Tag: Supporter Group

The Crown: Growth of a Young Supporter Group

Posted on by RJ Allen

As a big fan of Orlando soccer, I was looking forward to last Saturday’s games. It was an important weekend for both the men’s and women’s team coming out of the international break, and soccer in Orlando was getting back into the swing of things.

The Orlando Pride were in Houston, taking on the Dash at BBVA Compass Stadium there while Orlando City SC, the franchise’s MLS side, was hosting the Montreal Impact at home. As a season ticket holder for both teams, I was all set to man The Wall, the standing supporters’ section on the north side of Orlando City Stadium. Unfortunately, in doing so, I would miss the Pride’s game in Texas, but as Orlando City was set to honor the 49 victims of the Pulse shooting as part of the one-year anniversary of that horrific event, I felt it was important to show my ally-ship for that memorial and my support for the men’s team.

This wasn’t the first tribute to the Pulse victims of the season. The Crown, the supporters’ group for the Orlando Pride, had started the tribute to the victims at the women’s previous home match against the Boston Breakers, raising a special tifo in memory of those lost. And the supporters’ groups for the men’s side also had a special tifo planned for their game.

But just as I was set to head out to the men’s match, I checked Twitter one last time, and this tweet caught my eye.

Since I wasn’t able to experience matchday with the Crown, I thought it would be a great time to get out and enjoy the company of the team’s supporters. Being a member of the Crown in good standing, I have felt disconnected from the group because I don’t use Facebook, the primary means of communicating within the group and because I don’t live close enough to engage when it’s not match-day. So I was excited at the chance to attend this watch party and chose to head to the Crown’s event instead of going to the Orlando City game. 

I arrived early to Ocean Sun Brewing, where a chalkboard sign welcomed Crown members for the watch party. Nobody was there yet, but I wasn’t concerned since I was there an hour before the scheduled start time. With the Orlando City match playing on the big screen, I settled in to grab a bite and watch the BroSo match while I waited for Pride fans to show up. I even killed some time with a post on Instagram hyping the watch party.

 

As time passed, I was getting more jazzed to cheer with my fellow Pride supporters. The Crown even liked my Instagram post and commented on it. But as time ticked closer to the start of the match, nobody was there. I was feeling puzzled, and I was getting a hunch the watch party was going to be impacted by the City match. It made sense that there could be a low turn-out to the watch party since a traveling group of Crown members had made the trip to Houston and many of the passionate supporters were also supporters for the men’s side, but I was getting concerned this watch party could be a bust. The bar manager didn’t have a way to play go90 on any television, and I was concerned I might be stuck watching the Pride on my phone.

I felt slightly better once my group of friends (Jay, Sammy and Michelle) arrived, but they were as puzzled as I was. The four of us turned out to be the entire watch party. One of my friends, Jay, has also brought her son to enjoy the Pride play since her son loves soccer but hadn’t embraced NWSL so far. This watch party experience certainly wasn’t helping. She ended up leaving while the rest of us sorted out a way to watch Orlando Pride for this “Crown watch party.” Thankfully, Michelle had her laptop with her, so the three of us gathered around the MacBook like a fire on a cold night.

It was disappointing to go to a planned watch party unable to see a four-goal performance on a television. I couldn’t understand how the supporters’ group could advertise this on the group’s social media without any participation or even a tweet canceling the event. The bar manager told us that if we had the appropriate AV cable, he would let us connect to one of the screens, but we didn’t know this ahead of time, and no one had brought any.  It just reflected a lack of planning and, perhaps, more concerning, a lack of leadership and engagement from the official supporters’ group that neither any representatives of The Crown’s organizers or any Pride fans showed up to the event. 

Establishing a supporters’ group takes time, building a culture like the more established groups have done–Rose City Riveters, Spirit Squadron, or Cloud 9, for example–takes time. The Crown does do a great job to enhance the gameday experience, and the tifos they have created this season have been stunning statements of dedication. But it’s a bad look to publicize an event and not have anyone show up to run it, and this type of thing detracts from what the Crown is trying to accomplish. It felt like the watch party didn’t really matter or it was more of an afterthought. I am hopeful, however, that this night was just a one-time miss, and not something more, as it is a challenge to grow support for a newer team.

