Quote:
LA Galaxy "Regret" Beckham's Confrontation With Riot Squad
Goal.com Jul 20, 7:37 pm EDT
The Los Angeles Galaxy has released an official statement regarding David Beckham's confrontation of the members in the LA Riot Squad at halftime of the international friendly with AC Milan. Through head coach and general manager Bruce Arena, the Galaxy maintained it would seek to work with the Riot Squad in meetings and that it "regret the incident."
"We regret the incident that happened at the end of the first half of last night’s friendly at The Home Depot Center. While it is important that our fans remain free to voice their opinions, they must do so in an appropriate manner. We appreciate our players and fans passion for the team and the game, but we all must aim to hold ourselves to higher standards.
"We have a very good relationship with the LA Riot Squad and have already reached out to them to set up a meeting to discuss moving forward together in a positive direction. In addition, the LA Riot Squad has informed us that they have issued a lifetime ban to the fan that went onto the field of play.
"We want to move in a positive direction as an organization, and ask our fans to support our players and our club as we look to return to the playoffs for the first time in three years. We need the support of our fans to continue providing an amazing home environment at The Home Depot Center as we look to reach our shared goal of qualifying for the playoffs."
When Goal.com hit the stands during halftime to figure out what had happened, one member of the Riot Squad called the fan who jumped onto the field to confront Beckham "a real Galaxy fan." In addition, signs aimed negatively at the 34-year-old England international were hung prominently, one of which commanded Beckham to "repent."
Beckham, for his part, refused to acknowledge any malice in his confrontation of the Riot Squad, saying, "There was someone who was saying things that weren’t very nice, stepping over that line. At halftime I looked over and said ‘You need to calm down’."
Arena refused to comment on the incident after the game, maintaining that he had not seen the incident well enough to speak on it. Now, however, he seems eager to patch up relationships with the fans.
Quote:
LA Galaxy says it regrets halftime incident
Jul 20, 8:32 pm EDT
CARSON, Calif. (AP)—Los Angeles Galaxy coach and general manager Bruce Arena says the team regrets the exchange between David Beckham and a fan at halftime of its exhibition against AC Milan.
Arena’s comments Monday come a day after Beckham was the target of frequent booing and derisive banners held up by one of the team’s support groups during Beckham’s first home game since returning from a five-month loan to AC Milan.
At halftime of Sunday’s 2-2 tie, Beckham walked toward the L.A. Riot Squad section and motioned to a fan to come closer. The man jumped down from the seats and was arrested by police for trespassing.
Arena said in a statement issued by the team that it’s important for fans to be able to voice their opinions but they must do it in an appropriate manner.
Arena says the team has a good relationship with the L.A. Riot Squad and has reached out to set up a meeting with the group. He says the group has issued a lifetime ban on the fan that left the stands.
Jul 20, 8:32 pm EDT
CARSON, Calif. (AP)—Los Angeles Galaxy coach and general manager Bruce Arena says the team regrets the exchange between David Beckham and a fan at halftime of its exhibition against AC Milan.
Arena’s comments Monday come a day after Beckham was the target of frequent booing and derisive banners held up by one of the team’s support groups during Beckham’s first home game since returning from a five-month loan to AC Milan.
At halftime of Sunday’s 2-2 tie, Beckham walked toward the L.A. Riot Squad section and motioned to a fan to come closer. The man jumped down from the seats and was arrested by police for trespassing.
Arena said in a statement issued by the team that it’s important for fans to be able to voice their opinions but they must do it in an appropriate manner.
Arena says the team has a good relationship with the L.A. Riot Squad and has reached out to set up a meeting with the group. He says the group has issued a lifetime ban on the fan that left the stands.
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Beckham can reverse fan backlash with results
Sunday night at the Home Depot Center, home to Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy, vocal portions of the 27,000 sell-out crowd gave David Beckham the kind of reception reserved for pantomime villains instead of global superstars. He didn't like it one bit.
