Photo: Earl Gardner

The Philly Soccer Page has been fairly quiet for a couple weeks now. In the publication’s 10-year history, we have never before cut our publishing schedule like this, but these are unprecedented times in our lifetime: The American soccer world has shut down, we have been quarantined due to a pandemic that has claimed well over 100,000 lives in the United States alone, and protests have arisen in Philadelphia and across America since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis.

While we do plan to return to a regular publishing cycle soon, with American professional soccer due to return this month, there is something else we felt it important to weigh in with first.

We want to state here that this publication supports fairness and justice for everyone regardless of how they look, think, speak, etc., and we specifically state that black lives matter.

We know that this is first and foremost a soccer publication, but before any of us are soccer fans, players, coaches, or journalists, we are individual human beings. Further, the world of soccer is not immune from racism — far from it — and so we want our readers to know where this publication stands.

We know that this post may seem a little bit overdue, but soccer wasn’t at the forefront of our minds while the protests spread across America.

Some PSP volunteers have peacefully taken part in the protests. Others work in professions that preclude such involvement, including those PSP staffers who work as freelance journalists and/or are pursuing journalism as a vocation. (Note: Some PSP staffers operate as journalists reporting news and providing analysis and adhere to mainstream journalism standards. Others are commentators free to state their opinions as they see fit.) Individuals have spoken for themselves; they can and will continue to do so as they see fit.

This statement is separate from that and speaks specifically for this publication.

We think it’s important to state our support for those who need and deserve it while peacefully reaffirming our belief in liberty and justice for all.