There are more important things than the results of a soccer game. Even when that soccer game is between bitter rivals whose supporters would rather bust one another’s heads than shake hands.
The El Tráfico match between LAFC and the Galaxy is one of those proper rivalries. In just eight seasons, it has blossomed into the most intense, meaningful and emotional rivalry in MLS. And at times, especially in the derby’s early years, that emotion went largely unchecked, with some fans seeing their nights end in handcuffs or a hospital emergency room.
Last Saturday was different. Well, at least it started differently before ending with the same wild raucousness that has come to define El Tráfico. More about that in a bit.
But first, some background.
More than six weeks ago, masked federal agents, soon to be backed by National Guard troops and U.S. Marines, began invading neighborhoods across Southern California during immigration raids that The Times reported increased fear while leading to more than 2,700 arrests. More than two-thirds of those arrested had never been convicted of a crime and 57% had never been charged with a crime.
And this is where the story becomes a soccer one.
Soccer, by custom and breeding, is an immigrant sport. Like pizza, sushi and Halloween, soccer was imported to the U.S. by immigrants and was popularized in immigrant neighborhoods before spreading to the culture at large. So for many soccer fans, the violent raids, which upended families and communities, were personal.
Angel City FC, Los Angeles’ National Women’s Soccer League team, and LAFC reacted immediately. Within hours of the first raids, both teams issued statements of support of their fans.
“When so many in our city are feeling fear and uncertainty,” the LAFC statement read in part, “LAFC stands shoulder to shoulder with all members of our community.”
The Galaxy and its parent company, AEG, like the rest of MLS, have so far been silent — a silence that has been deafening to so many of its supporters, they began boycotting the team and its activities. Longtime season-ticket holders have canceled their orders and at Saturday’s El Tráfico at BMO Stadium the three sections in the upper deck reserved for fans of the visiting team were nearly half empty for the first time.
So LAFC’s supporters’ union stepped into the void, delivering the message Galaxy fans have yet to get from their club: we have your back. Just before kickoff LAFC fans in the north stand unfurled a massive banner that read: “Los Angeles Unidos Jamás Será Vencido” (“Los Angeles, united, will never be defeated.”)
LAFC fans show their support before the team’s rivalry game against the Galaxy at BMO Stadium on Saturday.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
The message is a take on a revolutionary slogan that begins “the people united.” It originated in Chile in the 1970s but has long been popular with grassroots movements throughout Latin America because its meaning transcends political — and soccer — affiliations to deliver a universal truth about unity and justice.
In this fight, the LAFC supporters were saying, the two local MLS teams were on the same side. It wasn’t exactly joining hands with Galaxy supporters and singing “Kumbaya.” But it was close.
Given soccer’s history and heritage, it’s both sad and revealing that LAFC remains the only MLS organization that has spoken out about the fear and frustration the immigration raids have caused. This isn’t a political issue, after all; LAFC’s brief 49-word statement, which a league source not authorized to speak publicly said was approved by MLS, never mentions politics or immigration. Instead, it celebrates the importance of diversity.
Yet no other team, in a league that owes its very existence to immigrants, has had the courage to take even that tepid a step. Rolling Stone, citing league and team sources, said there is worry taking any kind of stand would lead the Trump administration, which launched the raids, to retaliate. They cite the example of the Dodgers, who were sued by a Trump-aligned conservative legal group, after pledging to give $1 million to support immigrant families.
A league executive, not authorized to speak on the record, pushed back on that.
The closest the league has come to making a formal policy declaration about such matters, the executive said, is a two-decade-old fan code of conduct that “prohibits fans from displaying signs, symbols, or images used for commercial purposes or to advocate for or against any political candidate, party, legislative issue, or government action.”
The league may tacitly have encouraged teams to stay silent, but its policies don’t expressly prohibit the Galaxy, or any other team, from supporting immigrants and opposing the arrests of legal residents. Yet LAFC — and Angel City and the Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL — are the only top-tier soccer teams that have yet done so.
So it’s fallen to the fans to take action, with MLS supporters in Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Nashville, Austin and elsewhere waving banners and staging boycotts.
But if ICE is a common enemy, it’s not the only one. After the Galaxy rallied twice from two-goal deficits Saturday to tie LAFC on the final touch of the game — a game marred by a mini-brawl involving as many as 10 players early in stoppage time — the rivalry was back on, with LAFC fans pelting the referees with beer and trash and arguing with Galaxy supporters in the parking lots.
Solidarity, it seems, has its limits.
⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.
