Anyone engaging in behavior that breaches this code of conduct may receive a warning or have a travel ban imposed upon them by the 107IST.  Warnings and bans may be given for Timbers, Thorns, or both away trips.

The Portland Timbers/Thorns Front Office may also issue punishment that could involve home match bans.  The 107IST may deem it necessary to include a warning and/or travel ban in accordance with ANY punishments handed down by the Portland Timbers/Thorns Front Office that result in home stadium removal and/or bans.  Depending on the severity of the punishable actions, this could result in a longer ban than what is handed down from the Portland Timbers/Thorns Front Office.

1.     The 107IST reserves the right to refuse the sale of a travel ticket for any reason, especially in any case that violates our code of conduct or that could jeopardize the image of the organization at large according to our ethos.

2.     Abuse of any 107IST Committee members will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Please remember we are unpaid volunteers; we may not get things right all the time, but we do our best on your behalf.

3.     Violence is not tolerated under any circumstances during home or away matches.

4.     You are expected to respect the rights of your fellow members and supporters by avoiding all forms of intimidation, sexual/physical/verbal harassment, or anything intended to cause a nuisance to others.

5.     Any incidences of abusive behavior towards another member or supporter may result in you being requested to leave our home stadium or current away stadium.

6.     It is your personal responsibility to arrive at the correct meeting time/place specified by the 107IST. Travel leaders/bus captains reserve the right to determine the fitness of any individual to enter the stadium using a ticket sold to them by the 107IST.

7.     You are expected to respect our home and any away stadium at which you are in attendance. Please don’t leave litter or cause any manner of damage to any stadium you are visiting.

8.     Please report any accidents, injuries, illness, or significant incidents to the travel leaders/bus captains immediately.  Reports should also be sent directly to awaytravel@107ist.org.

9.     You are expected to comply with any reasonable directives given by the travel leaders/bus captains.

10.   At any away venue, obey all the rules of the specific venue. Failure to do so may result in removal from the venue and/or future travel sanctions from the 107IST.

11.   You are individually responsible for complying with the spirit, not just the letter, of all laws, regulations, and group standards.  This also includes holding any guests registered under your name to our codes of conduct.

Bus Trip-Specific:

In addition to the above…

1.     Violence is not tolerated under any circumstances. You will not be allowed on the bus carrying a weapon or an item that may be used as a weapon.

2.     Any bus captain reserves the right to determine the fitness of any individual to travel on a vehicle hired by the 107IST for the purpose of transporting members/supporters.

3.     The travel leaders/bus captains reserve the right to determine the fitness of any individual to disembark the bus and enter the away stadium using a ticket sold to them by the 107IST.

4.     Failure to adhere to our code of conduct may result in your removal from the bus at any point of the travel duration at your own expense.

5.     You are requested to arrive back at the buses within a reasonable time of the conclusion of the match for prompt departure. Understand that it is your responsibility (NOT OURS) to arrive at the buses with ample time to board upon leaving Portland or any away city.

6.     You are expected to respect the bus you travel on by not leaving litter or causing any damage to the bus.

7.     There is to be no swapping or trading of bus spots unless prior arrangements have been made.

How the 107IST Warning and Ban System Works

Yellow Card = Travel Warning

• Yellow Cards given during regular season play will stay in effect for the duration stated in the table below.  If a second Yellow Card is given during the first Yellow Card’s duration, it will be upgraded to a Red Card travel ban.
• All Yellow Card durations include the current and following season’s Cascadia matches, even if they are scheduled to occur after the card’s effective duration.

Rose City Riveters Yellow Card Effective Duration

Matches 1-8	Matches 9-16	Matches 17-24	Playoff Run
Rest of current season and playoff run	Rest of current season, playoff run, and first 12 matches of the following season	Rest of current season, playoff run, and the entire following season	Rest of current playoff run, and the entire following season and playoff run

Red Card = Travel Ban

• Red Cards given at any time will be in effect for the duration of the current season, current season’s playoff run, and the entire next season and playoff run.

