MLS and Antifa: America's top flight grapples with political signage ban
If you’ve attended a Major League Soccer match at some point over the past month or so there’s a good chance that you’ll have spotted a certain symbol. At first glance, it could be the iconography of a club or supporters group. Indeed, the circular crest which features three diagonally-pointed arrows doesn’t look so out of place in the setting of a soccer stadium, but MLS has a very different view on its appropriateness.
This is the symbol of the Iron Front and having been adopted by Antifa, the militant anti-fascism collective, the league sees its use by fans as a violation of its new fan code of conduct, implemented this season, that bans political displays at matches. Many argue that the Three Arrows symbol, used to oppose fascism and persecution since before the second world war, makes a human rights point, not a political one. MLS does not agree.
A section of supporters at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for an Atlanta United home game last weekend were cleared out for displaying the Iron Front symbol while Chicago Fire fans were told to take down their flags just days later. But rather than extinguishing this as a discussion point, MLS only seems to be adding fuel to the fire.
It’s in the traditionally liberal Pacific Northwest where the discourse around the issue is sharpest. “In the past, both in the USL and in prior years in MLS, the Timbers Army has flown the Iron Front flag as a symbol of our anti-fascist, radically inclusive stance, and we had done so for years without incident,” says Sheba Rawson of the Timbers Army. This season, however, they have been told by the Portland Timbers front office to stop.
The Timbers Army were forced by CenturyLink Field security staff to stop flying on Iron Front flag during a game against the Seattle Sounders earlier this season while the Sounders’ management mentioned Antifa and Iron Front alongside mentions of far-right groups Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys in a letter sent to fans explaining the ban. This resulted in a joint statement from the Timbers Army, as well as Rose City Riveters, and rival groups Emerald City Supporters and Gorilla FC demanding that MLS rescind the ban on the Iron Front flag and remove the word “political” from its fan code of conduct. They also called on their fellow MLS supporters to “pump up the volume” on the issue.
Fans have heeded the call. Countless demonstrations, from Columbus to Minnesota, Dallas to Los Angeles, have taken place at MLS games with the hashtag #AUnitedFront used to coordinate the social media effort across the league. With every passing week, the movement seems to gather momentum.
“We unequivocally condemn groups that engage in hateful actions and speech,” MLS president and deputy commissioner Mark Abbott said in a statement. “We also recognize the importance of these values to our fans, but we don’t believe our venues are the appropriate place for signage that promotes any kind of third-party political organization or group, regardless of whether we agree with the tenets of that organization.” Abbot went on to insist “the vast majority of fans attend MLS matches to enjoy the game.”
The ban on political displays is one thing, but many see MLS as hypocritical in their stance. After all, this is a league that along with its apparel partner, Adidas, produced camouflage warm-up jerseys for all 22 American teams in honour of the armed forces. The Philadelphia Union also hosted a week to “celebrate the American military” in the lead up to their home game against the Houston Dynamo earlier this month. Was none of this a political display, the likes of which deemed in violation of the league’s fan code of conduct?
Then there was the case a few weeks ago involving Alejandro Bedoya when the Philadelphia Union midfielder shouted ‘‘Hey Congress, do something now. End gun violence” into a broadcast microphone just days after the shootings in Dayton and El Paso. Was this not a political demonstration? The league decided to take no action against Bedoya.
Don Garber himself seems unclear on the distinctions, at least going on a recent interview given to ESPN. “A rainbow flag is not a political statement. In this case the Iron Front is a political organization,” he attempted to distinguish. But when pressed on whether a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat would constitute a political statement, Garber replied that “it’s hard for me to respond to those kinds of things. I don’t want to get engaged with that. It’s very simple: We do not allow for political signage in our stadiums.” Is such opaqueness on the most complex of subjects comprehensive enough?
MLS as an organization revels in its status as the sports league of young, progressive America and yet this issue goes against the grain of that reputation. As North American soccer’s top flight, MLS also finds itself stuck between the sporting culture of its homeland(s) and that of the sport itself. Unlike in football, basketball, ice hockey or baseball, political expression is intertwined through the very fabric of soccer fandom. MLS has long made a success of combining North American sporting practice with that of European soccer, but in this case this approach has put the league in a difficult position.
MLS, however, is the only major North American sports league that bans political signage through its fan code of conduct. A number of venues across the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB implement policy which prohibits the display of such messages (Madison Square Garden, Dodger Stadium and MetLife Stadium are just a few of the stadiums that restrict banners and signs), but none are bound by a league-wide code. Champions League clubs are, though - Uefa prohibits the use of “any message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious, offensive or provocative nature.”
It should be pointed out that MLS and its member clubs have been active in rooting out right-wing displays – a Trump 2020 flag was removed before a Portland Timbers game earlier this season. This is the argument the league would surely make – if political signage at matches is permitted then MLS stadiums could become arenas for both sides of the divide.
Some would argue this is happening regardless. There were scuffles between Seattle Sounders fans and far-right protesters before a game earlier this month, while there has been a creeping influence of white supremacy into the New York City FC support of late. Meanwhile, MLS continues to push its ‘Soccer For All’ campaign – an initiative designed to showcase “the collective efforts taking place throughout the league to foster more inclusive communities.” To many, as long as MLS upholds its ban on political signage, specifically the Iron Front symbol, these words mean nothing.
