The Portland Thorns faced a sharp backlash on social media after the National Women's Soccer League club posted a message thanking its supporters on a night when women's sports activists said they were attacked at the stadium. The post, which called the fans "the absolute best fans in all the land," was met with a flood of critical replies from commentators and users who said the club had ignored what happened to its own spectators.
According to the primary account, the activists attended the Thorns game on Friday night wearing XX-XY Athletics T-shirts and holding a sign reading "Save Women's Sports." The group said it was peaceful and wore the shirts to express a view that recognizes biological sex. The account says that pro-transgender fans struck one of the demonstrators with a flagpole, verbally assaulted others, and that security restrained some of them and removed several from the game.
The club's social team posted after the match, praising the fans for the atmosphere, support and energy throughout the night and the season. Friday was a Fan Appreciation Night, a detail that some commentators noted, though the criticism focused on the club's decision to celebrate its supporters while the incident was still being discussed.
Responses to the post were overwhelmingly negative. Columnist Dustin Grage wrote that the fans were violent and that the club had cheered them on. Journalist Andy Ngo said the club had allowed people to assault women and then had its security remove the victims. Other users accused the Thorns of failing to support free speech and of tolerating violence against women wearing shirts that represented science.
Reporter and commentator Brandi Kruse, who said she was physically restrained by security and later removed from the stadium, described an incident involving a friend she identified as Julie, a 57-year-old lesbian. Kruse said a male Thorns fan shoved Julie down, and she tumbled over two rows of chairs, which she said happened because of the XX-XY Athletics shirt. Kruse wrote on X that the fan later apologized, saying he did not know why he had done it and was following the crowd, and that Julie had filed a police report. The account has not been independently verified by this publication.
The episode follows similar disputes in women's professional sports. Earlier reports cited in the same coverage described fans at other games, including Dream and Fever matches in the WNBA, who said they were threatened with ejection or asked to cover shirts bearing the same brand. The WNBA has acknowledged that security in Atlanta was wrong to make fans cover their shirts at one such game, but has declined to name the person responsible for the security incident.
Neither the Portland Thorns nor the NWSL had publicly responded to the specific allegations in the coverage at the time of publication. The dispute highlights a growing tension over how leagues and clubs balance fan expression, safety and inclusion at women's sporting events, a question that continues to draw sharp reaction online.