Courtesy Jennifer Ingraham

This year, we will have candidates vying for one of four open positions on the board for a three-year term (2020­ through 2022). Here’s how the process works:

Applications for candidates will be open from November 6 until 11:59 p.m. on November 15.
We will post the list of candidates and their statements on the website on November 16.
All current 107IST members will then be able to post questions to candidates on the member forums of the website.
On November 24, from noon to 2, we will host a town hall session for all candidates. This session is moderated, and the questions are sent in from members.
Ballots will be sent out on Monday, December 2 to all 107IST members who renewed their 2019 membership on or before October 31.
Voting will take place from December 2 through 8, and we will announce the results immediately thereafter.
You must have been a member of the 107IST as of October 31, 2019, to be eligible to run for the board and/or to vote.

What are our needs?
As always, we are looking for professional, committed people to join our board. Non-profit experience is a definite plus, but our greatest needs are people who a history of committed and reliable work with the 107IST and who can put in the time needed for the board. [The time commitment can vary depending on what members take on, but the average is somewhere between 6 to 10 hours a week.]

We are always looking for technology and communications skills, as well as proven project management, leadership, and strategic thinking.

As the board continues to evolve and grow, and we embark on a capital campaign for a permanent home, it would be great to have people with financial or real estate experience.

If you are considering running, we highly encourage you to attend our board meeting on Wednesday, November 12, to get a sense of who we are and how we work.

About the board
Our board members help shape the organization and work to make the Timbers and Thorns supporter experience bigger and better, as well as contribute to initiatives in the Portland soccer community. You can find out more about the current board, the positions and committees they serve in, and the initiatives they manage here.

It’s that time of the season!

Although we are all excitedly anticipating this weekend’s match vs Reign FC, we still take a moment to reflect upon the season thus so far, and how each player has contributed to Portland Thorns FC’s overall success.

To that end, it’s time to poll all of you. Who is your “Player of the Year”?

Click here to vote.

The poll will close soon, so don’t delay.

The player with the most votes will be honored at our last regular season home match. See you there!

Guest blog by Sergio

NWSL isn’t MLS.

As we hear time and again from every white-bread armchair first-time Soccernomics reader, on every medium from 0-follower Twitter accounts to mainstream publications, our 7-year-old league doesn’t draw what 23-year-old MLS draws (until it does). Its TV viewership isn’t MLS’s (except when it is), its teams haven’t been around as long (except for the teams who’ve spanned league after league after league). NWSL teams aren’t profitable (except for the ones that are), unlike MLS teams (except for the ones that aren’t).*

And as US Soccer— contracted by the NWSL to help manage the league— is happy to establish, NWSL isn’t MLS when it comes to deserving the same quality of referees. USSF officially dumped the NWSL into a lower tier meant to use the NWSL as a development ground for future MLS officials in a new policy quietly released during the Women’s World Cup. USSF and MLS co-founded the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) that trains and manages officials in the US, and USSF funds it.

NWSL isn’t MLS, and MLS-owned Soccer United Marketing this, so they only show up once a cycle to take credit for the NWSL landing one sponsor (like Budweiser), one which they’ve already managed for years with the USWNT, and USMNT, and MLS—while also leaving the NWSL out of the $720 million TV package deal that SUM negotiated for USSF and MLS, which includes the USWNT, every member of which plays in the NWSL.

Did I mention that every member of the BACK-TO-BACK WORLD CUP CHAMPIONSHIP-WINNING US WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM plays in the 9-team NWSL? That’s because the NWSL isn’t MLS, a league where no player from the reigning Men’s World Cup championship squad plays in its 24 teams. MLS is a league where good players go to get paid; the NWSL is a league where great players take a pay cut to get better. A player added a clause to bail out of her contract whenever she got an offer from our NWSL club. The winners of 10 of the last 13 FIFA world’s player of the year awards, and 3 of the last 4 World Cup Golden Ball winners, either currently play or coach in the NWSL.

The NWSL is a league where players force their way onto World Cup rosters by grabbing it and ripping it apart in unprecedented ways, then go on to be invaluable pieces of an unprecedented World Cup performance. MLS, which isn’t the NWSL, is a league where it’s arguably better for the World Cup non-qualifying USMNT if its players don’t play in it.

NWSL isn’t MLS, said international sponsors like Ikea and Mini Cooper, who didn’t want to sponsor the Timbers because that audience isn’t as valuable to them as the Thorns audience. Nevermind that you’ll see sponsorship activations across Portland for the Timbers even when you don’t look for them, whether it’s full-store takeovers at Safeway or massive billboards for Comcast. Nevermind that the front office took six and a half years to put more than zero “Portland Thorns FC” wraps alongside the many Timbers wraps on the TV-facing walls around the pitch and called that macaroni equality. Nevermind that the sides of multiple buildings promote a Timbers team that sells out every match with a season-ticket waitlist thousands deep.

