Toronto's Michael Bradley experiences hostile trip in loss to Columbus Crew
The boos were as consistent as they were expected. When Michael Bradley returns to Columbus, he knows that they’re going to be headed his way.
It comes with the territory of being an athlete, much less one whose comments about former Crew owner Anthony Precourt’s attempt to move the team to Austin made him Public Enemy No. 1 to a portion of the fanbase. So when Bradley was booed every single time he touched the ball in Saturday night’s 2-0 win, the Toronto FC captain and longtime MLS veteran took it in stride.
When the final whistle blew, and Bradley headed toward the tunnel and visitors’ locker room, what transpired was different. Approaching the southwest corner of the stadium, Bradley stopped and signed an autograph for a young Crew fan. Moving further into the tunnel, Bradley was asked for a selfie with another fan wearing a Christian Ramirez jersey.
Bradley obliged and watched as the Crew fan made a crude gesture by flipping off the camera, capturing the split second on his phone. Bradley, having just completed his 300th game with Toronto, started toward the locker room, realized what had happened and stopped. This was a personal interaction, not mass booing, and Bradley went back to calmly relay that message to the fan.
“I didn’t raise my voice,” Bradley told The Dispatch, standing outside the Toronto locker room. “I was completely calm. It’s a kid, I don’t know, a teenager. I just looked at him and said, in a very calm way, ‘I just played 90 minutes and stopped to take a picture with you and that’s what you want to do? That’s the respect that you want to show?’ That’s no problem. If that’s what he wants to do, that’s his choice.
“It’s the world we live in. Everybody has a phone. Everybody has a camera. Everybody’s always looking to take the controversial picture. I enjoy banter as much as anybody, but obviously everybody has to decide where they want to draw that line.”
The conversation was then drowned out by cursing directed at Bradley, a nearby Toronto spokesman said, and the Toronto captain then left the field for good.
Why do Crew fans boo Michael Bradley?
The backstory behind the animosity dates back to 2017. With the Crew and Toronto pitted against each other in the Eastern Conference finals, Bradley was asked after a 0-0 draw on Nov. 21 at what is now known as Historic Crew Stadium about fans fighting to save the Crew from relocation. His response, which Bradley said has been misconstrued over the years, did not sit well with Crew fans.
“On one hand you feel for the small group of loyal supporters that they have who have been here since the beginning, who continue to support the team and come out week after week,” he said in 2017. “On the other hand, you can’t deny the fact that things here have really fallen behind in terms of the atmosphere in the stadium, the quality of the stadium, what it’s like to play here.”
Since then, Bradley has been given the villain treatment once Columbus successfully fought to save the Crew. Now 36, Bradley began his career with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in 2004, where he played alongside eventual Crew star Eddie Gaven, and has also played in Columbus with the United States men’s national team.
In 19 years of making trips to Columbus, Bradley said he understands why the fans boo him – but he also said they should look more closely at what he said.
“People should go back and look at exactly what I said and see if I was really being critical of the fans themselves or the infrastructure and the investment and the stadium experience and all of those things. People should go back and read those comments word for word and understand that I’ve always enjoyed coming here.”
After Toronto eliminated the Crew with a 1-0 second-leg win at BMO Field in 2017, Bradley said he spoke to Gregg Berhalter and Wil Trapp, then the Crew’s coach and captain, respectively, about his comments following the previous game.
“Fans here were not happy with the owner at the time,” Bradley said. “When you dug a little deeper and you started to understand how the things he was doing and wasn’t doing behind the scenes, the way that there had been no real effort made in the community to reach out to small businesses and make connections with supporters groups. The old Crew Stadium was the first soccer-specific stadium in this country. At that time, it had gotten to the point where the stadium itself, the structure itself, was outdated.
“On one hand, I get it. It was an emotional time for people here, but the comments at the time were completely misconstrued.”
Crew captain Darlington Nagbe: ‘Don’t invade personal space’
All of that built to Saturday night. Before the game got underway in front of the fifth-largest crowd in stadium history, Bradley went to the sideline and exchanged pleasantries with Crew president and general manager Tim Bezbatchenko, who came to the club after having spent six years as Toronto FC’s senior vice president of soccer operations and general manager. Bezbatchenko was standing with Crew owner Jimmy Haslam, and the three had a brief interaction.
“I said to them both, ‘What a beautiful stadium you guys have,’ ” Bradley said. “This is what we need in the game in this country: more real atmospheres. Wilfried (Nancy) and Tim have done a really good job of building this team, so they have a good team, they have a great stadium, the field’s in good shape, the stadium is full. The more places we can have like this across the country, the better off we all are.”
During the game, Crew captain and MLS veteran Darlington Nagbe said he noticed some booing for Bradley as the end of each half drew closer. Now in his fourth season with the Crew and 13th in MLS, Nagbe said he learned last year why Crew fans boo Bradley when he touches the ball.
That, he said, is different than what happened with the selfie.
“Booing, that’s part of the game,” he said. “I think something like that, when you ask for something and he listens and comes to you and you still do something negative towards him, that’s crossing the line. I think sometimes booing from afar, all those things are fine but when you get close and personal you don’t invade space.”
During the game, Bradley drew the ire of some fans in the south stands during a stoppage in play where he acknowledged the constant jeering.
“I say this with complete humility: I joked with one of the guys behind the goal, ‘I probably played some small part in helping you guys bring a little bit of attention to your effort to save your team.’ Again, I say that humbly, but it’s always been interesting and unfortunate for me that now as the years have gone by people have taken the comments completely out of context.”
Bradley is approaching the end of his 12th season in MLS. This is his tenth with Toronto, a club that was marketed as the Crew’s rival until FC Cincinnati’s inception. Nagbe described him as a player he respects, one who has had a career “a lot of us wish we could have.”
The Toronto captain doesn’t need anyone to defend him, the Crew captain said, but there are limits to what he should have to deal with.
“When you’re in your seats, do whatever you have to do, any type of booing but once they get up and close and personal as an athletes, especially when the athlete is generous to give you some time, just be respectful about it,” Nagbe said.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Toronto's Michael Bradley handles boos, vulgarity from Crew fans
