Union’s Curtin let down by Supporters’ Shield decision
Jim Curtin was on his couch Saturday, having completed his pressconference duties, when messages on his phone told him to check Twitter.
Curtin had just told the media via Zoom, not for the first time, that his Philadelphia Union’s goal was to finish first in the Eastern Conference. They were chasing as many points as possible, to earn home games in the playoffs and just maybe, the club’s first trophy in the Supporters’ Shield, given annually the team with the most regular-season points.
Then came a tweet from the Supporters’ Shield Foundation, an organization Curtin had never heard of, that announced it had “decided to forego awarding the Supporters’ Shield for the 2020 season.”
To Curtin, the notion that a tweet could nullify a trophy was news, to say the least.
“I saw what kind of looked almost like an Onion-type of article that that was happening,” Curtin said Monday, after his team beat New England, 2-1. “I did a little more research. Initially, my first reaction was, what’s the name of the committee? ... The Supporters’ Shield trust. My first question was, I didn’t know that thing existed. Then the second one was, who’s on it and who are the names, actual accountability, to who made the decision? It kind of came out of left field for me.”
The Union (11-3-5, 38 points) are three points behind Toronto for first place in the East and the Shield race. The teams meet Saturday at Subaru Park. The Supporters’ Shield is in the balance. Or it was.
The foundation’s announcement has been roundly condemned. TFC coach Greg Vanney said Sunday that his players “are pissed.” The logic from the fan group is at best specious, at worst petty. The Shield is held by some as a purer trophy than MLS Cup, a gauge of excellence over many months instead of a one-off fall tournament. MLS’s schedule, amid expansion, has long been imbalanced, far from the true homeand-home of European leagues. This year, it’s even more so: TFC has been based out of Hartford for the last month. The Union play nine of 23 games at home. It won’t play two teams (Nashville and Atlanta, in 8th and 10th respectively) while playing fifth-place New England four times.
But that wasn’t the Shield Foundation’s logic. Instead, it invalidated the season because fans have been largely absent: “With the inability for supporters to be in attendance and fill their stadiums with passion, however, we feel as though the current climate goes against the spirit of the Shield.”
That notion went against Curtin’s sense of logic.
“We literally talk every day in training about testing ourselves against the best teams and trying to be the best team in the league and fighting for the Supporters’ Shield, which is something that I thought the league held in high regard, and it just disappeared,” he said. “And then you go to the Twitter account to read about it and it’s literally like a Twitter account that’s run by a teenage bully that makes fun of other teams. I thought it was a joke. I don’t even know how to really react.”
Curtin didn’t get many answers from conversations with the Sons of Ben, who didn’t seem to be part of the Independent Supporters’ Council, which since 2011 has administered the Shield. Several other fan groups tweeted similar questions, such that the Shield’s account admonished against “public arguing and finger pointing.”
It also, amid the backlash, on Monday announced that it is “are currently holding meetings with supporter group representatives about the original decision in light of new information and feedback.” MLS will honor the Shield perks, including a berth in CONCACAF Champions League and a pay bonus.
Shield or no, the Union are still pushing for first place.
“We know we’re still going to try to push for the best record in our league, as Toronto is,” Curtin said. “If we need to call it something different, then we should do that. The players maybe should come up with something to call it.”