On Saturday, the Denver Summit got a massive win on the pitch, downing the Portland Thorns 2-1 in Denver to move within just two points of the playoffs. Off of the pitch, they took a massive L when fan Abby Jane posted the following note to Bluesky:

The post, which at time of publication has 330 likes, 76 reposts, 25 quotes, and seven saves, galvanized a lot of people (myself obviously included). People posted to express solidarity, with one fan offering to escort her to the bathroom “at every single game.” Katherine Ammon of the 14ers Supporter’s Group reached out to Abby Jane and promised to take it to the Summit Front Office, which is a great first step.

The obvious take here is that this shouldn’t happen. Not in Denver, a blue city in a state that is largely seen as a place where people live-and-let-live. My initial take was that those of us in areas like this can’t let our guard down because all it takes is one person who feels comfortable enough to publicly express these abhorrent views to ruin things for a lot of people.

This really gets at the heart of the problem for me. The NWSL and its teams have done a lot to show both implicitly and explicitly that they are safe spaces for a lot of marginalized people. There are trans flags and banners proclaiming allyship at every game I can remember seeing over the past few years. Even at games in states where the government is openly hostile to trans people (looking directly at you, Texas and Florida), the stands seem like relatively safe spaces for trans people.

But looks can be deceiving.

What good are the banners and flags if trans people don’t actually feel safe? When there’s a bathroom cop yelling at people they don’t think belong in one stadium, it has a chilling effect on everyone in every stadium because let’s face it, 100 times out of 100 security forces in these spaces act with impunity and can have people thrown out of the game and/or get actual law enforcement involved.

I’ve been going to games forever, and by-and-large my interactions with security staff have been pleasant. Most are there to make sure people have a good time without anything bad happening to anyone. But I have unfortunately been witness to staff misusing their authority. I have been left feeling powerless to intervene in a situation without risking my own personal safety, not to mention good standing with the club. As a straight, white, cis male, I can only imagine how powerless someone who doesn’t have all of those privileges must feel in times where authority are clearly in the wrong.

What we should strive for in my opinion is a code of conduct that stadium security professionals are required to abide by. If fans are required to abide by codes of conduct that penalize behavior deemed beyond the pale, why shouldn’t the people policing them be held to a similar (or higher) standard? In-stadium security footage should be used to corroborate both incidents of fan wrongdoing as well as security personnel misusing their authority, and anyone caught breaking it should face discipline. And anyone caught lying about or otherwise mis-representing an incident should summarily be relieved of their duties.

In the United States, our fandom is unfortunately a commodity. We are customers of a product. While it is disheartening to think of our fandom in these terms, it does afford us some leverage in this situation. It’s the language those in charge speak, so we must learn to speak it to clearly and effectively communicate with them on behalf of ourselves and our trans siblings. As customers, we can (and should) demand to be treated with a level of customer service from everyone involved, stadium security included.

Puebla will play two friendlies in the preseason, one against Pumas and one against Toluca.

Puebla has also published their team roster on their website. One team down, seventeen more to go.

León and Xolos tied 2-2 on July 14, with goals from Rubí Soto and Isabela Esquivias for León and goals from Kader Hançar and Trudi Carter for Tijuana.

Santos beat Querétaro 3-1 in their preseason match on July 19 with goals from Ariatna Dorantes, Vivian Ikechukwu and Yessenia Novella.

Pumas beat RP in Dallas 5-3, with goals from Alexa Huerta, Stephanie Ribeiro (x2), and Montserrat Hernández (x2).

Thank you for reading Golazo del Gringo! If you enjoyed reading this post, please share it with anyone who enjoys women’s soccer. Also, please click on the links and show these other outlets some love.

Fantastic recap of the Peruvian Liga Femenina championship for Universitario by The Woso Roundup. Love the work they do to cover as many leagues throughout the world as possible. Show them some love.

WSL2 side Southampton is set to massively slash their women’s budget. Was this a result of the Spygate scandal that plagued the men’s side? No. Were there any reasons given? Also, no.

A great yet heartbreaking read about Jun Endo. Her brilliance is unmatched, but she’s now facing an uncertain future after going off injured weeks after returning from a lengthy ACL injury.

Gotham FC will begin playing in NYCFC’s Etihad Park in Queens, NY beginning in 2028.

Speaking of Gotham FC, head coach Juan Carlos Amorós is taking five weeks of parental leave. I love this, and wished I’d had the opportunity to do so when either of my kids were born.

Salmon Bay FC are your USL W League Champions, besting Vermont Green FC in front of a record 2,096 people. While that isn’t a lot compared to other teams and leagues, it’s always worth celebrating a record attendance being set.

Don’t ever let them tell you no one pays attention to women’s soccer.

If you have something that should be included in this segment, please reach out to me via bluesky or email me at [email protected].