The NWSL isn’t MLS. On a night in December 2012 where the USWNT drew 10,092 to a midweek friendly, Merritt Paulson never expected the Thorns to draw 20,400, much less 25,413. He thought Christine Sinclair would love to play at 5,000-capacity Merlo Field because she’s a Pilot alumna. Now she plays in front of a crowd that averages almost four times that number—a crowd that shows up despite less marketing support from the front office than the MLS team gets.

The Thorns would go on to draw more than that USWNT match in all but two regular-season and playoff matches over the next seven years—all while never seeing the USWNT in our stadium again. The last time the Thorns drew fewer than 13,000 to an NWSL match, the USWNT’s crest still had two stars on it.

Our FO loves to take credit. It flies people around the world telling everyone how they built the support that turns out every match. And they do a lot of hard work, which we hear about endlessly from anyone who interviews Merritt Paulson about how he—the MLS owner—invented successful women’s soccer.

But it’s not a photo of Merritt Paulson or Gavin Wilkinson or Mike Golub that hangs in the NWSL league office. They don’t show up in a Budweiser commercial to demonstrate what NWSL success looks like. Their faces aren’t in stories from here to France about the atmosphere, culture, and success of the Thorns. It’s photos of the Rose City Riveters, the NWSL supporters group that has less than 33% crossover with the MLS supporters group under the same 107ist umbrella. It’s a group that came about from fans, by fans, bootstrapped with the help of 107ist and TA but now the largest and most active supporters group for a women’s pro soccer club on Earth.

But hey, the NWSL isn’t MLS, right? You can be Merritt Paulson and get away with budgeting an expectation that only 2,000 to 5,000 people would show up per match in 2013 (The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer, Caitlin Murray, 2019) and then take credit when more than that number sign up for season tickets and 13,320 ends up the season average—all without needing the city-wide campaign of billboards and advertisements that the Timbers got when they entered MLS.

The NWSL isn’t MLS, because in the NWSL you can be US Soccer, sit on a nine-figure cash surplus, and get away with investing $10 million total in the NWSL operations across six seasons (Murray), and almost as much per year into MLS’s three-year run-up—in MLS’s case not to build a sustainable league, but to save the 1994 Men’s World Cup bid.

Sure, maybe the NWSL is declining toward the standards of MLS. Four of its nine teams today have MLS owners as majority owners. Another just received minority investment this season from an MLS owner in Seattle— which is just an MLS city now, not an NWSL city, after that same MLS team wouldn’t let the Reign play in its venue. A sixth is owned by someone for whom MLS— not the NWSL— has been the ultimate goal of his years-long campaign. With expansion coming in the next two years (thanks for the tip, Merritt) that balance will likely shift to MLS owners’ favor sooner than later.

In some markets the investment has paid off. In others, we’re still waiting for them to get their shit together.

And it’s telling that independent Sky Blue—the lowest-attended team in the NWSL— drew as many or more people to a match this year in an MLS venue than any MLS-run Dash or Pride match. Or that the independent Chicago Red Stars drew more in the MLS Fire’s home venue than any Fire match this season. Or that the independent Spirit just drew more than any MLS-owned NWSL team outside of Portland to Audi Field— and outdrew us this weekend in a smaller venue.

But the NWSL isn’t MLS. It’s a chance—an opportunity—to be better than MLS, to learn from the many mistakes MLS made and build something that isn’t just good enough but truly great. Just like any 7-year-old league it hasn’t been easy or smooth; FURT is in our vocabulary for many, many reasons. But other teams are taking that chance, they’re going out of their way to sign sponsors and local TV deals, to fill bigger and better stadiums, to sell advertising and take action toward actual equity in treatment with men’s soccer teams, to stand up for the rights of fans and players, and to say publicly and frankly that being anti-fascist is not controversial while not having anything to do with MLS’s fan-hostile policies.

To paraphrase women’s soccer writer Charles Olney, team owners have the opportunity to make the NWSL the Premier League of women’s soccer. But applying boneheaded MLS policies to the NWSL—policies that don’t exist at the NWSL level, and aren’t enforced elsewhere in the league, including at MLS venues in New Jersey and Chicago— is the first and biggest step into turning the NWSL into the MLS of women’s soccer.

