Ah, bummer for soccer fans. Reports from Britain indicate that Rangers F.C. has pulled out of a U.S. tour that would have included a match against D.C. United at RFK Stadium and a throwdown against Scottish Premier League rival Celtic at Fenway Park in Boston.
According to the BBC, the Rangers pulled out in part because of concerns over possible bad fan behavior, and hinted that a negative blog post in the Boston Globe may have played a role. The Globe last month outlined some examples of fan violence stemming from the rivalry between Rangers and Celtic, though that article has since been removed from the Globe's Web site and the author, Mark Stokes, apologized for writing it.
In any case, support among Rangers fans was not universal, as Ross Blyth, a vice president of the Rangers Supporters' Assembly, told the BBC Scotland that he would "urge the club to look elsewhere."
It seems as if D.C. United are the innocent victims here, as Rangers decided to pull out of not just the Celtic match, but the whole visit to the U.S. in favor of a trip to Australia. While there may have been some reasonable concerns over Rangers battle with Celtic in Boston, there would have been little controversy over a match involving the MLS club in D.C. Without the Cetic match, the economics of the U.S. visit may not have made sense.
Give credit to D.C. United for even being a part of this discussion, though. The team is six years removed from its last MLS Cup, hasn't made the playoffs since 2007 and plays in a beat-up facility, but still manages to land attention from international clubs.
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