One section of the crowd, the L.A. Riot squad, was particularly vociferous with its chants, comments and handmade signs that called into question Beckham's loyalty and commitment to the club he signed with in 2007. This was the section that Beckham confronted at the end of the first half.
For a second or two, it looked like the England international was going to reprise Eric Cantona's legendary 1995 leap into the crowd, but cooler heads prevailed on this occasion as security quickly snuffed out an ugly situation.
One has to wonder what provoked Beckham to such a degree. After all, this is a man who suffered legendary abuse at the hands of opposing fans in England's Premier League during his playing days with Manchester United. His effigy has been burned, his wife and children insulted, and yet Beckham always retained his cool on the pitch.
Perhaps as he's entering the twilight of his playing career, the skin that was once inches thick is now thinning and the barbs that used to bounce off him now hit the mark and sting.
The riot squad members I spoke to said that, 1.) They've paid their money and they're entitled to their opinions; 2.) Beckham has let them down; and 3.) It's obvious he doesn't want to be in MLS.
It's hard to argue against the first argument. However, there is a fine line. Good-natured banter and booing is part and parcel of being a professional sportsman. As Beckham noted, "A lot of people predicted the vicious kind of reaction that would be here (at the HDC) and they were right. But at the end of the day it didn't affect me as a player." What did affect him, though, were the personal insults: "One of the guys was saying things that really weren't very nice. It was stepping over the line."
In my opinion, no one should have to go to his place of work and get abused regardless of whether you're making the MLS-league minimum (around $24,000) or getting the top-shelf $5.6 million that Beckham reportedly collects.
Point number two is that Beckham has let them down. I would say "grow up."
An athletic career is so short that anybody in their right mind is going to do whatever it takes to stay in the limelight. Beckham wants to play for England in the 2010 World Cup and he is going to do whatever it takes to fulfill that wish.
And finally the charge that he doesn't want to play in MLS. Well, I'm inclined to agree with that statement. But what does it mean in the big picture? In all honesty, very little. The "Beckham Experiment", to borrow the title of Grant Wahl's explosive new book, has taken the shine and glitz off England's most famous export and no amount of posturing is going to change that perception.
At the end of the day, American soccer fans want results — they don't care if you come from Mars, Timbuktu or Real Madrid. They have become savvy and they know a fraud and they also know what the real deal looks like.
If David Beckham produces the kind of football he showed for 70 minutes Sunday night from now until the end of the season, I will guarantee you that the boos will soon become cheers. If on the other hand he replicates the form of last season, he'll make life very hard for the next aging superstar who tries his hand at doing what is seemingly impossible — turning the average American into a soccer fan.
Sunday night at the Home Depot Center, home to Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy, vocal portions of the 27,000 sell-out crowd gave David Beckham the kind of reception reserved for pantomime villains instead of global superstars. He didn't like it one bit.
One section of the crowd, the L.A. Riot squad, was particularly vociferous with its chants, comments and handmade signs that called into question Beckham's loyalty and commitment to the club he signed with in 2007. This was the section that Beckham confronted at the end of the first half.
For a second or two, it looked like the England international was going to reprise Eric Cantona's legendary 1995 leap into the crowd, but cooler heads prevailed on this occasion as security quickly snuffed out an ugly situation.
One has to wonder what provoked Beckham to such a degree. After all, this is a man who suffered legendary abuse at the hands of opposing fans in England's Premier League during his playing days with Manchester United. His effigy has been burned, his wife and children insulted, and yet Beckham always retained his cool on the pitch.
Perhaps as he's entering the twilight of his playing career, the skin that was once inches thick is now thinning and the barbs that used to bounce off him now hit the mark and sting.
The riot squad members I spoke to said that, 1.) They've paid their money and they're entitled to their opinions; 2.) Beckham has let them down; and 3.) It's obvious he doesn't want to be in MLS.
