Chivas USA scrutinizing supporter groups' signs; MLS Fans launch skywriting protest

There have been some major developments in the past day or so concerning Chivas USA and the relationship of the team to at least some of the fans. I have spoken with representatives from both the Black Army 1850 and Union Ultras supporter groups about the story, with somewhat different tales emerging.

First, the Black Army began publicly discussing a change in the club's attitude that seemed to culminate this week. From what the group told me, their frequent tweets critical of the team's decisions and in particular calling out club President Jose David a few weeks back raised attention. From there, they say that David intended to set up a meeting to speak with the Black Army during the home match May 19 against Real Salt Lake. However, the meeting was apparently canceled because team owner Jorge Vergara was expected to attend the match (in the end, he never showed up, as confirmed by the club).

The Black Army displayed two banners during the RSL game, saying "MLS SAVE OUR CLUB" and "JORGE VALES VERGARA." After that, they were informed they were not allowed to bring any banners critical of the ownership into the stadium, and additionally, they will be thoroughly searched for forbidden materials prior to the game tonight against the Seattle Sounders.

I also spoke to Julio "El Chiva Mayor" Ramos about any changes or new regulations concerning the Union Ultras, and he told me that the club was going to check all banners to ensure there was no profanity on them. According to him, there was no word about restricting banners for any other reason, at least for the Union Ultras.

Of course, it is possible that the SGs are being treated differently concerning the matter.

To add another page to the ongoing saga taking place around the club, the MLS Reddit page yesterday launched a proposal to fund a skywriting protest at a Chivas USA match, in light of the Black Army's restrictions. With the campaign launched yesterday with a two week deadline to find a minimum of $600, they funded that minimum in a day. The public information is that the people behind this, essentially all of whom are not Chivas USA fans (at least based on their team icons on Reddit) plan to make the skywriting protest June 23 when Chivas play the LA Galaxy.

No word on when the no-fly zone will be enacted over the stadium, but expect something like that to be the next step.

At any rate, we'll keep you posted on what happens, either regarding the actual SG-club interactions, or on the seemingly-bizarre-but-apparently-very-real skywriting protest.

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