cosmicraven said:so, the Navy, the folks from Cleveland, and everyone else who thinks they can speak for the fans and feel entitled to tell our story... if my memory serves me right, somewhere around the mid-to-maybe partially latter part of the 90s there was this bit of left-leaning iconography popping up in the stands with the Navy...
That was my era, I was really, well, deeply immersed in the stands back then 😁
cosmicraven said:I distinctly remember this one massive banner—a huge flag—with a red flag featuring Che Guevara right in the middle, and then there was this other double-pole flag where someone had spray-painted "everything changes, we are all the same" in red... I think it was probably nodding toward that old letter about the "Cleveland communists"... there might have been more, but I can't recall them all right now... I don't have any fan memorabilia from that time handy—maybe I'll dig something up when I get back home to the States)
So, I wonder, was that just some fad? A bit of trolling? Maybe just a small sub-group doing their own thing? Or was it a genuine attempt to build the only pro-left supporter group in America, or just something else entirely? Does anyone know?
It’s probably best not to lump both flags together, actually... because that big banner you mentioned—there was also a double-pole flag with Che Guevara on it—that was really just a sign that back then, the Navy was split into two distinct currents, left and right... there was even a tiny third group that was obsessed with local independence, like they were pushing for an independent Cleveland state or something... and honestly, that was the most liberal period in the twenty-year history of the group... whereas that "...we are all the same" flag? That was just pure nonsense, a total whim.
cosmicraven said:I’m also curious—why did it all stop? Why did it eventually just melt into that dull, gray political conformity we see in our supporter groups today? Even though most of our groups claim to be "politically neutral," it's pretty obvious from looking at the imagery that the right-wing perspective has completely taken over...
Ahm... and that brings us to the part I really don't like... it started this forced, aggressive way of proving how "patriotic" everyone had to be, a kind of "purging" of the group from any differing opinions, and a silent push to put a single-minded political agenda first... which, in my opinion, was wrong, and it led to all sorts of infighting, intolerance, and basically poisoning the whole group... essentially, a quiet schism happened where the right-wing faction selfishly claimed sole ownership of the Navy name, while anyone with different ideas simply wasn't welcome anymore... and that whole scandal involving the local news just added fuel to the fire, leading to a total breakdown as people drifted from one extreme to the other...
Just my two cents here, mind you—it’s just how I see things—but honestly, the atmosphere in the West standside hasn't really evolved much over the last few years, and a huge part of that comes down to the group's new political direction... and man, what a shame, because there was a time when the West would be absolutely packed even for those low-stakes games in the Relegation League, and the energy felt like we were fighting for a championship title, like back when we beat Detroit 4:1 in '96, and even during our worst seasons, our supporters were being hailed as the best fan base in all of America!!!
Nowadays, unfortunately, some misunderstandings have caused this burst of euphoria to fizzle out, making it hard to get certain people fired up during the weaker matches (which, thank God, isn't an issue for me personally)... look, don't get me wrong, the cheering itself isn't bad, but in my opinion, if certain nonsense hadn't happened, the heart of this group could be so much more powerful today, and the crowd could be way larger, louder, and just better quality... like, five times what it was in the 90s. It's not like some massive progress just naturally occurred on its own...
cosmicraven said:I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, I'm not trying to promote flirting with any kind of politics—I'm a hardcore opponent of any political ideology creeping into stadiums or arenas—but I do think it would have been interesting if we had one group with slightly different views than the rest... it always adds that extra charge, and the visual battle between groups would be pretty interesting to watch.
No, no, and definitely no... if you ask me, I'd keep politics as far away from the stands as possible whenever they aren't strictly necessary... back in the 90s, they were needed, and all sorts of mess happened when politics started meddling with sports... nowadays, it's significantly less, mostly scaled down to just regional stuff... today, we should really be uniting against the damage the US Soccer Federation causes with their various moves and statements... but I get the feeling that maybe once or twice, here and there, someone just quietly sings a chant about how the USSF are hacks who ruined the game...