After ICE activity in Nashville, this Latino soccer supporter group canceled its match day activities
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If you’ve ever been to a Major League Soccer match, chances are your eyes and ears were immediately drawn to the supporters’ section, the part of the stadium where the home team’s biggest diehards stand — there are seats there, but these are rarely used.
In many cases, these supporter groups tend to be collectives made up of smaller factions, who come together Voltron-style to provide the match’s heartbeat. People from all walks of life pound their drums, wave their flags and cheer nonstop for 90-plus minutes, all united by the love they feel for the crest on their jerseys. The L.A. Galaxy has Victoria Block; LAFC has the 3252.
In my opinion, this is one of the better features of this country’s interpretation of the beautiful game.
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Last Saturday, Nashville SC’s section, the Backline Supporters Collective, was awfully quiet during the club’s home match at Geodis Park against Charlotte FC. On Friday, la Brigada de Oro, the group’s Latino faction, announced on social media that it would be canceling its pre-match tailgate due to ongoing immigration enforcement activity in the area. Many of the group’s members skipped the game altogether.
It was not an unfounded fear. The previous weekend, the Tennessee Highway Patrol conducted a joint operation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which resulted in 588 stops and 103 people taken into custody.
“During difficult times, family stands together— when one of us is affected, we all are,” the group said in their statement. “And at this moment it doesn’t feel prudent to celebrate, cheer and party while so many families within our community are being separated and destroyed.”
In response, the other Backline sections ensured that la Brigada de Oro’s absence was felt, instituting a 10-minute-long moment of silence between the 15th and 25th minute of the match, and holding banners in Spanish and English that read, “We are not all here.”
According to the Nashville Banner, stadium security tried to confiscate these signs, but were met with heavy resistance before eventually giving up.
“We were prepared to walk out,” Noah Klibonoff, a supporter who attended the match, told the local outlet. “We would have pulled the capos off the stands. This is bigger than soccer. There’s a whole group of us who couldn’t be here because of outside agitators.”
By Saturday night, word had spread throughout the U.S. soccer community. Supporter groups from across the league and the country posted messages of solidarity, letting la Brigada know that they were not alone.
“It’s been so well appreciated, something that we never fathomed. It left us speechless and definitely grateful because of the understanding factor, more than anything,” said Abel Acosta, one of the co-founders of la Brigada de Oro. I had reached out to the group via Instagram requesting an interview. Acosta, 48, and fellow co-founder Coral Cook, 36, agreed to jump on a call with me.
The group was founded in 2019, when Nashville SC was still playing in the USL Championship, and was born out of a desire to “bring Latino flavor to the stands.” It’s understandable — soccer is taken very seriously south of the border, and passion for the sport is a characteristic of many Latin American diasporas in the United States.
“I always say we wanted to build that bridge between the American and Latino culture, but more than anything we want to be a foundation for Latinos to come and feel welcome at games,” Acosta said.
La Brigada de Oro has been a mainstay at Geodis Park ever since.
Acosta and Cook said the choice to cancel their tailgate and skip the match was done out of a desire to protect la Brigada de Oro’s members. It wasn’t an easy decision, but one that felt necessary.
“I don’t think people feel that security,” said Cook. “I don’t think that fear is going away overnight. Our members all feel the same way. The ones here with legal work visas, U.S. citizens, they don’t feel safe.”
In our conversation, Acosta revealed that the son of one member had been apprehended the previous weekend, and had already been transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.
“It’s something that really hit close to us personally, not as a group, but on a friendship level,” he said.
The two admitted that they didn’t expect la Brigada de Oro’s decision to cancel their tailgate and skip the match would make national news, but they’re glad it did.
“We’ve been the first MLS city to be hit this way. This isn’t just a Nashville thing. This is a countrywide thing,” said Acosta, pointing to the fact that the U.S. is poised to host two major soccer events, this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup (some matches will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena) and next year’s World Cup.
“We’ll have visitors from close to 100 countries. We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game. But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home, otherwise they’ll have to talk to Secretary Noem,” Vice President JD Vance recently said at a White House news conference announcing that Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, would be in charge of a World Cup task force. Secretary Noem refers to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees federal immigration enforcement.
“It’s not very welcoming, is it? Those statements have ripple effects,” Acosta said of Vance’s comments.
Not all of the feedback has been positive. Cook said that some of the discourse online about their decision had been negative.
“A lot of different things are being said about us. They’re saying that we’re boycotting Nashville SC, that all our members are undocumented. We’re doing this because we’re standing by our members,” Cook reiterated.
When asked if club officials had reached out to la Brigada de Oro’s leadership, Acosta confirmed that they had been in touch, but didn’t divulge much about their exchange and surmised that the Nashville SC was likely hampered by an MLS policy that discourages taking any action that might be seen as political.
“This is not a political issue. This is a community issue that’s happening in the community that you’re such a big part of. This is a scenario in which the community is suffering and being attacked,” Acosta said.
“We have worked hard to make Geodis Park a safe, family-friendly environment where everyone feels welcome to come and enjoy a soccer match, concert or other event. While we can only control what happens inside our stadium, we are committed to keeping Geodis Park that way for all of our fans,” a Nashville SC spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Times.
“It is unfortunate that some of our fans aren’t there with us right now. Their presence is certainly missed and we look forward to having all members of La Brigada and our Supporter’s Groups back very soon. On every match night, we are going to continue to create a fun, inclusive environment for all our fans within the guidelines set forth by Major League Soccer.”
In the meantime, Acosta and Cook said that they’re unsure exactly when la Brigada de Oro will be returning to Geodis Park.
“We don’t know when it’s going to feel right to go back and actually enjoy a game,” said Cook. “I’d be a hypocrite to show up and do a tailgate, so we’re going to stand by our members because ultimately they’re the ones who make up our group. It has nothing to do with boycotting Nashville SC. It’s purely because of their safety.”
Acosta added that they are not discouraging their supporters from attending matches, but that the group won’t be at Saturday’s home stand against DC United.
“They’ll be away for a couple of weeks,” Acosta said, referring to Nashville’s upcoming road stint. “We’ll take it from there and see where we are at.”
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Kali Uchis on grief
Earlier this week, my colleague Suzy Exposito profiled Colombian American singer Kali Uchis, who released her ninth studio album, “Sincerely,” May 9 on Capitol Records. It’s a great read. But what struck me the most about the feature is Uchis opening up about her reconciliation with her mother and the grief she carried after her passing. This part hit me in the gut and I haven’t recovered since:
“I tried to go out and do stuff while not telling anyone [she died],” said Uchis. “It just felt disrespectful to her life and her legacy … Because it’s the first thing that’s on [my] mind as soon as [I] wake up and as soon as [I] go to sleep. My mom was really proud, and dedicating the album to her felt like the right thing to do.”
Longtime readers of this newsletter might know that I lost my father to cancer a little over a year ago. I’m coping a lot better now, but what Uchis said rang true for me. No matter how much one might heal, that absence never really goes away. I’ve stopped talking about it mostly because people don’t want to be bummed out when I tell them about my dead dad, but his loss is something I’ve continued to carry and likely will for the rest of my life.
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