Do we really want to regress that far from where the NWSL is now? Do we want to be like MLS—do we want to be WMLS—instead of a world leader in this sport?

* I don’t expect everyone to click on every link and read every story here, but I’ll celebrate any chance I get to link to one story noting that Utah Royals FC turned a profit in year 1, in the same sentence as another story where MLS commissioner Don Garber says that Real Salt Lake would be profitable without the Royals.

Guest blog by Kyle Jones

As was witnessed last night, the Timbers Army, Rose City Riveters, 107ist and even ECS and Gorilla FC, take very seriously the issue of an arbitrary “political” imagery ban in our stadiums. We are clearly willing to put ourselves out there to show the Front Office and the league how important this is. Timbers and Thorns ownership has an opportunity to move toward a resolution, even in the next day.

Merritt Paulson and Mike Golub have both stated that the organization they lead is unequivocally antifascist. Removing the non-NWSL instituted ban on the Iron Front symbol at Thorns games would go a long way to prove to us, the supporters, that they, the Timbers and Thorns organization, are genuinely on the right side of this societal issue.

On a business operations level, it would show their employees that management believes in the people who put on a Providence Park jacket and polo each match day to do their jobs. If they are able to distinguish the difference between a GA ticket and a reserved one from six feet away (which they are), they are more than capable of discerning a Timbers match from a Thorns one. Park staff have the ability to not enforce a non-league instituted ban for one of those teams. “Staff confusion” is not a valid reason.

The ban being enforced at Thorns matches is solely being imposed by Thorns ownership. Period. Merritt and Mike can change that.

Fewer than 18 hours from now, fans will be lining up to enter Providence Park to cheer on the Thorns. And this isn’t just some Yahoo! livestream. The game will be broadcast on ESPNews. This is a tremendous opportunity for the club to extend an olive branch to its most ardent supporters; for them to show us their mettle.

Mistakes can be forgiven. Amends can be made. But both require action. As a supporter and season ticket holder for both clubs, I ask them to please, take action.

I will continue to boycott concessions and club merchandise until the ban is overturned. And if I find myself standing silently in a stadium for another 33 minutes, so be it. I’m confident that we, as supporters, can deal with an eerily quiet stadium far longer than they can.

Guest blog from Bitty

Why Does My Voice Matter?

It’s a question even I have. The last few years have brought forth many opportunities for people to step outside their comfort zones, to stand up and speak out about the wrongs that are happening in our own neighborhoods. We always see crowds protesting and standing up for issues that the Right often attack, but we rarely see the people on the sidelines. People who show up, but aren’t sure where they fit into that protest. They know it must be important if hundreds or thousands or millions show up, so what keeps them sidelined?

It’s not just a cheesy saying, every single voice matters no matter how small you think yours is. I’ve taken part in many protests and demonstrations, I used to find myself questioning if I was the right person to be protesting certain issues. It took me sometime to realize within my discomfort is an anger that drives me to be a part of the change. After all, I’m human, it’s my right to stand up and defend our rights. Even if I’m not who the Right is attacking in that moment, I’m not going to be a part of any change if I’m comfortable in what’s happening around me.

In all of the protests I’ve been a part of, I never thought my discomfort that would come from a sports angle. But alas, here we are. We have a league (MLS for those who don’t know yet) that seems to be confused on what’s political and what’s a human right. Unfortunately, it’s common these days when the media and leader of our country are empowering alt-right movements and creating a problem our generation didn’t wager they’d see. We learned about the extreme right, fascism and Nazi’s in history classes, but to see what’s happening now is something at least I didn’t see coming. Some may say, but this is sports, it shouldn’t be political. Too bad, it already is. From the national anthem used as a recruiting method, the camo kits and merch sold by FO’s, to the American flag. It’s all political from the time game day starts. However, in a system of balances, for every bad there should be a good. This is where we bring up the Iron Front, a symbol used and designed in the 30’s to be able to cover swastikas, it’s a symbol of the resistance of Nazism. It’s a symbol use to stand against fascism. It’s a symbol of human rights, therefore it isn’t political.

Don’t let the Front Office or leagues definition of Antifa scare you or deter you from speaking up for human rights. If you’re against fascism, you’re Antifa. There’s no middle ground. Attacking Antifa and the Iron Front is supporting Fascism and aides the rising of white supremacy under this administration.

