National Post (National Edition)
Whitecaps fan group takes stand against U.S. travel ban
Will not attend games in Seattle and Portland
VANCOUVER • It is now a turf war where no one gets left behind.
The Vancouver Southsiders, the diehard Vancouver Whitecaps’ support group, has advised members they will not be organizing bus trips to the Major League Soccer games in Seattle and Portland following the executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump, which bans travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations entering the U.S. for 90 days.
Despite wanting to keep politics out of their beloved game of soccer, the executive of the Southsiders had a meeting and decided that some of their members fall into the new U.S. travel restrictions and would be left behind if they organized bus trips to MLS games in the States.
“Some of our members are directly affected by this ban and we know for sure they won’t be able to go into the United States,” said Peter Czimmermann, the president of the Vancouver Southsiders. “It was a hard decision to make, but it is about us as a group.”
The Southsiders have about 700 members and Czimmermann said close to a dozen would be denied entry to the U.S. under the new ban. The executive order was signed Friday and bars travellers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days. Administrators in the new government have indicated Trump is prepared to expand the ban beyond those seven countries if necessary.
Czimmermann said the executive decided they all would stay in Canada instead of leaving some members behind. Last year, the Southsiders sent three busloads of Whitecaps fans to Seattle and two more to Oregon for a Portland game. “Those away games are lot of fun for us,” he said.
In a statement on their website, the Southsiders’ board of directors note the supporters group was founded on the principles of inclusivity, acceptance and respect.
“The Executive Board shall not co-ordinate any bus trips to the U.S. until such time that the current conditions at border crossings have changed. We cannot in good conscience be responsible for arranging or hosting events or experiences which potentially come at the exclusion of some of our members, no matter how few in number those affected might be.”
The group is not calling for a boycott of U.S. visits, but are asking members that travel to see the Whitecaps play in the U.S. to leave their Southsiders’ scarves at home “as a sign of respect for members who cannot cross the border with the same ease and personal freedom as you do.”
The Caps are currently on a tour of Wales and are scheduled to participate in a pre-season tournament Feb. 9-15 in Portland.
Czimmermann is holding out hope that Trump’s decision is stopped, but said time is running out because they have to order the buses for the road trips well in advance.
“We continue to monitor the situation,” he said. “It was a hard decision to make because there is nothing more we want to do than go to the Whitecaps games in the U.S.”
Vancouver Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi said the club has been notified of the Southsiders’ decision.
“It is disappointing,” he said. “We prefer to have our fans in the stands at the road games.”
Lenarduzzi, however, said the Southsiders have made their decision and been very up front about why. “I think in this case they have gone about it in the right way.”
No players currently on the Whitecaps roster are from one of the seven banned countries, Lenarduzzi said, adding the same is true of other MLS teams. “There isn’t a player in MLS that it affects,” he said.
Alex Caulfield, a spokesman for the Seattle Sounders, said they have been referring calls to the MLS head office in New York. “We are politely declining comment,” he said.
Calls to the MLS head office manager of communications were not returned. The Portland Timbers also did not return calls.
The MLS regular season starts March 3.