It's hard to argue against the first argument. However, there is a fine line. Good-natured banter and booing is part and parcel of being a professional sportsman. As Beckham noted, "A lot of people predicted the vicious kind of reaction that would be here (at the HDC) and they were right. But at the end of the day it didn't affect me as a player." What did affect him, though, were the personal insults: "One of the guys was saying things that really weren't very nice. It was stepping over the line."
In my opinion, no one should have to go to his place of work and get abused regardless of whether you're making the MLS-league minimum (around $24,000) or getting the top-shelf $5.6 million that Beckham reportedly collects.
Point number two is that Beckham has let them down. I would say "grow up."
An athletic career is so short that anybody in their right mind is going to do whatever it takes to stay in the limelight. Beckham wants to play for England in the 2010 World Cup and he is going to do whatever it takes to fulfill that wish.
And finally the charge that he doesn't want to play in MLS. Well, I'm inclined to agree with that statement. But what does it mean in the big picture? In all honesty, very little. The "Beckham Experiment", to borrow the title of Grant Wahl's explosive new book, has taken the shine and glitz off England's most famous export and no amount of posturing is going to change that perception.
At the end of the day, American soccer fans want results — they don't care if you come from Mars, Timbuktu or Real Madrid. They have become savvy and they know a fraud and they also know what the real deal looks like.
If David Beckham produces the kind of football he showed for 70 minutes Sunday night from now until the end of the season, I will guarantee you that the boos will soon become cheers. If on the other hand he replicates the form of last season, he'll make life very hard for the next aging superstar who tries his hand at doing what is seemingly impossible — turning the average American into a soccer fan.
Quote:
Angry fans say Beckham wanted to fight
LOS ANGELES – Fans involved in the confrontation with David Beckham during halftime of Sunday’s exhibition game between the Los Angeles Galaxy and visiting AC Milan refuted the player’s account of events and said Beckham was an aggressor.
Beckham said after the 2-2 tie at the Home Depot Center that he told one fan who “was saying things that wasn’t very nice” to “calm down and come shake my hand.” A fan then jumped from the stands onto the field and was met immediately by security and ejected from the stadium.
But Josh Paige, a member of the L.A. Riot Squad, a rabid fan group, said he was the patron who leaped from the stands after Beckham motioned for him to come down to the field and fight.
“He came over and directly confronted us,” Paige told Yahoo! Sports on Monday. “I remember the look on his face, and he definitely was jawing right back at us, pointing at me and then to the ground in front of him a couple of times. … I looked at the video.”
Video footage shows Beckham pulling himself onto a barrier erected about 10 feet from the section of the stadium where Paige and other rowdy fans were heckling Beckham.
Paige, who said he is a 32-year-old employee of a small independent film company in Los Angeles, said he shouldn’t have jumped out of the stands.
“I regret it because I wish that I had been the bigger man,” said Paige, who was handcuffed and escorted from the stadium. “[Beckham] prides himself on being the consummate professional and he’s calling his own fans down to fight.”
Paige said the crowd noise at the sold-out Home Depot Center muffled Beckham’s exact words during the halftime confrontation. But David Martinous, who said he was sitting next to Paige in the front row of Section 137, said he heard Beckham clearly.
“He said, ‘Come down here and fight,’ ” Martinous said. “I said, ‘I’m not coming down there. You can come across that barrier and we can take it from there’ essentially. And he started to put a leg over the barrier and that’s when my friend next to me leapt down.”
But another fan said it was clear Beckham was gesturing for fans to pull down a sign that referred to him as “evil.”
“The gestures Beckham was making were consistent with asking them to take the sign down,” Dustin Guerra wrote in an email after reading allegations that Beckham wanted to fight. “At the same time, I can honestly see how that it could be confused with gestures indicating he wanted to fight if I was a belligerent Riot Squad member who had one too many beers.”
