Front Commun Montreal (FCM) was born in 2012 – the second season of l’Impact de Montréal in MLS. We are a political group of supporters. The first action we did was on Mayday 2013 (International Workers Day) where we unravelled a banner denouncing our bosses, capitalism and Impact’s favorite enemy, Toronto FC. Things didn’t turn out the way we wanted and some people booed our action. It is worth noting that the core of the Montreal KOP, known has UM02 – les Ultras de Montreal 2002, is a supporters group officially opposed to any form of political actions in the stadium. This is one of the main reasons why we felt the need to create our own group.
Then came the club front office which decided to (try to) ban our Antifa flag. From that day, all our flags need to be authorized by the club in order to be waved during a game. In response to the club’s front office decision, we published a leaflet explaining our goals and the lack of respect that the organisation showed towards its members and most passionate fans. Throughout the season, we had to deal with the stadium’s private security and sometimes with the Montreal police which tried to remove our banner. We stood up against them and some key members of the UM02 decided to help us out by making their voice heard loud and clear.
We also did another action with another group of supporters known has A.R.M.S (Anti-Racist Montreal Supporters). We made a banner that has been shown during the Montreal Gay Pride to denounce homophobia in the stadium. This action went very well and got positive exposure in the stadium.
This is a summary of our first complete season as a group. We have more actions planned for 2014 but our season started just last month (in March). The group is trying to get more involved in the terraces. Being more widely known among Montreal supporters helped us gain new members. We might also be interested in building partnership with other left-wing groups in the MLS (if we find some!).