After the event, I reached out to the Crown for a comment for this story. This was the statement received:

Hi Luis, I apologize as there was a mix-up. The person who normally runs the watch party wasn’t available at the last minute. He called Ocean Sun and they said no problem they will put it on thinking that it was on Lifetime. For future matches, we are purchasing the brewery a Chromecast so they aren’t relying on anyone to bring a laptop and HDMI cord.

TBH – if you want to get a true representation of the group the best time to connect is our tailgates. The watch parties are very hit or miss dependent on the MLS schedule, time of the match, and who is traveling to watch live. You are always welcome out to Broken Cauldron!

Of course, home games and home game tailgates are more fun. But a supporters’ group needs a strong base of involvement and engagement at home when the team is away as well. A strong base celebrates together home and away, and The Crown has demonstrated that although they are an enthusiastic supporters’ group, they still have room to grow as they mature into one at the caliber we see in other NWSL cities across the league. 

Grassroots Support: Interview with a UWSL Support Group

Posted on by RJ Allen

The United Women’s Soccer League is one of the lower-tier pro-amateur soccer leagues for women in the United States. Founded in December 2015 with eleven teams, the league has added five new teams playing in its three conferences for the upcoming 2017 season.

Backline Soccer takes a moment to interview Southeast Syndicate, the supporters’ group for the Detroit Sun FC, one of the UWSL’s new expansion teams. The SE Syndicate is currently the only supporters group within the league.

 
Backline Soccer: Detroit Sun FC belongs to the United Women’s Soccer League, a second-tier women’s soccer league–what are some challenges of supporting a lower-tier team?
 

SE Syndicate: The biggest challenge of supporting a lower-tier team is spreading the word about your club and supporter group. Once we are able to get people to the matches, we can support just as passionately as any top-tier team. Without a big platform it’s tough to reach people that would be interested in joining our group. We advise our members to share about the SG and club via word of mouth and social media.

BS: What has the relationship like between the team and players and the supporter group? What sort of efforts or outreach do you have planned for the team?
 

SES: We have talked to the owners of the team and are excited to help them support local women’s soccer and our club. As the club was only created a few months ago we haven’t had many opportunities to see the players in action. We have a lot of things planned for the team. This off-season we will be working on many projects to support the team. We will be painting banners, making chants, (possibly) providing some merchandise , and other activities in order to let the players know that we love and support them every match. Also, our club is looking to find ways to positively impact our community and we are excited to be a part of that!

BS: Have you taken cues from other supporter groups or has the culture grown on its own?
 

SES: The lower-tier supporter culture in Michigan has exploded over the past few years and we have definitely been inspired by the boom. That being said, we are excited to do things our own way and make our own little dent in American soccer culture.

BS: Do other teams in the UWSL have supporter groups? Are other groups forming?
 

SES: Grand Rapids FC has had a men’s team in the Premier League of America and National Premier Soccer League for a few years now. They have recently announced the creation of a women’s side to play against our beloved Sun FC in the UWSL this summer. They have a great supporters group called the Grand Army. We are excited to become enemies for 90+ minutes and yet also form friendships. They are the only group that we know of in the UWSL.

BS: Do you have a relationship or partnership with supporter group for nearby men’s teams? Or is there any mutual interaction between supporters for local men’s and women’s soccer? What about NWSL supporter groups?
 

SES: We do not have any relationship with supporter groups for men’s teams. We are 100% focused on supporting Detroit Sun FC this summer. It doesn’t matter who you support for men’s ball if you are singing with us on Sun’s Match day! We have had a few members of NWSL Supporter groups wish us luck, but without a NWSL team closer than Chicago, the point becomes mute.

BS: Do you see (or hope to see) a path toward entry into the NWSL, the US’s first-tier women’s soccer league? And what role do you think a supporter group can play in bringing about that transition?
 
SES: Without a merit-based path to the first-tier, entrance into the NWSL is dictated by the ambition of the owners of Detroit Sun FC. Yes, we would love to one day see Detroit Sun FC in the NWSL. But for now we are focused on pushing the club toward a UWSL championship. I feel like our supporters group can play a role in bringing the NWSL’s eye to Detroit Sun FC. The passion and numbers that we bring to every match will hopefully spark interest in the club. As we said, our main goal and focus is supporting our club in the second-tier. We want to have a positive impact on the inaugural DSFC season.