On Monday the Galaxy and the approximately 300-member fan club issued conflicting statements about the incident.
“We have a very good relationship with the LA Riot Squad and have already reached out to them to set up a meeting to discuss moving forward together in a positive direction,” the team’s statement read in part. “In addition, the LA Riot Squad has informed us that they have issued a lifetime ban to the fan that went onto the field of play.”
Not true, according to Jeff Skinner, a prominent member of the 300-member Riot Squad.
“The press release from the Galaxy claiming that we have banned Mr. Paige is factually incorrect,” Skinner wrote in an email. “We have yet to make any final decisions and I reiterate that at this moment we have yet to have any discussions with anybody at the Galaxy regarding this matter.”
Simon Oliveira, Beckham’s personal publicist, declined to comment Monday and said he would defer to Beckham’s postgame comments.
The week before the game, Riot Squad members prepared chants meant to insult Beckham during his first Galaxy home game of the season after he missed the team’s first 17 games while playing for AC Milan on an offseason loan deal.
Earlier this year, Beckham said he wanted to remain with the Italian club instead of returning to the Galaxy because the higher caliber of play would help him achieve his goal of playing for England at the 2010 World Cup. Comments like that – along with the recent controversy over the questioning of Beckham’s commitment to the Galaxy by L.A. star Landon Donovan – prompted the Riot Squad to bring homemade signs expressing their displeasure.
Martinous said he thinks the incident stemmed from Beckham’s actions in front of the Galaxy’s goal about two minutes before the end of the first half, when Beckham smiled while giving the ball to AC Milan’s Ronaldinho for a corner kick where the Riot Squad members sit.
“I yelled directly at him, ‘Wipe that [expletive] smirk off your face,” recalled Martinous, who said he’s a 28-year-old technical support representative for Disney Interactive.
At that point, according to Martinous, Beckham pointed at Martinous and shouted expletives. Martinous said he fired back by shouting, “You need to be worried about the play on the field rather than handing the ball off to [Ronaldinho].”
When the first half ended, Beckham ran toward the Riot Squad members.
After the game, according to Martinous, Galaxy coach Bruce Arena and Galaxy players Chris Klein and Bryan Jordan paid tribute to the Riot Squad.
“Chris Klein came over like he does normally after games and thanked us for being there,” Martinous said. “Bryan Jordan and Bruce Arena came over to the corner and acknowledged us.
“I think those guys know that we love them and last night we just had to get our feelings [about Beckham] out.”
Chris Tucker, another Riot Squad member, said he took issue with Beckham’s comments about a heckling fan “stepping over the line.”
“It was kind of a group agreed-upon thing that nobody would [verbally] go after his family,” said Tucker, a 23-year-old student at Santa Monica College. “Nobody would say anything about his wife or his kids, because they weren’t responsible for his actions.”
LOS ANGELES – Fans involved in the confrontation with David Beckham during halftime of Sunday’s exhibition game between the Los Angeles Galaxy and visiting AC Milan refuted the player’s account of events and said Beckham was an aggressor.
Beckham said after the 2-2 tie at the Home Depot Center that he told one fan who “was saying things that wasn’t very nice” to “calm down and come shake my hand.” A fan then jumped from the stands onto the field and was met immediately by security and ejected from the stadium.
But Josh Paige, a member of the L.A. Riot Squad, a rabid fan group, said he was the patron who leaped from the stands after Beckham motioned for him to come down to the field and fight.
“He came over and directly confronted us,” Paige told Yahoo! Sports on Monday. “I remember the look on his face, and he definitely was jawing right back at us, pointing at me and then to the ground in front of him a couple of times. … I looked at the video.”
Video footage shows Beckham pulling himself onto a barrier erected about 10 feet from the section of the stadium where Paige and other rowdy fans were heckling Beckham.
Paige, who said he is a 32-year-old employee of a small independent film company in Los Angeles, said he shouldn’t have jumped out of the stands.
