Real Salt Lake, free speech and the issue of Tibet

By: Ian Rose | June 9th, 2007

Since I know you come to the RSL blog for your weekly dose of geopolitics and Constitutional debates, I know you’ll be thrilled to hear that we have a rager on our hands today.

For those of you that haven’t heard, several fans were forced to leave Rice-Eccles Stadium during RSL’s 1-0 win over the Chinese national team on Thursday, after waving Tibetan flags at the Chinese players. Team spokesman Trey Fitzgerald has defended the action, saying basically that it was a private event and that the team and stadium can decide their rules for throwing people out. They had no problem with the flags themselves, but several Chinese players would not continue playing if the flags were not removed.

I’ve gone back and forth about this a little today - one on hand, if it was our national team and we played in someplace like Venezuela (as we will in this year’s Copa America), we would certainly have all sorts of anti-America (specifically, anti-current-administration) flags and signs in the stands, probably some a bit more pointed than a Tibet flag. I’m expecting something more along the lines of “Bush kills babies for fun” or something like that. And, I would expect, regardless of their politics, our team to continue play. So, that point goes against the decision. On the other hand, international friendlies are about hosting a guest. When that guest is in your house (or your stadium), I believe you should treat them with some modicum of respect, no matter the politics involved.

So, I’m calling this one a draw. I can’t completely get behind the decision to throw the fans out, especially when RSL needs every fan it can hold onto, but I also don’t agree with making a political statement at a football match with only local TV coverage anyway. If the goal was really to continue the debate and get issues having to do with Tibet onto forums they would usually not be on, then mission accomplished. There is now officially a “Tibet” tag on the Offside. But, I sometimes worry that the motivations of people like this aren’t always as purely good as I give them credit for.