Atlanta United President Darren Eales has pledged that the MLS team is going to do something to try to help unite the city amid ongoing social unrest.
“When we launched Atlanta United we spoke about it being the city's club, about being a voice of the citizens, all of those things that we stand for for Atlanta United,” Eales said. “I think it's imperative for us, as a club, that we have a moral duty to speak out because we wear the name ‘Atlanta’ on our shirts.
“We’re Atlanta United, we’re the team that wants to give our fans a voice, we want to be something that unites the city. We have an obligation really to speak out.”
Eales said he doesn’t yet know what the club will do but he is challenging everyone within the organization to contribute to part of a solution. He said inaction shouldn’t be a choice.
“It’s going to be difficult, but you can be sure that there's something that's going to be a focus for the club and I hope it's a focus for our supporters as well,” he said.
Eales said he was going to speak to the players on Thursday about the protests in many cities around the world in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. A question about how the talk was received was sent to Atlanta United communications to ask the players but it wasn't among the topics covered in Friday's post-practice sessions sent to media. Journalists aren't permitted to attend as part of the COVID-19-related restrictions.
Part of Atlanta United's success as a club has been its attempts at inclusive approaches with supporters. The club has successfully courted followers across demographics and ethnicities, showing off its more high-profile followers during the Golden Spike ceremony before the games. Rapper Killer Mike, whose speech on the first night of Atlanta's protests drew praise from the city and civic leaders, is among those who have hammered the spike in front of the supporters. Among the team's four biggest supporters groups is Footie Mob, a play on the Atlanta-based hip-hop group Goodie Mob. Footie Mob's mission is to grow and diversify the soccer fan base in Atlanta.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber on Wednesday also pledged the league was going to also take steps – something more than an ad campaign – to try to unite people.
“We have always stood against racism,” he said. “We’ve stood for equality [since] the beginning of our league's history. And it's not just the league, it's our clubs, it's our players. We've tried to create programs that would address some of the things that are important to our core values. And I have to say that it's not enough to produce ads, it's not enough just to have programs that talk about these issues. We, as a league, and I think I can also speak as a leader in the sport, and I can speak on behalf of our players and our clubs, that we need to go further. And we're committed to doing that.”
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