{"id":337286,"date":"2025-12-10T17:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T17:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/337286\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T17:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T17:58:09","slug":"washington-spirit-fans-channel-activism-pitchside-equalizer-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/337286\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Spirit fans channel activism pitchside \u2013 Equalizer Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

As Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit sought to get on the board during the National Women\u2019s Soccer League<\/a> Championship on Nov. 22, both teams\u2019 respective supporters\u2019 groups faced one another from opposite sides of PayPal Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But when the clock hit 51:00, the stadium united in a minute-long chant that has become a tradition among Spirit fans: \u201cFree D.C.,\u201d the district\u2019s rallying cry for statehood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a scene reminiscent of the Spirit\u2019s Audi Field in Washington, affectionately dubbed \u201cRowdy Audi.\u201d Fans in Sections 136 and 137 \u2014\u00a0 the stomping grounds of the Spirit Squadron, the team\u2019s independent supporters\u2019 group \u2014 have led \u201cFree D.C\u201d chants at every match since mid-August.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unlike most other Squadron chants, \u201cFree D.C.\u201d isn\u2019t a play on a song. It\u2019s not listed as an official chant on the group\u2019s website. It\u2019s a political message that has gained strength as residents grapple with the deployment of the National Guard on their streets, which came to a head late November when two National Guardsmen were shot blocks away from the White House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Support for D.C. home rule extends league-wide. Fans of other teams, including Gotham, initiated the chant in the 51st minute (beginning when the clock hits 51:00, in traditional soccer timing the 52nd minute) when their teams hosted the Spirit during the regular season.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit sought to get on the board during the National Women\u2019s Soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-337286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}