Sunday White exhorts her charges to greater things
In a series of profiles of prominent members of the Portland football community, we continue by looking at the colorful Timbers Army capo Sunday White.
Portland Profiles: Sunday White, Taking a Stand
If you are watching the MLS Cup Final on Sunday, you may not see any Capos on the stand in front of the Crew hardcore at the Nordecke.
They have a long and proud tradition of supporting their club – and their country – without them.
At the other end however, there will be an unmissable cascade of colour.
It will be impossible to miss one especially striking figure on the Capo stand (if there is one) in front of over 1000 Timbers fans. Up there in the now national public gaze, taking her turn among the generic hipsters who make up the rest of the Timbers Capo crew will be Sunday White.
“They aren’t ALL generic hipsters,” she protested we are guessing somewhat tongue-in-cheek. She is named after the movie “On Any Sunday” as her mother was a gear head / grease monkey and rode dirt bikes.
The name itself is fantastic. Sunday White could be either a really delicious ice cream or a brand of cocaine. But neither of those things is as remotely interesting as the person bearing the name.
The first thing the tv viewer will notice about Sunday is that she is a female. Female capos are not as rare in MLS as they are globally. Most of the clubs are based in large cities, and large cities tend to lean Democrat. Democrats tend to have less regressive views about gender roles.
But Sunday does not leave her gender behind when capo-ing. Not for her the comfortable unisexual uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. Sunday will dress for public display as she does for any other aspect of her life, with her own personal touch.
Nowhere was this more in evidence on October 17, 2014 in a home game with Real Salt Lake. Sunday and her wife Heidi had been ceremonially married in 2007, but being a gay marriage, this was not yet legally recognised in Oregon at the time. They filed domestic partnership in 2008
However gay marriage did finally become legally recognized on May 19, 2014, when a U.S. federal district court judge ruled that Oregon’s 2004 state constitutional amendment banning such marriages discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation, and therefore violated the US constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
Sunday White occupied the Capo stand on her wedding day
So the Whites decided to marry but nothing so ordinary as a religious house or a mundane civil building for Sunday and Heidi.
They decided to perform the ceremony just prior to kickoff at a Timbers game.
She explains why that almost had a spiritual aspect:
“The Civic Stadium/Multnomah Stadium/Jeld Wen/Providence Park – is what we consider a sacred space.
“It’s place where we focus so much of our time and love.”
Sunday therefore attended the home game with Real Salt Lake in a wedding dress as extravagant as you’ll see and was wed to her wife in the stands, surrounded by friends and Timbers fans, wildly applauding.
In true Sunday fashion though, she did not let her obligations slide and she duly occupied the Capo stand in her wedding dress wearing her specially customised scarf “Marry me in green and gold” a parody of one of the Timbers Army anthems “Bury me in green and gold”.
Her fellow Capos picked up some of the slack so she did not do her normal full stint and that may have been just as well:
“With a bit of prodding and silliness I was only in the stand for about 10 minutes. I damn near fell outta that dress.”
But it would be misleading to portray Sunday as an angry gay woman trying to prove a point in a mostly male world, as some in America’s homophobic community tend to paint lesbians.
“Angry? Me? Ha ha. I like to think I’m fun to be around. I don’t dislike men. I mean I go and watch 22 of them kicking a ball around every week. I worship the ones who play in green. I am surrounded by them at home games. I’m attracted to women just like you are but no-one thinks you dislike men.
My sexual attraction is a a facet of what I am but it does not define who I am any more than my love of soccer or my born gender. I would hope that people see and enjoy my outgoing personality before they stick labels on me. But if they do, I am not going to stop living my life to the full.”
To the full will mean bellowing out her lungs in Columbus dipping temperatures this Sunday. The throat spray is packed. What does Portland being in the final mean to her?
“It’s not about what it means to me. I am just one of a family. It’s about what it means to a city and a community. My only concern is that I give my best on the Capo stand on the match day. If I do that, the fans will have support and unity to encourage the players loudly and then we have performed our role in the collective process. Our players will hopefully do the rest.”
What does she make of the Columbus tradition of not using Capos?
“It’s totally up to them. I respect them and am not one of those people who believe my way of supporting a club is the only way. I hope the Timbers win but I also hope they really enjoy their city being the focus of the nation’s eyes. They were doing this in MLS long before we arrived. They know what is right for their club.”
What will America make of Sunday White? For an earlier piece on the Huffington Post about accepting Robbie Rogers, I asked Timbers Army spokesman Garrett Dittfurth about the issue:
“Portland is obviously a little bit more of a liberal city than say Dallas but I think soccer fans in general in the United States are more accepting regardless of where they live. In certain parts of the country simply being a soccer fan alone makes some people a target for discrimination so I think a lot of the US soccer community is incredibly understanding of Robbie’s situation.”
But America will just have to accept Sunday White the way she is.
“Yes I know the camera may focus on on me now and then. After all, part of the job of being a Capo is to attract the eyes and ears of your fellow supporters. Being ‘loud and proud’ goes with the Capo territory. It’s a good job because I’m used to being ‘loud and proud’,” she laughed.
In fact, it is probably that laughter that defines Sunday as much as any other thing. And that lust for life will be on show to the world this Sunday as she exhorts the crowd – figuratively – to “bury her in green and gold”.
Just not before Sunday.
Portland Profiles: Timber Jim, I’d drive the log to Columbus!
Many of you have inquired about the fighting cancer positively book Jim was holding in yesterday’s photo. You can see more about “The C-Card and Me” here. It tells how MLS and soccer was part of helping one woman fight back against cancer.
Alan Hinton: Sounders fans should support the Timbers on Sunday
Timbers confirm log will travel to Columbus
Cascadia Corner Player of the Year 2015: Jorge Villafana
Portland Profiles: Sunday White, taking a stand just by living her life
UPDATED: Timber Joey’s Log will be at MLS Cup final but not inside stadium
Portland Profiles: Timber Jim, I’d drive the log to Columbus!
Cascadia Corner: At last, our boasting is real!