So as a supporter of soccer, watching this all unfold has found a lot of people wondering what they can do to ensure human rights are stood up for and hate has no place in our stands. You’re also probably wondering as an NWSL supporter, why does any of this matter to you. It matters because Portland’s Front Office has decided this horrendous code of conduct should span all 3 leagues that Providence Park hosts. Their reasoning, the employees don’t know the difference between teams/leagues. So aside from being a human rights issue that one leagues supporters find themselves fighting for, in Providence Park it expanded to a stadium issue.

Standing up to anyone is hard, especially a Front Office. However, a line has to be drawn. First they come for the Iron Front, what will they come for next? The pride flag? The trans flag? So here is your chance to take a stand. If you’ve found yourself on the outside looking in, know you’re not alone. I often say “I’m new here” because I’m still highly unsure of where I fit in. But we’re all human, and our standing up for human rights put us right in the middle of this. Protesting has been a way to fight power for, well forever. Like any business they depend on consumer money, taking a stand can be as simple as not spending money in the stadium or on merch. Speaking out can be as simple as making your own two stick about standing up for human rights and against fascism. Reach out to those around you, work with each other, don’t be afraid to ask for help or clarification. Change starts within all of us, all of our voices matter.

Guest blog from Nash Drake

Dear Amanda Duffy

Hi, Amanda. Nash here. It seems that you have been extraordinarily busy, so I’ll try to keep this brief.

Did you know that the front office in Portland has decided that NWSL has a policy against flying the Iron Front flag at matches? Crazy, right?! I’m fairly sure that NWSL didn’t participate in that decision-making process, but if I’m wrong, please let me know.

So let’s talk about the Iron Front symbol. It was created by anti-fascists to give a symbol to counter the Nazis. Yep, Nazis. Again, you’ve been busy, so I won’t assume that you know there is a rising tide of white nationalism sloshing about in our country at the moment that is accompanied by racism, homophobia, transphobia, and on and on. In short, bad things are going on.

I’m a member of the Rose City Riveters. No matter how busy you are, I’m going to assume that you *do* know who we are. We are aggressively inclusive. Anyone is welcome amongst our ranks. Except Nazis, we don’t like them. We have flown the Iron Front flag at a Riveters match before and I personally would like to fly it at every match to let people know that they are safe within our ranks.

Here’s where the rub is, Amanda. While NWSL doesn’t have a code of conduct, MLS does. And while the code of conduct for MLS doesn’t say that an Iron Front symbol can’t be flown in stadiums, the Portland Front Office has decided that it should be banned because it is “political”. They also decided that for NWSL and USL, the same applies. Of all the nerve, amiright?! How far do we have to leap in order to get to a ban on rainbow flags? Pride nights? The Portland front office has said that people are “uncomfortable” with the Iron Front symbol being flown in the stadium. What happens when someone says they are “uncomfortable” with the rainbow flag or a Pride Night? Do we want to tell our players from all over the world that NWSL stadiums aren’t a safe space for them, but are safe spaces for Nazis? Do we want our LGBTQ+ players and supporters to think that NWSL matches are not safe spaces for them, but are for bigots?

Again, I know you are busy, but I am hopeful that you aren’t so busy that you are willing to let one front office dictate a policy for an entire league and its supporters. I’m further hopeful that you and I can agree that human rights are not political and that this will be addressed quickly so that we can all go back to growing this league that we are all so invested in.

Best,

~Nash

Some may wonder why Riveters are sharing this. Aside from falling under the same 107IST umbrella as Timbers Army, we also have a stake in this matter. Riveters have flown the Iron Front for years with no concerns or issues- and no policy provisions from NWSL suggest it is inappropriate (aka “the league” taking issue with it). The justification is dubious at best- the Thorns front office seem to believe their stadium personnel are not able to distinguish the difference between Thorns and Timbers, and a blanket ban would eliminate confusion. Irrespective of their stance, one thing remains true. When you ban a symbol of resistance to oppression, you are taking the side of the oppressors. Rose City Riveters know what side we are on.

The following is a statement on behalf of the 107IST board of directors.

As many of you have seen, the Timbers Front Office issued a statement about their ban of the Iron Front symbol at Timbers, Thorns, and T2 matches. We would like to address some of the points in the statement.

