Timbers - Flounders

DoubleDipper wrote:I'll wait to hear a report from someone who was actually there, but from what I saw on the telly, some of the unsporting conduct at the end should not only result in red cards, but $$$, and time off. Or is that kind of conduct just standard stuff in this league?

At 20,000 sq ft, 1500lbs and requiring 66 riggers to hoist, Portland Timbers fans' latest tifo display, in honor of club legend Clive Charles, escalates an ongoing banner war with Seattle Sounders.

It's quite a way to elevate banter between rivals. Last weekend, the Seattle Sounders arrived at JELD-WEN Field to play their Cascadia rivals the Portland Timbers. The game itself finished in a 2-1 victory for the Timbers and a sending off for each team - fairly typical, robust, derby fare in other words. Atypically, the most memorable image of the day came before a ball had been kicked in anger, as the latest episode in an ongoing battle of creative oneupmanship took place in the stands.

As the pre-match rituals took place, Timbers fans hoisted a 20,000 square foot, 1500lb banner that had taken the work of 66 riggers and which honored the club's past with the phrase: "Legends are born when the previous are surpassed." The giant tifo display showed the flags of Portland and Cascadia, flanking both the Portland skyline and an image of Clive Charles, the former West Ham and Timbers player who after his playing career went on to transform the University of Portland soccer program into a national powerhouse - shaping the early careers of the likes of Kasey Keller and Steve Cherundolo in the process. When he died in 2003, his shirt number 3 was retired by the club - and Sunday's banner was a mark of respect from the fans for one of the most significant figures in Timbers folklore.

As Garett Dittfurth, a Timbers Army rep who has been involved in most of the recent big Timbers tifos, put it:
Clive is in the Ring of Honor here - not so much for what he did on the field, though he had a good NASL career, but for his connection to the people here and what he did for the infrastructure of the game, not just in Oregon but nationally, with the young players he developed. We're still looking for a player in the MLS era who can step up to have that sort of connection with the people here. This was our way of celebrating and inspiring.

The tifo was also, however, the latest installment in what for the neutral is turning into a very entertaining rivalry between Portland and Seattle fans, conducted via the medium of these large scale displays. Seattle may not have been mentioned explicitly in the latest banner, but make no mistake about it, it was no coincidence that they were the guests at this latest unveiling and the "Legends" message was no accident either, as it has been a charged word in the exchanges between the rival fans.

RipCityPilot wrote:The 90th minute. No excuse for grown men and professionals acting like kids, no matter how important and heated the rivalry is. You can change kits if its so bad anyway.

I personally was glad that the Timbers didn't wear their Rose City Red kits because, like the Notre Dame green uniforms, they just don't perform well in them.