Photo by Daniel Mick
Fellow Wonderwall Denizens,
I want to start this update by thanking you for providing such an incredible atmosphere in TCF. It is absolutely a joy to behold when we all come together and voice or otherwise make our love of MNUFC known as one.
At the same time, I am unsure if there are those among us who think it would be acceptable to do something as abhorrently idiotic as what happened in that Ottawa Fury versus Toronto FC match. We as a community need to ensure that actions like that cannot be done in our name because it would mean bans for all of us, home or away. MLS sanctions are very, very real, and we have avoided any such issues so far because we work with the front office. The Code of Conduct and Supporter Conduct Review Board, whose decisions are backed by the MNUFC front office, are other means to ensure that the actions of a small number of people do not mean punishments for the whole supporters section. But all of that depends on you, the supporter, to protect what we have from people who would ruin it, or else we’ll end up in a weird place like Atlanta and Orlando were, or worse, Section 8 and Sector Latino now.
A while back the board met and gathered various stakeholders to undergo some strategic planning, and a lot of what was discussed is currently being put into action. The work to create a 501(c)(3) is in process,which will allow us to gather donations for futsal courts, or coaching level scholarships. We are also expanding the roster of places we volunteer and groups we work with because we realized that we can do more, and now we’re living up to that. Next month’s update will highlight more of what was covered so you can see more of where this organization is headed.
Long overdue, we now have clear language outlining the requirements to be an affiliate, as well as documents to help provide answers to the “how does it all work” questions that are sure to arise. The new affiliate language will be posted on the new website, which is due to launch next week, August 1st. We will also be creating new social media accounts, to avoid confusion in the future. These will be separate from the Dark Clouds (DCMN), and will serve to gather and amplify the content being produced by DCMN, True North Elite (TNE), and the Red Loons (RL). Our goal is to make it clear that The Wonderwall is nothing without its SGs, and that there is room for many more besides DCMN, RL, and TNE to be a part of things.
As always, we cannot do what we do without the help of so many wonderful volunteers, from Keepers of the North & Dark Clouds Silver Lining, to the people who stay late to help clean up our section, to anyone who sees a thing we’re not doing enough of in their eyes and decides to help. Thank you. If you want to be involved, please stand and be counted. We can only do so much without more people to work with the community in addressing its needs.
Next month this email will be coming from a new email address. We’ll be separating the communication from the Corporation and DCMN supporters group. This split is for the good of the supporters groups and to make certain that the board focus is on governance and making sure the business side of soccer support runs as best it can.
-Abe