A dark post about threats to someone who challenged the Whitecaps Stadium

 Bruce lives on the same street as me — I’d say which, but the post below shows why I’m hesitant!  Suffice it to say, we live in gastown.  He, like me, is a gainfully employed uber-vancouverite:  addicted to the outdoors, cyclist,  and an all ’round great neighbour to have.  He, like me, also shares a vision for gastown – a vision of hope, promise and inclusion.He is an expert in toxicology, and stopped city hall in its tracks (nearly literally) last summer when he pointed out the dangers of building a stadium above trains carrying highly dangerous goods.  A pretty important consideration, I’d say.Here’s what he experienced from the folks behind one of the most vocal sites supporting the Stadium:

A segment of the most ardent Whitecaps fans are soccer hooligans.  Members of the Vancouver Whitecaps’ Southsiders’ fan club have targeted me, and many others opposed to the stadium.The “Southsiders” are a group of Whitecaps fans that have season tickets at the south end of the soccer field – directly behind the goal.  They pride themselves on the methods that they use to harass and intimidate the opposing teams goalies.  Their actions go beyond the soccer field. Those taking part in the hooliganism are key members of the fan club, public supporters of the stadium and includes the founder of the most vocal pro-stadium website.This group of Whitecaps’ fans has attempted to track down my home and work addresses in order to kick in my teeth.  After the fans nicknamed “Johnnie Monster” ( the same person who runs one of the most vocal prostadium groups), “Piltdownman” (a moderator on the fan website) and “Mortibal” (fan site administrator) posted my home address (luckily it was the wrong address) another Whitecap season ticket holder, nicknamed Guttergob, wrote“Bruce you’re a cunt and I’m gonna shit on your doorstep. Theses toxic waste for you fuckety fuck fuck. Fucking bum living shithole drug riddled shitbags.  I wanna kick every cunt that lives in the downtown eastside in the teeth.  Thanks for hearing me out. Kindest regards GG.”Neither the site administrator nor the forum moderator called Guttergob on his comments and actively supported this line of discussion.Furthermore, Whitecap’s fans have openly chatted on the Southsiders website forum who amongst their group would rape a known female opponent of the stadium because the “bitch” needs to be “shagged”.  Poor and gay bashing are routine on the Southsiders website.  Members of a second Whitecaps’ fan club called the “Blue and White Army” also post threats and hateful statements.The vitriolic nature of the threats and hate crossed the line and the Vancouver Police Department started to monitor the site.  In response, the Southsiders altered the access to the site in order to prevent any further monitoring.The ultimate hypocrisy is that many of these individuals attend public events in order to represent the  “community” face of the Vancouver Whitecaps – often at the Whitecaps booth.The Vancouver Whitecaps can claim neither ignorance nor innocence. The Whitecaps are fully aware of these clubs actions.  On a number of occasions I have asked the Whitecaps to remove the teams official logo from the Southsiders website and to no longer provide a link to the Southsiders site.  The Whitecaps have not done so and still refer to these fan clubs, and their members, as valuable assets.Why do these fans wish to have their stadium in our neighborhood if they hate us so much?  Clearly from their posts the stadium is about erasing our community by taking away our waterfront and opening the way to high-end gentrification.