SaveTheCrew III: A Story For All Football Fans
I’ve waited two months to get around to finishing my trilogy of pieces based around the Save The Crew movement. Whilst I have been quite busy with film making on head injuries in soccer for a university dissertation, there is more to the two month delay than just making a film. I’ve waited to see how the Columbus Crew started the MLS season given that this would be the first full season where the threat of leaving Columbus was a theme from the very start.
A lot was made of whether the Crew players and staff would be affected by an off season surrounded by rumours of relocation, and many expected that with departures of players like Justin Meram, Ola Kamara and Kekuta Manneh the squad itself would suffer without a few key players. At the time this felt like a fair point to raise, with or without the Austin rumours. I wanted to see how this new look team would do in the opening weeks of the season and whether off field issues affected their performances.
To the surprise of many people — including myself — the Crew started like a house on fire, winning three of their first four MLS season games including an impressive 2–0 win at BMO Field against reigning MLS champions Toronto FC. After this superb start to the season, something dawned on me that I hadn’t realised until I saw the fans and players this season. This is more than just a club or a set of fans. Despite everything they’ve read in the news and heard regarding the future of their club, the core fans still turn up and still support the team with everything they’ve got.
Watching the game at MAPFRE Stadium against DC United was what summed it up perfectly for me. Visually, you couldn’t really see all that many fans — only 8,443 fans were in the building — but it was noisy, it was fun to hear and there was a good feel of a community in the far corner from the cameras was bouncing, full of tifos and good spirit whenever the Crew hit the back of the net.
It hit me that this cause goes beyond 22 players on a soccer pitch, it goes beyond MLS and American Soccer. It’s something that every fan across the world should be looking out for, because this isn’t a regular soccer story. The harsh reality of the SaveTheCrew movement is that this could happen to literally any club. It could happen to the club you’ve had a season ticket to for half a century, or even the club based in the town or city where you grew up or even the multi-billionaire backed clubs that play football from a different galaxy.
By speaking to members of Save The Crew, watching their videos and visiting their website, seeing the support and exposure they’ve got, it’s one of the most incredible things I think I’ve ever seen in this sport. An owner has threatened to move a whole club to a different state altogether but the fans have created a resistance of sorts to keep what they love in their city.
It really is admirable. We live in a culture where soccer fans are considered to be quite low down on the hierarchy totem pole at a club, yet they’ve managed to delay a relocation down to sheer willpower and attention. I love it! It’s something that everyone who claims to love football should look more into.
Take a look at SaveTheCrew.com, watch the videos by Copa90 and reach out to the key members of the group. They’re happy to spread the word and discuss what the Crew means to them and to the city of Columbus. Once you learn more about the whole movement, you’ll grow to understand why it is so important.
We hear so often here in the UK of fans feeling ignored by their own clubs, feeling like they are just customers yet their complaints are nothing in comparison to this. The Ohio Attorney General have even stepped in to say that the state can prevent the privately owned Crew from moving, which is a huge part of this story.
Anthony Precourt basically wants the state and taxpayers to pay for a new stadium rather than update the MAPFRE Stadium, the first purpose built soccer stadium in the US. As is the case when owners try to fleece taxpayers, it doesn’t usually go down well but without telling anyone, Precourt announced he wanted to move the Crew. All because he didn’t get what he wanted…
Imagine if someone took over Liverpool and tried to act like they were “one of the guys” by attended fan rallies and general showmanship to try get the fans onside. Then, literally overnight, the owner decides ‘you know what, I’m out of here and I’m taking this team with me’ because the Merseyside council didn’t allow him to build a new multi-million pound stadium on the Mersey Docks? That’s what Precourt has done with the Crew.
But the only thing that stands in his way are the fans. And that’s why this story is so important to anyone who loves football.
This isn’t someone complaining about a manager not winning a trophy or trying to get ticket prices down, this is a group of people trying to save their club. You need to know about the SaveTheCrew, you need to sign up to their website and show some sort of support to them. This isn’t a ploy from them to get me to advertise their cause, this is just some guy in Milton Keynes who doesn’t want to see a team leave their original home to move miles away, exactly what happened in his own town.
I want to thank everyone who is involved in the SaveTheCrew movement for their support and help for these three pieces. It’s a shame I wasn’t able to make my dissertation documentary of this group, because it truly is wonderful. In a world where people try to shout down others, its great to see a group of people from all backgrounds pull together for one cause.
Thank you to the SaveTheCrew, to Nate Beckman and Morgan Hughes who took time to speak to me directly and guided me towards the right sites and articles. Thank you to whoever took time out to read these pieces, it’s been a joy to write them. I just hope someone out there has a better understanding because of them!
And most importantly, don’t forget to help #SaveTheCrew…
