LAFC's Brand Personality Job Is A Slap In the Face of Soccer Supporter Culture

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The newest MLS expansion franchise, LAFC, is working on filling its front office. Today they posted an opening for a Brand Personality in their public relations division. The job, which has since been edited, is a slap in the face to soccer culture and growing supporters organically. The original job description tasked a qualified candidate with choosing the leaders of the LAFC Originals. Trying to create your own supporters’ group might be par for the course for MLS these days. By making this announcement public and showing a want to control the supporters’ group, LAFC has become today’s MLS laughing stock.

The LA Originals is currently an email distribution list comprised of those who have signed up on the LAFC website. The Brand Personality position is essentially an intermediary for executive leadership and a group of fans. With the immediate backlash from the original posting, LAFC has removed words like “vet and validate” in regard to shaping the supporters’ group. The position is now the LAFC Supporter Relations job that functions as a liaison rather than picking the leadership of a group of fans.

The original position description was full of absurd notes describing the ideal candidate and main tasks of the position. It stated that they are looking for a millennial who is an EA Sports “FIFA” aficionado. This is like saying they are really out of touch, but also opens up the applicant pool to anyone and everyone. Other preferred qualifications included having a “high level of futbol acumen” and being a fan of ML. One would hope that they are looking for someone who enjoys MLS, but being in tune with the new franchise should take precedence.

A MLS franchise trying to control its own supporters’ group is beyond comprehension. Commissioner Don Garber told SFGate’s The Beautiful Blog back in 2012, “Organic growth is the most important growth you can have. You can try to manufacture cultural relevance, but you’ll never win that way. You’ve got to kind of have it bubble up in an organic way and that is happening.”

It looks like Garber forgot to remind LAFC about his thoughts on developing the culture of soccer. In a league that has had constant missteps with player signings, allocation rules and overall transparency this offseason, this is just the latest story to add to MLS’s declining public perception. Hopefully the teams and the league will start to analyze their moves a bit closer in the very near future.

Douglas Smith is a soccer writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DFresh39, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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