Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium, we witnessed an affront to Our Lord Guillermo and all that is beautiful about The Game. The performance of Christopher Calderon, the head replacement referee (read: scab) in the Crew’s 2-0 loss Charlotte FC, we can only hope, is a tipping point to end this short-sighted, self-destructive lockout imposed by MLS through its proxy PRO.
Look, we haven’t been kind to PRO referees over the years. To be clear, our rebukes have had merit, generally. But after five weeks of replacements like Calderon — whose recent body of work as a lead official includes an Open Cup match featuring American soccer giants El Farolito SC, which is affiliated with a San Francisco taco joint — we are desperate for professionals.
With respect to the US Open Cup debacle, the referee lockout is the story of the MLS season. Columbus along with Kansas City, LA Galaxy, Montreal, Portland and yes even Charlotte can make compelling arguments that they’ve lost out on points due to woefully overmatched replacement officials. That’s just going off the top of our heads.
There are also serious player safety implications, which MLSPA continues to underscore. For a team like the Crew, which has been out-fouled by an 82 - 49 margin through five matches, it seems only a matter of time until there’s a serious injury due to scabs’ inability to match the speed and intensity of the game.
Supporters have plenty of justifications to be furious with MLS and its cynical lockout-prolonging tactics as well. You would be hard pressed to find a team that did not raise prices on season ticket members over the offseason. They’ve all adopted “dynamic” ticket pricing and the Messi Tax, and all the game broadcasts are behind a paywall. Add it up, and it’s never been more expensive to support the Crew or any MLS club, even if the game quality is measurably worse than it was last season.
The Charlotte match was an inflection point — officiating so utterly devoid of logic that it shattered Crew supporterdom’s collective psyche. Whether fueled by alcohol or that irrepressible Terrible Knowledge that the most powerful man in American soccer, MLS commissioner Don Garber, has actively conspired against our team, folks wondered if something more sinister was afoot.
To be sure, the existence of a league-sponsored conspiracy to relocate the Crew in the past is not evidence of a present-day match rigging conspiracy against the Crew in favor of, say, Inter Miami. But given what we do know — that Terrible Knowledge — is it that much of a leap? In fact, Crew supporters would be well served by putting on the tin foil hat just long enough to ask: Cui bono?
Who benefits when we focus our energy on scolding Crew supporters’ completely expectable and otherwise harmless trauma response? Who benefits if we do this while failing to take an affirmative stance in support of the locked out refs and call for this madness-inducing lockout to end?
We have to consider our power as Crew supporters and how we can most effectively wield it. We took on MLS and won. We’ve watched as other large supporter collectives, including Timbers Army, and even humble lifestyle brands such as GCGBAG, have made statements of solidarity with PRSA. Are we, as a collective, doing all that we can?
It would cost teams and their billionaire owners roughly $95,000 each to end the lockout. That’s nothing for these people. If Crew supporters were mobilized — targeted email, phone and social media campaigns; protests in and outside the stadium — this lockout could have ended weeks ago.
If recent reports are to be believed, it may be on the verge of ending without getting the #SaveTheCrew treatment. While that’s a good thing, we need to be clear-eyed about MLS’ contempt for referees, because it extends to players, coaches and supporters — anyone not signing a seven-figure sponsorship deal or sitting in a luxury suite.
We need to know what side we’re on and be ready to do Lord Guillermo’s work when the time comes.
Guillermo O’Rourke is a real-life, award-winning journalist and commentator. His book, Nine Lies: The Search for Crew Cat’s Killer still needs a publisher.