I spent the past weekend in Atlanta having a roundtable discussion with NASL CEO Bill Peterson, COO Bill Melekian, and representatives of supporters clubs from around NASL. Every NASL team (current & announced) was represented at the meeting save Tampa, who could not make it due to their contingent traveling to Ft. Lauderdale for their derby with the Strikers.

I’ve received numerous questions to the comments I made on twitter during the meeting so I thought it would be a good idea to put some post discussion thoughts down in a blog for several reasons:

Broadly communicate the discussion to those who were not in the meeting To make sure we have an accurate record of what we discussed and what we are trying to accomplish as supporters club leaders To solicit feedback on what we are doing and improve the process by gathering feedback from others

There were two major issues that were discussed at the summit that have solicited lots of interest from others. Those issues are related to security matters for traveling supporters clubs and to the NASL split season format, in particular in regards to the 2014 10 game/20 game split format. I thought I’d tackle the supporters-specific security issue first and then follow up with a second blog on my thoughts coming out of the NASL split season discussion.

At issue is the safety and security of fans who choose to travel to support their clubs away. Over the past 2 NASL seasons, there have been a handful of unfortunate incidents that have occurred, and to the dismay of many supporters around the league, those incidents have not been addressed to our satisfaction.

Without pointing fingers at any specific group of fans or any team’s particular response in the past, it was our focus in the discussion to establish a set of standards for responsibility and process for escalation should incidents occur.

To be clear, nothing was decided or set in stone this weekend in Atlanta. However, I believe we did reach a general consensus to push this agenda item forward and establish these standards and processes in time for the 2014 season.

The first area of responsibility lies with the supporters ourselves. It is our responsibility to act in a manner consistent with some basic principles. NASL COO Brian Melekian summarized it simply: “Legal and Respectable”. My personal take is “Safe and Secure.” It is the responsibility of supporters, whether home or away, to act in a manner that is within legal norms and shows personal respect to other supporters. It is expected that any traveling supporter should have the right to personal safety and to feel that their personal property is secure (from theft or destruction) when they travel to an opposing team’s grounds.

To this end, the leaders of the supporters club present agreed to develop a standard “Code of Conduct” which would be incorporated into club bylaws and communicated broadly by the supporters clubs to their members. It is our intention to develop this standard collaboratively and we may choose to use the MLS Fans Code of Conduct as a starting point for the development of this code.

If we could expect that every supporter would abide by this standard, the next two points would be completely unneccessary. However, because we know there will be individuals that don’t comply, there are two other important elements to addressing this issue.

It is the responsibility of each individual team within NASL to take the necessary steps ensure the safety and security of all fans within their stadiums. There are things each team must do, such as designate sensible traveling supporters sections (i.e, not in a family section or directly beside the home supporters), provide an appropriate level of security within their grounds at all times, and provide a responsive follow-up process should issues occur. It is the supporters’ expectation that every team in NASL will take this responsibility seriously, work with traveling supporters to make sure these measures are implemented, and be held accountable by the league if they do not.

Finally, it is the responsibility of NASL to establish a set of criteria or “minimum standards” of operation that must be implemented by each of its member clubs to ensure the safety and security of traveling supporters. These standards must be enforced by the league and consequences of non-compliance must have ramifications for the clubs that do not take this responsibility seriously.

To make sure every party is implementing and adhering to their responsibility, there must be open and transparent communications between all parties involved. This includes communications between leaders of respsective supporters clubs, the supporters clubs and the teams’ front offices, teams front offices and the league, and the supporters clubs and the league office.

It is not our intention to force supporters clubs from opposing teams to be “friends”. We want to encourage passionate support and healty rivalries for the enjoyment of all involved. Our only goal is make sure every supporter can expect to be treated “Legally and Respectfully.” That each supporter can feel “Safe and Secure.”

There is work to be done by all involved. But I think the dialogue started on Saturday is great start towards our objective and I look forward to working with all involved to reach this goal.

Jarrett Campbell

Founder, Triangle Soccer Fanatics