“I regret it because I wish that I had been the bigger man,” said Paige, who was handcuffed and escorted from the stadium. “[Beckham] prides himself on being the consummate professional and he’s calling his own fans down to fight.”
Paige said the crowd noise at the sold-out Home Depot Center muffled Beckham’s exact words during the halftime confrontation. But David Martinous, who said he was sitting next to Paige in the front row of Section 137, said he heard Beckham clearly.
“He said, ‘Come down here and fight,’ ” Martinous said. “I said, ‘I’m not coming down there. You can come across that barrier and we can take it from there’ essentially. And he started to put a leg over the barrier and that’s when my friend next to me leapt down.”
But another fan said it was clear Beckham was gesturing for fans to pull down a sign that referred to him as “evil.”
“The gestures Beckham was making were consistent with asking them to take the sign down,” Dustin Guerra wrote in an email after reading allegations that Beckham wanted to fight. “At the same time, I can honestly see how that it could be confused with gestures indicating he wanted to fight if I was a belligerent Riot Squad member who had one too many beers.”
On Monday the Galaxy and the approximately 300-member fan club issued conflicting statements about the incident.
“We have a very good relationship with the LA Riot Squad and have already reached out to them to set up a meeting to discuss moving forward together in a positive direction,” the team’s statement read in part. “In addition, the LA Riot Squad has informed us that they have issued a lifetime ban to the fan that went onto the field of play.”
Not true, according to Jeff Skinner, a prominent member of the 300-member Riot Squad.
“The press release from the Galaxy claiming that we have banned Mr. Paige is factually incorrect,” Skinner wrote in an email. “We have yet to make any final decisions and I reiterate that at this moment we have yet to have any discussions with anybody at the Galaxy regarding this matter.”
Simon Oliveira, Beckham’s personal publicist, declined to comment Monday and said he would defer to Beckham’s postgame comments.
The week before the game, Riot Squad members prepared chants meant to insult Beckham during his first Galaxy home game of the season after he missed the team’s first 17 games while playing for AC Milan on an offseason loan deal.
Earlier this year, Beckham said he wanted to remain with the Italian club instead of returning to the Galaxy because the higher caliber of play would help him achieve his goal of playing for England at the 2010 World Cup. Comments like that – along with the recent controversy over the questioning of Beckham’s commitment to the Galaxy by L.A. star Landon Donovan – prompted the Riot Squad to bring homemade signs expressing their displeasure.
Martinous said he thinks the incident stemmed from Beckham’s actions in front of the Galaxy’s goal about two minutes before the end of the first half, when Beckham smiled while giving the ball to AC Milan’s Ronaldinho for a corner kick where the Riot Squad members sit.
“I yelled directly at him, ‘Wipe that [expletive] smirk off your face,” recalled Martinous, who said he’s a 28-year-old technical support representative for Disney Interactive.
At that point, according to Martinous, Beckham pointed at Martinous and shouted expletives. Martinous said he fired back by shouting, “You need to be worried about the play on the field rather than handing the ball off to [Ronaldinho].”
When the first half ended, Beckham ran toward the Riot Squad members.
After the game, according to Martinous, Galaxy coach Bruce Arena and Galaxy players Chris Klein and Bryan Jordan paid tribute to the Riot Squad.
“Chris Klein came over like he does normally after games and thanked us for being there,” Martinous said. “Bryan Jordan and Bruce Arena came over to the corner and acknowledged us.
“I think those guys know that we love them and last night we just had to get our feelings [about Beckham] out.”
Chris Tucker, another Riot Squad member, said he took issue with Beckham’s comments about a heckling fan “stepping over the line.”
“It was kind of a group agreed-upon thing that nobody would [verbally] go after his family,” said Tucker, a 23-year-old student at Santa Monica College. “Nobody would say anything about his wife or his kids, because they weren’t responsible for his actions.”
