A Statement from ECS Leadership Regarding Sunday’s Events

On September 15th, the Emerald City Supporters flew the Iron Front flag and raised two poles in the Brougham End (again) as part of our fight for inclusion in our section, stadium, and city, welcoming all people that love this sport. Unfortunately, due to the league’s recently introduced, inconsistently enforced, and vague ban on “political” displays, the stadium chose to eject our head capo and director of game day operations.

As a supporter group, our greatest strength is in combining our voices and energy in solidarity to lift our boys to victory. When the stadium opts to reject that message of inclusion by ejecting a capo who is leading the call for equality, we have no choice (difficult as it very much was) but to cease our support for the rest of the match. We put away our flags, and drums and our capos led us out of the section. Together.

This was a difficult choice. The Emerald City Supporters exist solely to support the Sounders. But as a diverse group that supports a diverse club, it has become increasingly important for us to fight for our marginalized players on the field and supporters in the stands against the racist, fascist and oppressive uprising in our city, in our state, in our country, in our stadiums, in our league, and in our sport.

We are proud to stand as allies with many supporter groups around the league in this fight, and believe that together we will create the change we desire. We’ve told the league what we want and will emphasize this again in a meeting with league officials later this week in Las Vegas.

Join us in the Brougham End to support our boys as they push towards the postseason. We met with the Sounders Front Office today and there will be no punishment to the group or individuals based on Sunday’s actions. We look forward to supporting our boys as they fight for us to claim 3 crucial points.

Finally, an important message to our members. We understand that you feel passionately about this issue and putting pressure on the league to change the code of conduct. However, we must remind everyone that denigrating people who disagree with our tactics is counterproductive. We ask that you keep your attention on the actual fascists and white supremacist groups that are growing in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Be excellent to each other and Sounder Together.

Up The Sounders! Up the ECS!