NWSL suspends Washington Spirit’s Amber Brooks for creating the meme of the year

Brooks may be suspended, but she’s also a Spirit legend now

Amber Brooks has only been with the Washington Spirit for a few months, but she may already be a cult hero at Audi Field.

The current NWSL Player of the Week scored twice in Washington’s wild 4-3 win over the San Diego Wave, while also conceding a penalty in a performance that could only be described as all-action.

However, as much as Brooks played a crucial role in one of the most bananas games in this NWSL season, it appears she went a little overboard for the league’s tastes. The defender, already suspended for Saturday’s home game against NJ/NY Gotham FC due to yellow card accumulation, had an extra game tacked on by the NWSL Disciplinary Committee for partying too hard.

Alright, technically the league’s announcement does not use the phrase “partying too hard,” and instead refers to “Major Game Misconduct,” but sometimes we use legalese to cover for what we actually mean.

“The National Women’s Soccer League’s Disciplinary Committee has made the following decision after review of an incident involving Washington Spirit defender Amber Brooks that occurred in the 82nd minute of the team’s September 10 match against San Diego Wave FC,” read a league statement announcing the news. “After further evaluation, the Disciplinary Committee determined that Brooks made an obscene gesture towards a referee in violation of Section 12.3.6, ‘Major Game Misconduct’, of the League Operations Manual.”

What the NWSL objected to is also what will probably linger in the memory of Spirit fans for years. They may forget about whether she scored one or two goals that day, or whether the Spirit had a lead or came back to win. The specific details will blur with other games, or fade away.

What you can be sure they’ll be talking about ten years from now, when a stop for a post-game beer along the Anacostia waterfront becomes a Let’s Remember Some Gals session, is that Brooks disputed a call by the assistant referee by choosing to emphatically flip that AR off.

She did it with both hands! It was on CBS, the nation was watching! It’s the stuff legends are made of.

One can understand the NWSL wanting to prevent obvious demonstrations of disrespect to referees. And surely Brooks would choose to be on the field against Gotham FC over watching the game from a suite at Audi Field.

On the other hand, Brooks is now part of Washington club lore, and based on the replies to the official league announcement on Twitter, she’s already going to be the go-to NWSL fan reference for so many situations. The suspension may be for two games, but the meme will be with us forever.

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