Matt Gendaszek is the President of the Sons of Ben, or at least he was before resigning on Tuesday night.

It’s a weird story, so I’ll try to explain it in simple terms, but this all started when the Supreme Court issued the ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade a few weeks ago. That resulted in a lot of individuals, brands, and sports teams releasing statements in response to the decision, most condemning the development as a step backward in the reproductive rights department.

The Sons of Ben will sometimes release statements or design stadium banners based on the big socio-political topic of the day, and in this case nothing happened. So that resulted in some conflict behind the scenes, a statement was eventually released, and then Gendaszek went on the SOB podcast to rip the people who were up his ass to put out that statement. He told that group to fuck off, then released this follow up:

That seems reasonable to me, but Gendaszek then resigned, and the SOBs put out another statement saying this, in part:

“We have decided to remove Matt’s statement and a record has been archived and made available upon request. We apologize for using our platform to share a message that hurt and disappointed many in our membership, fellow supporters groups, and people in our community.

…

The Sons of Ben board is still committed to hearing all members who provide respectful feedback in regards to how our organization is run. We will continue to work to serve our community and create an inclusive environment for all soccer fans. 

As we continue to show our values through our work, we hope you consider joining us and help us build an inclusive, loud, and thriving supporters group that reflects the values of our community.”

Alright, just so we have it clear here, I’ll give you a CliffsNotes recap version:

  1. Roe v Wade was overturned
  2. some SOBs wanted to know why an official organization statement was taking so long
  3. the statement finally came out
  4. Gendaszek told vocal complainers to go fuck themselves
  5. he then released a follow up statement and resigned
  6. SOBs offered statement of their own

It’s all very goofy and sounds very stupid when you lay it out in chronological order. The SOB President quit following a dispute over how long it took to put out a Roe v Wade statement. From a sampling of Twitter, it seems like people were mostly unhappy about the part where he told other members to fuck off, which makes sense, though the genesis of this entire thing is the dispute about statement response time.

The real issue here goes much deeper than some lame kerfuffle. This is more of a macro-level topic of identity. What is the Sons of Ben in 2022? Is it a soccer supporter’s group? Is it a vehicle for social and political activism? Is it both of those things at the same time? I personally don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to any of that, but these are relevant questions that membership should answer for themselves as they seek to re-define the group now 15 years after it was founded.

The short version is that the SOBs were created back in 2007 by a bunch of dudes who wanted to bring a soccer team to the area. That was the only goal at the time, and the irony is that there were conservatives in that original group, though most I believe are no longer involved with the organization. There’s been a lot of turnover since that first iteration of the SOBs was formed. Early versions of the Sons of Ben did meaningful charity work in the Chester area and built a fantastic philanthropic wing, and while that continues in 2022, there was a generic expansion into socio-political thought that took place at some point along the way, with the group deciding to speak on the big topics of the day.

It’s resulted in some fracturing within the River End, where the Sons of Ben sit. One splinter group, called the Keystone State Ultras, split off basically because they wanted to do their own thing and get it back to basics. Some SOBs left the group because it got stale, others replaced them, and a third type of fan joined for non-soccer reasons. They wanted cheap tickets or a group tailgate or something along those lines. There are myriad reasons why a fan group morphs and takes on different forms over the years, and when I wrote an oral history on the SOBs back in 2016, one of the topics people kept bringing up was the idea of trying to define the group and prioritize appropriately.

From the late former SOB President Kenny Hanson:

“People are caught up in (outside things). Before, it was about coming to the game, hanging out, and showing camaraderie. There was a big brotherhood and sisterhood that existed between a large majority of the members, and I think a lot of that has been lost in translation because a lot of people joined well after that. They don’t necessarily have that connection with the organization and the group and that may never happen again. There will be people who may never care about the organization like (others) once did. People are more interested in, I don’t know, whatever merchandise they’re going to get that day, or how many drinks they’re going to have before they walk into the game, and where the tailgate is because it ‘might be too far, or I might have to leave’. Maybe they’re going to sit out there until after kickoff. Those are things that didn’t happen in the beginning, and those things are now pretty rampant.”

When you add in topics like Roe v. Wade or George Floyd you can frame this as a version of a “stick to sports” argument. The Sons of Ben find themselves asking the same questions every corporation, brand, or sports team asks:

“Hey, should we do a pride night banner? Do we issue a statement about gun control? Are we going to lose members if we speak on these things? Do we care about losing members?” 

The inherent complication with all of this is that you find yourself on a slippery slope once you open that door. If you do an abortion statement but ignore gun control, then what? If you put up the anti-fascist flag in the stands, are you inviting counter-demonstrations? And what about Philadelphia Union ownership and the front office? What about MLS? Do they step in and curb fan behavior? Does allowing a specific statement mean the team or league supports that statement by default?

Again, I  don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here. I think everybody has to make their own decision on these things. If you assess the risk of not sticking to sports and decide you want to speak up for what you think is right then more power to you. But some will do that assessment and decide crossing that line is a net negative, or that it puts you on the path to dumb results, like a group president resigning over a Roe v. Wade statement kerfuffle.

The Sons of Ben has evolved over the years and we’ve seen many different iterations of the group. For the SOBs in 2022, maybe answering those questions and building them into a new mission statement would make sense and help mend fractures behind the scenes.