FC Dallas and Colorado Rapids were scheduled to play each other at 7:30 pm.
After the events that occurred during the week, however, the players and the technical staff both decided to boycott the match to stand in solidarity Jacob Blake and for the general fight against racial injustice that unfortunately still exists in our society

It’s difficult to really say anything that we haven’t already said in earlier pieces, and as MLS player Warren Creavalle said, it isn’t enough to reiterate the same hollow statement over and over again.

One topic that needs to be addressed is the league’s poor handling of what occurred yesterday.

After the shooting of Jacob Blake went viral, it was made very clear that today was not an appropriate time to play matches. This lead to the NBA postponing all matches after the players on the Milwaukee Bucks decided not to play their playoff match yesterday. That was followed by the WNBA as well.

However, MLS decided not to postpone any matches, and instead decided to tweet out this statement:

MLS’s inaction led to Nashville SC and Orlando City SC to go ahead and play their match.

However, fans learned after the match that there was a plan brewing within the MLSPA. Most players didn’t want to play their matches today, and they unilaterally decided to boycott the games on Wednesday evening.

Unfortunately, this decision was made after the match in Orlando had already begun, so those teams had to conclude their match.

As more and more matches were boycotted by the players, the league decided to tweet this out.

Here’s the thing:

As the league began to understand the weight of their mistake, they decided to cover up said mistake and tried to paint themselves as the heroes of the story. That isn’t what happened: the league wanted to play matches today, even though most of the players were in a time of grieving.

The league tried to take credit on what was basically a union walkout, and the players made themselves very clear on how they felt about this.

The league must recognize the fault in their original decision, and own up to the fact that their indifference to what occurred to Jacob Blake is a reflection of the problems we have embedded in our story. It isn’t enough to state your support; you have to back it up with meaningful action.

Soccer must take a backseat when a tragedy like this occurs.
It must.

Featured Image: FC Dallas

Comments are closed.

Check Also

A Shopping List for Dallas

One win shy of first place in the Central Division, the Dallas Stars could look at the tra…