The NISA Independent Cup has been generally accepted as a massive success this year. Though most of the matches were played without fans present, the matches themselves have been every bit as fun and exciting as fans had hoped. Mycujoo has proved to be up to the task of broadcasting the matches, so exposure has been widespread, even as the pandemic has limited so many other aspects of people’s lives.

While every other region had wrapped up before the NISA regular season had kicked off, the Mid-Atlantic region had been delayed due to weather cancellations. Because of these issues, the final match was pushed until after the Fall NISA season. With only one game left to play in the group, the Maryland Bobcats had completed play with five points, FC Baltimore had four and the New York Cosmos had three. As such, the region wasn’t able to crown their champion till yesterday.

The final match to be played was between New York Cosmos and FC Baltimore. While all previous matches had been played at neutral sites, this match was played at the Cosmos’ practice field in Uniondale, New York. Fans were not formally invited to attend the match, but the field sits against a parking lot and a small group of fans were present for the match. “30-40 fans” was how the crowd was described by a person present at the match. Fans were seated in lawn chairs and pickup truck tailgates only a few feet away from the chain link fence that separates the parking lot from the field itself. An SUV flying a large blue Trump flag was among the vehicles, though this may have been associated with a nearby gun range rather than the soccer match. The majority of the fans present were from The Cross Island Crew supporter group, who were described by one Cosmos’ employee as “generally very left-wing, anti-fascist, gay-friendly, and inclusive.”

In this screen shot from Mycujoo, fans can be clearly seen clustered behind the backline fence.

FC Baltimore scored early but the Cosmos took control of the match and were up 2-1 until late. The Cosmos took a Baltimore player down in the box allowing the visitors to score a penalty kick in the 81st minute. The match ended at a 2-2 draw which gave Baltimore five points in the group but the Mid-Atlantic title went to the Maryland Bobcats on goal differential. But the scoreline, while significant in the standings for the region, has become secondary to claims of racial abuse from FC Baltimore players and Larry Sancomb, head coach of FC Baltimore.

According to Sancomb, fans were taunting FC Baltimore players throughout the match, escalating through the first half and getting worse in the second. The comments were ignored by the players for the most part, but Sancomb described the comments as “racial stuff. Things like ‘go back to africa’ and the N-word.” It reached the point that in the final minutes of the match, after FC Baltimore scored the game-tying penalty, that the referee, Ernie Constantine, approached the benches and spoke with both coaches, Sancomb and Carlos Mendes, about the abuse. Sancomb requested that the fans be removed from the area, but “the Cosmos staff said it couldn’t be done, but they’d look for ‘the guy’ making the most comments.” Sancomb’s comments match that of his players, including Khalid Baloun, who posted on social media (under the twitter handle @bgoon11) that “the fact that racial abuse doesn’t even phase me anymore is a shame smh.” When we spoke with Baloun, he stated that while he didn’t hear the earlier comments, “after we equalized with our second goal I heard one of them yell out to one of my teammates ‘You African scum’ at which point I turned around and addressed them and then made my concerns known to the referee.”

When we spoke with Erik Stover, Cosmos GM, he highlighted that when the racist abuse was mentioned by the referee, he personally approached the fans and demanded to know which person was responsible for the comments, with the intent to eject the person. The fans present refused to identify the offending person and, after a short argument, were encouraged to exit en masse. As the match was quickly drawing to a close, they did. Stover described himself as furious over the abuse and said “it’s not who we are or who we’ve been. It’s very offensive to us and we’re furious that the fans were protecting the abuser.” A longer statement should be expected from the Cosmos later today.

UPDATE: NISA has responded to the incident. “NISA have been in conversations with the Cosmos on the incident, and the team is working with their supporters group on the issue. The offender was quickly removed during game, per report. As you know, we wholly condemn racism in all its forms and will continue to ensure a safe and supportive environment for all.”