But with the arrest and jailing of three players after a drunken brawl outside a downtown Houston nightclub, the laughter now extends beyond the pitch.
Moments after the mug shots of Miguel Aceval, Nick Soolsma and Luis Silva became public courtesy of the Houston Police on Monday afternoon, social media was abuzz with jokes and derisive comments about the 6-year-old club.
“If anyone was wondering if we’ve sunk to the depths of a pub-league club, well, I think that’s been answered,” one person posted on a fan forum of the Red Patch Boys, TFC’s largest supporter group.
“Well, I guess when your 1-10 it makes sense that you were pounding the bottle,” added another. “Just another day in the TFC soap opera.”
Up for particular ridicule was the player, identified by police as rookie midfielder Silva, who was arrested by an officer after a short foot chase.
“We should give a trial to the policeman that caught one of them,” wrote another fan on the same forum. “Could be a useful winger with that pace.”
On Twitter, another person summed it up: “3 tfc players got arrested in the states for public intoxication. As if our team wasn’t embarrassing enough…#nonsense.”
Officials with TFC, in Houston for a match against the Dynamo on Wednesday (TSN, 9 p.m.), declined any further comment Tuesday on the incident. The trio, all facing Class C misdemeanour charges for public intoxication, were not made available for interviews with the media.
A source said Silva’s father died in California on Saturday morning. The 23-year-old midfielder out of UC Santa Barbara stayed with the team and came off the bench to play an effective half-hour in Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Sporting Kansas City before the club travelled to Houston on Sunday, Father’s Day.
The loss was the first game for new head coach Paul Mariner, who on June 7 became the seventh man in the job in six seasons, replacing Aron Winter.
On Monday, little more than 12 hours after the players were arrested outside Club Escobar, TFC said it was aware of the charges. The players were said to be with the club as “we continue to investigate this matter.”
Police said Aceval and Soolsma had marks on their faces and heads consistent with having been in a fight but it’s unclear who they fought and why.
The TFC trio were the only arrests.
Gwendolyn Goins, a spokesperson for the Municipal Courts Department in Houston, said in an email that “Julian B. Guzman,” no doubt a typo for midfielder Julian de Guzman, posted $267 (all figures U.S.) bail for each of his teammates.
The court date is set for Aug. 2 and the trio has to appear in person, she said.
Fines for Class C misdemeanours typically range from $112 to $277.
Goins said the players would have a record if found guilty but “not likely” have trouble travelling internationally, though that’s up to border officials.
Meanwhile, Houston Police spokesperson Jodi Silva, no relation, said Tuesday that although Luis Silva briefly fled police he’s not facing any further charges. And, she added, while a Class C misdemeanour “is not as simple as a traffic ticket,” it is a less serious charge than a felony.
“It was a fight that apparently when we got on scene had already broken up and we were trying to disperse the crowd,” Jodi Silva said. “And these three did not want to disperse.”
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