David Beckham has been hanged in effigy outside a London pub, has had his photograph printed with a bull’s-eye around it in a British tabloid, and has endured visits to stadiums that roared with derogatory chants about his wife.
None of it seemed to fluster him.
At least not the way a 28-year-old video-game technician did Sunday night when he questioned Beckham’s loyalties during an exhibition between the Los Angeles Galaxy and A.C. Milan, his current and former — or is it future? — clubs.
On his way off the field at halftime, Beckham charged toward a small pocket of Galaxy fans who, feeling jilted over his desire to move to Milan, had taunted him with chants and signs, and booed his every touch of the ball. Beckham pointed a finger, shouted several epithets and attempted to climb over a signboard while challenging a Galaxy fan, David Martinous, to come down on the field.
Martinous did not, but a man sitting next to him, Josh Paige, did. When Paige jumped down about 8 feet, he was immediately pinned to the ground by three security guards and escorted from the stadium. Several more security guards, A.C. Milan defender Alessandro Nesta and Galaxy midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi pulled Beckham away as a fan threw a white No. 23 Galaxy jersey — which once retailed for as much as $99 — at him.
That such a scene played out not in Rome or London or Barcelona, caldrons of European soccer, but outside Los Angeles — where the atmosphere more often resembles an echo chamber — left some participants in disbelief.
“I’m flabbergasted,” Martinous said later at a bar. “I’ve spent three years trying to get under the skin of players who are nobodies, and I got under David Beckham’s skin? Never in my wildest dreams did I think he’d lose his head like that.”
Paige, an independent film producer, was issued a $55 ticket for trespassing and released by the police.
“It was surreal,” he said. “When David Beckham calls you out, you get on the field. In hindsight, I wish I didn’t stoop to his level. I wish I was the bigger man.”
These days, the stature of Beckham is rapidly shrinking. His highly publicized arrival in 2007 was heralded as a boost that would carry Major League Soccer into the mainstream. But through decisions by the league, the Galaxy and Beckham’s advisers, some of which were chronicled in a recently published book, “The Beckham Experiment,” by Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, the train seems to have come off the tracks.
Sunday night’s game, which ended in a 2-2 tie, was typical. It was brokered when the Galaxy agreed to extend Beckham’s loan to A.C. Milan last off-season to six months, from three. As Galaxy fans watched Beckham hug and laugh with the Milan players, his body language seemed to make it clear where he would rather be.
“He doesn’t deserve this,” Clarence Seedorf, an A.C. Milan midfielder, said of Beckham’s reception. “It’s like a love-hate situation.”
Indeed, several Galaxy fans said they were conflicted when Beckham’s deliveries were parlayed into both goals for the Galaxy in a 2-2 tie.
“It kind of hurts,” Alex Kozela said. “I don’t know whether to cheer or boo.”
Kozela, like Paige and Martinous, is a regular in a Galaxy fan club called the L.A. Riot Squad, which has developed a reputation for witty if sometimes lewd chants. The comedian Drew Carey, before he became a part-owner of the Seattle Sounders, would visit with them, and Galaxy players have always shown strong appreciation for their passion.
When the former player Alexi Lalas, who later became the Galaxy’s general manager, was awarded the Riot Squad’s player of the year trophy — an inscribed beer keg — he would show it off to visitors at his home. Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena and the team’s captain, Landon Donovan, saluted the group before Sunday’s game, and other players paid visits afterward.
It might have been that way for Beckham, too. But when his effort flagged noticeably in the latter half of last year’s M.L.S. season, and he then sought to make his loan to A.C. Milan permanent, many Galaxy fans tuned out or were turned off. Attendance has dropped more than 25 percent this season, and some of those who remained wanted to let Beckham know just how they felt.
The publication of “The Beckham Experiment,” in which several teammates — notably Donovan — criticized Beckham’s commitment, cemented their resolve.
Beckham was expecting some boos, but not many. And a majority of the crowd sounded glad to see him. Many fans rose to their feet as he prepared for free kicks, which were accompanied by camera flashes throughout the stadium. But the minority was visible and vocal.
When Beckham took the field for warm-ups, he was greeted by a bed sheet that read “Go Home Fraud” with his number, 23, circled and slashed. “Here Before, Here After, Here Despite 23” read another. Galaxy officials asked the fans to remove the signs early in the game.
But there was no silencing the messages. Boos followed Beckham whenever the ball came to him, and on several occasions he was addressed with R-rated chants.
Beckham gave little hint that he had seen or heard any of the jeers until near the end of the half, when he playfully rolled the ball to A.C. Milan’s Ronaldinho, sharing a laugh with him.
Martinous said he yelled to Beckham, about 30 yards away, “Which team are you playing for?” adding several expletives. Shortly after that, Beckham gave a sarcastic thumbs-up. Then came the halftime whistle.
“I just tried to go over and shake one of their hands and tell them to calm down,” Beckham said.
When a reporter told Beckham he was sitting with the fans and that it had not sounded as if Beckham was so conciliatory, Beckham said, “Then you don’t need to ask me that question.”
In the second half, when a Beckham corner kick was headed into the net by Bryan Jordan for the tying goal, he did not turn the other cheek. Instead, he turned to face the Riot Squad. He placed a finger to his mouth, instructing them to be shush. He then blew them a kiss — perhaps, goodbye.
