I generally agree that Monterey is and has usually acted as a gang of thugs. This goes all the way back to Old Soldier Field - except that in those days a certain GM was willing to act to try to control them.

But, please note that in previous discussions dating to early last year, the Fire front office has continuosly claimed that Section 117 is not General Admission (supposedly that changed after the first season in Toyota Park. My wife and I had a problem along those lines and that is one reason we no longer sit/stand with Section 8. If 117 truly were General Admission, we'd be there today.

Good luck getting the anonymous Fire leadership to stand up and do the right thing.

By the way, if things have to escalate, consider taking matters to Toyota - their name is on the stadium and they would very much dislike a lot of negative publicity.

Have you thought about raising this with the Spanish language TV stations?

Old Joe

The only way the Fire is going to take this seriously is if it hits them in the pocketbook. While I am usually the last one to advocate legal action, this is a case of discrimination against paying customers and an attempt to intimidate that group. That Monterrey did not take immediate and decisive action action to correct and insure that this will not happen again means that they too are as culpable as the individuals who are guilty of the transgression. Because they have failed to act on this and instead chose to join in the cover up, the only way to correct this, in my opinion, is to consider that action to have voided their contract and show them the door. Another, perhaps more powerful means to address this, would be to take it to MLS who are only recently touting their code of conduct/ethics. The actions by Monterrey, if substantiated by witnesses, is in direct violation of that code and they should be barred from ever working at an MLS sanctioned functioned. This should include both the company, Monterrey and also any high ranking management/owners who are currently active in that organization. Perhaps there are also criminal implications here and you may wish to consult with the Chief of Police in Bridgeview as discrimination is a crime.

In addition to the above, if the Chief of Police is in bed with Monterrey also, then the next avenue would by to contact Lisa Madigan's office in Springfield.

All the advice is helpful. Some has already been done, some is still to follow. We'll do our best to keep you all informed.

Sorry about the troubles in Section 117 Old Joe. It should be resolved...by next year. :(

Cell phone video is highly encouraged. Also, does anyone else think it possible for the good offices of a certain former GM, respected by all, to be consulted as common broker?

It's very upsetting that this treatment is going on, although unfortunately not very surprising. The club's reaction is even worse than the original actions in my opinion since they've had time to consider what approach to take and have chosen to deny, cover up, antagonize, and blame rather than seek a positive solution.

Here's hoping you can set a precedent there that spreads around the league and that we don't have this problem in philly.

Keep the pressure up. Hasta la victoria siempre!

We've put together an F.A.Q. to try and help keep the information clear and accurate. If we continue to get a lot of repeat questions we'll update the F.A.Q. with the questions and answers.

http://www.section8chicago.com/jm3/component/option,com_myblog/show,An-FAQ-on-the-current-ISA-Fire-situation.html/Itemid,96/

Thanks to everyone for your support.

i must say, as a strong Fire supporter, this "demonstration" tonight was merely a staged performances by headless baffoons!

i must say, as a strong Fire supporter, this "demonstration" tonight was merely a staged performances by headless baffoons! i was emberrassed to see you SL-demonstrators acting that way. whichever genius came up with this "silent protest" idea might as well have been sitting on the DC corner. For gosh sakes,...DC sounded more united than we did! we all saw how much your silence helped our team tonight (but i guess thats not what Section 8 are for anymore). if you werent outraged by this pitiful "performance" then i would definitely question your loyalty to the club and your intelligence. SL have CLEARLY forgotten the purpose of a team supporters club. handle this directly with Toyota Park Mgmnt & their pockets. what message are you sending to anyone by sitting DUMB and unsupportive of your supposed team during the first half,...yet continue to buy their beverages and eat their food. Here in America, when you're affecting someone's pocketbooks, then and ONLY then, will you have volume in your case. This isnt meant to be racist in anyway, but rather to cause you to think before being another puppet in the crowd. just something to think about...how many of you took those Section Latino shirts not knowing the situation on hand this evening?

Cristiano,
I don't like your idea of a team supporters club which I'm infering is to submit to abusive treatment and allow all supporters to be divided and demeaned. Sometimes you might need to do something that's unpalatable in the short run in order to change things for the better in the long run.

As to the effectiveness of sitting silently, I disagree with your argument. The pocketbook is certainly the primary way to influence a business like the Fire, but boycotting is not the only way to have that impact. If you hurt the public image on a business, you have a huge impact on their bottom line. No business wants to be associated with controversy, unhappy customers, protests, mistreatment of customers etc. Today's symbolic action is a low-level protest than be escalated if the Fire make it necessary by further demonstrations of supporter unity and displeasure. As long as SL and S8 maintains unity, dignity, and nonviolence and remains open to negotiation and civil discourse, there is nothing ineffective about such publicity-oriented actions.

A way to be able to fully enjoy the games and support the team while protesting would be to all hold signs or wear shirts that publicize your goals. In addition, you could do pickets targetting other business holdings of your owner or the security firm. And getting the media to cover your actions is absolutely essential.

While I agree that something needs to be done regarding racism if it occured (I can't say one way or another because I wasn't there, but it wouldn't surprise me) I don't think this was the correct way to go about it.

If your goal is to tarnish the public image of the organization, I ask you why? The last I checked, the one thing that soccer does NOT need in this city/country is a black eye. We need to start thinking at the bigger picture, that being our love for our sport and the continued growth of it in the United States. Further, sitting in silence clearly didn't solve the problem, therefore the protest did nothing but hurt the team, who we are supposed to be there to support.

Also, refusing to face the organization that you are accusing seems, to me, at best a poor decision and at worst a childish one. No "progress" is going to be made if all parties to the situation aren't present. Demanding that an entity such as Monterrey be removed is a pipe dream as they have a contract and a long-standing relationship with the Fire. Even if they wanted to replace them, it isn't something that could happen overnight. It would likely be a lengthy and expensive process.

That being said, racism is intolerable and I agree that something NEEDS TO BE DONE about it. I just don't know if this particular course of action is going to help accomplish your goals.

Cap,

I highly recommend you read our F.A.Q. as it might help clarify a few of the points you've made.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. While I stand corrected on some points, I still maintain that a silent protest did nothing more than hurt the team on the field. Section 8 knowingly took away some of the home field advantage that the club has enjoyed for the last decade against a rival that we are competing with for the division title. This seems counter to your very purpose.

Again, I believe racism is intolerable. As long as you don't do anything that harms the club and sport that I love, I'm on board for whatever needs to be done.

"...I still maintain that a silent protest did nothing more than hurt the team on the field."

That's a question we should answer on the F.A.Q. since you're not the only one asking.

In the short term, I'll just say that it did raise awareness of the problem which is a step in the right direction. "Business as usual" would have done nothing to help inform people about the problem.

It's important that our love of the club isn't used against us. It's important that everyone remembers that the result of one game isn't as important as the result of the issue we're fighting.

As someone who doesn't sit in Section 8, I agree with everything Cap wrote.

So is Section 8 saying a hispanic owned security firm, whos' most of it's security officers are hispanic, are targeting a hispanic group of Fire fans??? Anyone want to join my new group called Fire Honkeys?