and as such drifted into the shadows while Wednesday and United become true forces in the sport.

Even so, The Club continued to prosper and won the Amateur Cup in 1904, beating Ealing in front of a crowd of 6,000 at Bradford's Valley Parade ground. Perhaps their greatest day came in 1977 when they ran out at Wembley for the FA Vase final, drawing 1-1 with holders Billericay Town before losing the replay at the home of Nottingham Forest.

Although major success has been sparse, Sheffield has continued to battle on in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. But the problems surrounding the ground had always acted as a albatross around the club's neck and a barrier to progress.

After setting up camp at a plethora of pitches including East Bank, Newhall Road, Old Forge, Ecclesall Road, Abbeydale Park, Hillsborough Park and Sheffield Wednesday's Middlewood Road training ground, the club found itself in the rather palatial surroundings of the 25,000-capacity Don Valley Stadium - built to host the World Student Games.

After a brief sojourn to Owlerton Stadium they were back at Don Valley, but although the cost was relatively cheap it was still too much for a side like Sheffield FC. As they continued to lose money the only way they could have a future was to acquire a ground of their own.

The club had become desperate for a venue to develop, enabling the team to move up the pyramid ladder with its scaled ground regulations.
In 2000 the lease at the Coach and Horses ground was signed by then-Chairman Peter Beeby. Sheffield FC debuted at the 1,200-capacity ground in a Northern Counties East League fixture the following April.

Four years on and giants strides have been made. Current chairman Richard Timms, who looks after all sides of the business, from the general business to the clubhouse bar, has worked tirelessly on both raising the club's profile and bringing it into the 21st century. The finances are healthier than ever before and there is the platform for greater things.

In 2002/03 The Club reached the final qualifying round of the FA Cup for the first time in over 40 years, bowing out to Conference side Northwich Victoria in a match played at United's Bramall Lane. And the Northern Counties East Football League Cup was won for the first time.

Last season promotion via the restructuring of the non-league divisions was missed by one place, having finished in fourth position in the Premier Division.

Sheffield FC now stands on the verge of promotion to the Unibond League, leaving them just three divisions below the Conference National. Of course, reaching such lofty heights is something of a pipe dream but making the initial step into the First Division of the Northern Premier League would act as a stepping stone.

The Sheffield FC of today is a shadow of its former self, despite having Adidas as its kit supplier and a raft of interest from all four corners of the globe. But the club remains semi-professional and works hard on its community links, having teams for both children and women.

And with the club due to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2007 plans are already being made for an event to match the occasion. FIFA, and especially president Blatter, have grown increasingly interested in the exploits of The Club and have already thrown their weight behind the project.

Feyenoord kid

Inter in court over 'Crusader' kit

 

(metro.co.uk 12-12-07)

A Turkish lawyer is suing Inter Milan for taking to the field against Fenerbahce wearing a kit he claims is 'offensive to Muslim sensibilities'.

Inter wore the shirt, which is white with a red cross emblazoned on the front, in last month's 3-0 Champions League win over the Turks at the San Siro.

Watching the game on television, Izmir lawyer Baris Kaska decided the crosses reminded him of the symbol of the Christian Crusades against Islam, and felt Inter had 'manifested in the most explicit manner the superiority of one religion over another.'

He added: 'It made me think immediately of the bloody days of the past. While I was watching the game I felt profound grief in my soul.'

Now Kaska is demanding damages, and has also lodged a complaint with a local court urging UEFA to annul the result of the match.

Inter officials, who thought better of wearing the kit in the away tie in Istanbul, say they are 'astounded' at the legal action.

They pointed out that the red cross on a white background is a symbol of the city of Milan and comissioned the kit to mark the club's centenary.