Yesterday’s statement from the Front Office comes directly on the heels of one of the most upsetting weekends in recent memory for many of our members — a weekend where avowed white nationalist demonstrators descended on Portland, many of whom had publicly called for violence. The timing is puzzling to say the least and damning at the worst.

When discussions about the Iron Front image started, we repeatedly asked the Front Office for a public statement, but we could not get anything in writing. Finally, with the first home match looming, we effectively had to force the FO to put together something we could share with our members.

If the Iron Front flag ban is an MLS policy, we have never seen any kind of official document from MLS stating this, and, once again, the most recent statement about it appears courtesy of the Timbers Front Office — in fact, the only “official” statements have been from the Timbers and Sounders front offices. The Seattle statement, in particular, included additional information that was not shared with us by our own Front Office or by the league.

The 107IST board has been working with the Independent Supporters Council (ISC), who have been attempting to engage in a dialogue with MLS headquarters on these issues since January.

The Timbers Front Office continues to use the word “dialogue” around the Iron Front situation, but this is an incorrect word. This policy and any associated actions have been unilaterally dictated to the 107IST board by the Front Office. Any “dialogue” at our meetings with them has been met with vague replies such as “We will continue this discussion later” or “Thank you for the input, but the league’s policy on this stands.”

The Timbers Front Office continues to maintain that they have received much support for the ban, but they have shared no metrics and few details. At the time of this writing, the 107IST board has received more than 50 copies of emails to the Front Office opposing the ban, and 0 emails supporting the ban. We recognize that we are likely to hear from only a subset of supporters, but these are the only metrics we have on letters to the Front Office, and they are wholly at odds with what they say they are hearing. Most importantly, however, some decisions are beyond metrics: Deciding when and whether to stand up for human rights and inclusion should not be subject to email and phone call ratios.

The 107IST board has expressed in no uncertain terms that not only do we disagree with the implementation of this policy, we also disagree with what it represents at a more basic level: the ability to arbitrarily, unilaterally, and subjectively interpret symbols and ideas as “political,” something we’ve already seen happening across the league in recent weeks. This is especially worrisome with clubs and ownership in MLS who refuse to even acknowledge Pride Nights by claiming they are “too political.” Our Front Office has acknowledged that the policy is fluid, open to interpretation, and has the potential to change.
We are frankly appalled that the Timbers Front Office has repeatedly attempted to conflate their support for marriage equality five years ago with the issues discussed of late, apparently to somehow buy back goodwill for their position. The support of basic human rights should not be used to attempt to gain points in the court of public opinion — it’s the bare minimum to which we should hold our institutions accountable.

The MLS Fan Code of Conduct was envisioned to bring about clarity, specifically with respect to equal treatment of supporters across the many clubs in MLS. The implementation of that has been anything but, showing that clubs (for example, Columbus, Atlanta, Chicago, and LA) can — and will — interpret the rules however they see fit, with supporters paying the price.

As our city, county, and state governments join with community organizations and the business community to make it clear that hate is not welcome here, we are disappointed that our Front Office is not a part of these efforts. While they continually reiterate that they share our ethos of acceptance and against hate, we have continually left the door open for them to do the right thing in this situation. That door is still open.

The 107IST board remains committed to asking MLS and the Timbers Front Office to rescind the subjective ban on “political displays” and come together with supporters and human rights experts to enact a Fan Code of Conduct that protects the game we love, as well as the supporters who make it unique.

Thank you for your pledge to TransActive Gender Project! For more than 12 years, TransActive has been a leading voice in creating a more affirming and inclusive world for gender diverse and transgender children, youth and their families. The money received from your pledges will be used to continue expanding outreach to individuals, families and communities in need of TransActive Gender Project’s services.

To make your online donation:

Click here to go to the Lewis & Clark Graduate School Giving page. In the field named “My Gift Should Benefit” click on the drop down menu and select “OTHER”. Enter “TransActive Gender Project” in the field that appears.

Thank you again for your generous support!

From the beginning, a core value of the Timbers Army, the Rose City Riveters, and the 107IST has been that we are unquestionably and vocally an anti-fascist and anti-racist organization. We have never — and will never — tolerate discrimination or bias for any reason. We believe in acceptance, understanding, inclusion, and love. You can read about our central beliefs in this blog post, which we posted after the MLS Code of Conduct was released. We firmly repeat: The fight for human rights is not a political one.

