The story should be about the absolute dominance of Detroit City over NISA. After winning the Fall-Spring season of 20-21 easily, Detroit came into the single table 2020 Fall campaign with little to prove to the league it has crushed since inception. Instead of taking its foot off the pedal, DCFC has cruised through the extended season, only losing a single match and drawing two. This evening, the team cruised to a 1-0 win over California United Strikers, with Maxi Rodriguez scoring the first half winner (PK) for his 7th of the season. The win clinched the Fall Season title for Detroit, with 3 more matches on the schedule. The run has been incredible.

DCFC has always been a defensive-minded club, led by team leaders Nate Stienwascher and Stephen Carroll, but this season, the offense really came into its own. Scoring is no longer a problem, with the club averaging two goals a match. While Rodriguez has been a revelation this season, Conner Rutz and James Filerman have both played key roles in producing scoring opportunities for Le Rouge. The team is in sync and no other club has been near as consistent in producing points throughout this season. Detroit City FC is easily the best club in the league, now three seasons running. But as the club celebrates its most recent title, controversy is bubbling around a NGS banner and who wanted it removed before yesterday’s match.

A long-running rumor is that NISA match officials are not being paid in a timely manner (or at all). While Protagonist has attempted to confirm this story, we have been unable to find a referee willing to speak on (or off) the record. That has limited our ability to accurately report the story. When the issue was first brought up to us, in early September, we contacted the league and were informed that there was indeed an issue with pay, but not on the league’s side of the process. The next day the league responded that it was “rectifying as we speak by going directly thru USSF. All referees will be paid up this week.” At the field level, it seems referees were saying otherwise. We have received multiple reports that pay was continuing to be held up, with at least one referee claiming to be owed “thousands of dollars” (we attempted to contact this official, but were unsuccessful).

The most outspoken supporter group in NISA (and the entire lower league soccer universe), Northern Guard, were hearing the same rumors. Known for their tifo, the group put up a banner about the issue several weeks ago and, according to a league source, there were “discussions between the league and DCFC about it.” That same banner was again up during tonight’s home match against Cal United. Before the match, DCFC founder and co-owner Sean Mann, approached NGS about removing the banner before the match and told Joe Novak (who helps lead the NGS tifo construction) that the "the league demanded it." Novak stressed that Mann made it clear that he “was just [a] messenger for the league. He personally was not asking or demanding, neither was the club. He said the league demanded it.” While the banner was removed, NGS did chant “pay the refs” at least once during the match.

When the NISA office was contacted about this story, Steve Johnson, NISA communication specialist, responded that “our ops have nothing on it” and that he had “no one who asked for the banner to be removed.” He also reiterated that “we are paying officials. We are working through the process to ensure payment.” Later in the conversation, after denying the league had requested the banner be removed, he did point out that “NO LEAGUE ON THE PLANET [his emphasis] would allow banners that aren’t appropriate…towards clubs, the league, players.”

The information from Johnson, however, seems to contradict a statement from the Detroit City front office. When asked about the banner removal request, a team official responded that “it came from the league. The FO has never asked NGS to remove a banner.” Whether it was a direct order from NISA or DCFC’s interpretation of the conversation referenced by Johnson the first time the banner was hung, either way the banner was removed before the match.

NGS has a long-running reputation for pushing the envelope with banners and chants, but this particular banner seemed fairly tame by their standards. A yellow banner with a hand pointing to an open palm and the words “Pay the damned referees” with the NISA logo in the background is hardly the thing you’d imagine a league FO getting touchy about. Unless, of course, there was still a lingering issue with referees not being paid. We cannot confirm if the pay issue has been put to bed as the league claims and without referees willing to go on record, we cannot confirm that it hasn’t been. What IS clear is that NGS was asked by DCFC to remove a banner at the (either implied or direct) behest of NISA FO. Up to tonight’s match, over the course of ten years, that had never happened to NGS before.

And that’s the rub. Can the league afford to create conflict with EASILY the largest and most vocal group of supporters attending NISA matches? NGS has been an activist organization for years and NISA will have a hard time trying to bridle a supporter group unused, and certainly unwilling, to accept such limitations.

But perhaps more importantly, should NISA be in the practice of removing banners in a league which prides itself in being “independent?” Yesterday’s alleged action (denied by the league) would seem incongruent with the principle. We’ve seen the clash between these competing ideas before, when fans and critics have called for the league to have a stronger hand in club management. In response, the league has generally defaulted to maintaining a more “hands-off” approach. Could this alleged banner situation signal a change in this approach?

But let’s set the philosophical debate aside for tomorrow. Congratulations to Detroit City FC on an amazing run, we’ve got three more matches to see how NGS celebrates.

- Dan Vaughn