Opinion: Red Bulls Ball smashing into the crowds

photo by Matt Kremkau

This is not a pleasant thing to talk about when you discuss the club, but sadly this is the third time that a Red Bulls player has done the unthinkable, and sadly will pay for their moment of emotion that got the best of them. Kicking the ball into the stands with frustration that shouldn't have happened. Sadly Dru Yearwood has paid the price for his actions last weekend at Red Bull Arena.

Late in the second half down two goals to nil to the Philadelphia Union, Yearwood was called for a foul and allowed his emotions and frustration to get the better of him to kick the ball hard, but sadly the direction of the ball went into the stands and struck Red Bulls fans. As soon as he saw what happened, Yearwood went over the ad signs, climbed the wall of the section where the ball struck the fan, and tried to apologize for his mistake.

Once he went back on the field, the referee had no choice but to send him off for those actions. As Dru walked towards the tunnel you could see how upset he was at what he did, by pulling his jersey over his face as he felt he betrayed the supporters and the club. MLS made their decision on Friday, September 9th to officially hand Dru Yearwood an additional three-match ban along with the one-match ban he got with the red card, he will miss the rest of the regular season. 

From Dru Yearwood's Twitter account here are his own words on the decision from the league. "I fully accept the suspension from MLS and I can ensure it won’t happen again. I want to sincerely apologize again. Please know that I will continue to work hard to be ready to give my all for this football club when I am again able to contribute on the field.

Dru"

Sadly this is not the only time a Red Bulls player smashed a ball into the crowd in disgust. We remember back on April 15,, 2019 during an away match at Sporting Kansas City when he was trying to call for a pass and attack down the far side of the pitch. The ball didn't get there in time due to a defensive play and when he showed his frustrations, he kicked the ball accidentally into the seats behind the ad signs and struck a fan.

Kaku was shown the red card and sent off, he showed remorse to the boos of the Sporting KC fans as he walked off putting his left hand towards his chest meaning it was his fault and lifted his right hand to show he will take responsibility for his actions. He earned an additional two-match suspension with the one-match ban from the straight red card.

But there is one moment that wasn't reported and thankfully no one got hurt, including yours truly. This was the first time a Red Bulls player ripped one hard into the stands out of frustration with the referee right in front of him because he did like a call made against him. In 2018 during the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 match against Athletico Pantoja of the Dominican Republic, Michael Murillo who was agitated by the opponent's defenders.

He received a yellow card in the first leg due to his retaliation from getting fouled, and in the second half of the return leg at Red Bull Arena, he got upset when the Referee of that match didn't call a foul in his favor and smashed the ball into the crowd, but it went into the pressbox which nearly came at my head. I yelled lookout and avoided the ball. Murillo earned his second booking of the round and was suspended for the first leg at home in the Quarterfinals against Santos Laguna of Liga MX.

There will be moments when emotions and anger will be shown on the pitch because everyone is fighting to earn goals or believe that a foul has been called wrongly against them, yet they must hold back just enough to avoid these types of issues by hurting others who are not a part of the action, but watching from the stands. I know Yearwood has learned from this moment and I hope he won't do it again as well as any Red Bulls players doing this at all.