The Independent Supporters Council and supporters groups around the world share these values, and we are aligned in working together to combat prejudice and oppression.

As a vocal stance against fascism, we began displaying banners with the Iron Front logo in 2017 (although some also made appearances as far back as 2011 and the USL days before that). The Iron Front logo has stood as a symbol of the fight against persecution and fascism since World War II. Originally designed to symbolize the resistance against Nazi rise, it now stands primarily for the fight against all oppression. With the recent rise in targeted attacks against so many groups — LBTGQ+, immigrants, women, religious groups, and more — and the presence of fascists in our stadiums, this symbol represents our firm stance of combating hatred in soccer, our communities, and our world.

We have been working with the Timbers/Thorns Front Office for several months on the Iron Front symbol — what it stands for and how important its meaning is in these times. The FO stands by our beliefs, and they have agreed that we may use the words anti-racism and anti-fascist in our displays.

However, in conjunction with MLS, the FO has decided that this particular image is not to be used in any signage at Providence Park going forward, including Thorns and T2. What follows is a letter the 107IST board received last week, clarifying this policy. 
(Ed.: Small, clarifying additions are noted in brackets.)

The 107IST is relaying the following message to our own supporters as well as fellow supporters groups in other cities.

Take heed.

Providence Park Iron Front Signage Policy

Following last night’s meeting [May 14] we want to close the loop on the Iron Front dialogue with a clear written message you can share with the TA.

Rule

No Iron Front symbology will be allowed in Providence Park during Timbers, Thorns or T2 games. This rule includes any creative “work-arounds” like we saw in Vancouver this past Friday [May 10] and any Iron Front-based clearly organized displays that make a public statement. Due to the extensive dialogue on this issue and subsequent breaches of trust in Vancouver and in other media, We will be enforcing strict punishments for any violations of this rule out of the gate, starting with multi-game bans for violators.

The question was asked last night “if its Iron Front now, what next?” The answer there is simple: any signage that’s political or fails to comply with the MLS Supporter Code of Conduct, which is now clearly spelled out. And while the Iron Front is not specifically cited in the Code of Conduct it is unequivocally prohibited by the league.

Background Reasoning

With the bottom-line regarding the Iron Front out of the way, here is some very important context behind the issue that everyone should understand:

Even in the context of the new Supporter Code of Conduct guidelines, there is still a fair amount of local discretion teams can apply, something we personally fought very hard to ensure. The Timbers have always been the most lenient of any club in the league in allowing freedom of expression from its supporters. To that end we advocated very hard to the league to allow signs stating “Anti-Fascist” (the very spirit of the Iron Front prior to its antifia appropriation) would be acceptable and, furthermore, allowed the 107ist/TA to publicly communicate that to the ISC. The same applies to public denouncement of racism etc.

The reasoning behind why the Iron Front symbol is unacceptable is as follows:

• The Iron Front symbol has been clearly appropriated and linked to the antifa movement, and sometimes in a context of violence. There is no question that antifa and its current rise is why some in the TA suddenly have decided to use the Iron Front…if not why wouldn’t anti-fascist be ok?
• Symbols of politics are exclusionary and antithetical to the inclusive TA and Timbers ethos
• There are some added security concerns waving antifa symbols pose to all fans
• We have received many complaints about the Iron Front from fans who are clearly anti-fascist but feel uncomfortable with antifa imagery in their sporting experience for all the reasons stated above

We know better than anyone that the beautiful game can be a conduit for positive change in society. But we also fully agree that the Stadium should be a politics-free zone. Team, Town & TA. We believe that the end approach to the Iron Front and the dialogue that lead us there have been reasonable.

We hope this clarifies the issue. As we often say, we won’t always agree but we will always be open, honest and respectful. We have rarely drawn lines in the sand. We have a track record of being cooperative and working with the TA on a variety of potentially divisive issues that together we have resolved in a positive and peaceful way. It is our sincere hope that this is another case of just that.

For almost 10 years the Timbers and the 107ist have had a tremendous mutually beneficial relationship. We recognize the 107ist are volunteers and are deeply grateful for your service and all that TA does in support of the club we all love.

The 107IST board disagrees with this decision, but we felt it our duty to inform our members of this change. We will continue our work with the league and the Front Office on addressing the presence of hate in our stadiums and our communities.