US Soccer Supporters – We’ve Come A Long Way But There Are Still Miles To Go

I’d like to fill IMS readers in on this past weekend in Chicago.  My emotions ran the gamut on Saturday. Others commented they too had mixed emotions concerning the day’s events. Here’s what went right and what went wrong.

A large group of Minnesota Supporters met at a bar called the Weather Mark not far from our hotel in China Town and walking distance to Soldier Stadium along the waterfront in downtown Chicago. The Weather Mark was the gathering place for the American Outlaws, one of two supporters groups for the US National Team.

We arrived at the bar about an hour before the American Outlaws planned a march to the stadium.  Marching to each and every US National Team game is a tradition. The bar was packed and there weren’t enough wait staff to keep up with serving everyone enough libations.  The mood inside and out was festive with lots of singing of US songs and chants. There were drums inside the bar along with tons of crazy US supporters dressed in assorted costumes.  A speech was made on a bull horn which almost no one could understand but the gist was we were leaving to march to the stadium soon.

Within minutes hundreds of supporters were streaming through the doors and spilling onto Michigan Avenue. Half the street was taken up by the group and again we sang songs and chanted. The group had a small marching band of instruments as we started our parade of possibly several hundred people down Michigan Avenue, taking up half the road and turning onto a side street now swallowing the whole road as we marched.

The highlight of the parade was a pass by US Soccer House. It’s quite a majestic looking building that houses the offices for US Soccer. It looks much like an embassy building.  They own the adjacent house and the two are linked with underground tunnels.

I knew the location of the US Soccer House but for some reason it still surprised me when I saw it from a block away. I thought it was a great idea to march by. About a 1/3 of the parade was already past the building when men in suits filed out of the front door and onto the front porch. I was just approaching and immediately recognized the figures as the board of US Soccer. The face that stood out was Sunil Gulati, president of the USSF.  Behind him and taking photos with his iPhone was another board member, Don Garber, commissioner of MLS. The group sat and watched us and cheered. Finally Gulati took the bull horn from the American Outlaws (AO) leader and gave a speech which you can watch here.

Gulati claimed the timing of the march was perfect because within the last 5 minutes they had been conducting a USSF board meeting concerning the bid for the 2018 Word Cup. Everyone laughed because they didn’t believe Gulati, thinking he was making some sort of joke. He had to convince the crowd that he really was having a board meeting and had just gotten done talking to FIFA about the bid. He said FIFA believes the US has the best facilities in the world. However, their biggest concern was that they don’t seem to think we have enough passion in this country. The crowd booed. Gulati said,  “The timing of your visit could not be more perfect.  We will be sending a tape of this event to Sepp Blatter and we look forward to seeing you in the second round of the tournament next summer.” Of course, the crowd went crazy and everyone started singing and chanting again.

The seemingly impromptu march and speech pumped up the marchers. I did wonder, however, if the event was staged. I contacted Korey Donahoo, president of the American Outlaws and asked him about this. He told me that before Saturday, he knew that US Soccer was located in Chicago, but he had no idea where in Chicago the headquarters was located. “I thought it was just a bonus that we marched by it,” said Donahoo. “Our Vice President Justin Brunken told me Sunday that he found out just before we started the march that we would be going right by the offices, but he assumed the building would be empty. Sunil’s speech was completely unplanned, at least from our end.”

This was confirmed by Neil Buethe, Media Relations Director for US Soccer. “We knew that the American Outlaws had planned on passing by when marching to Soldier Field,” explained Buethe. “We sent a cameraman down to the Weather Mark where the AO’s were meeting but we hadn’t planned on the group passing by Soccer House, especially not while the Board of Directors were meeting. What transpired, with Sunil and the other board members coming out of their meeting to speak to the supporters, was one hundred percent spontaneous.”

The parade continued towards the stadium. While marching I was receiving twitter feeds from US Soccer saying that our group had just passed by and that we were setting off car alarms with the volume of the singing and chanting. Dogs were barking and that we could still be heard two blocks away. YES!!!! More elation and a feeling of power to boot.

Folks came out of their condos and townhouses to stand on their balconies and cheer us on. Others in the street gave us high fives as did passengers in cars. It was all going very well and there was only jubilation for the marchers as we paraded onto the bridge, over Lake Drive and into the stadium grounds only to be met by hundreds of Honduran fans far outnumbering our group. Now the Hondurans behaved well and were good spirited with both sides joining together with drums and dancing and singing a unified version of Ole’, Ole’. However, something was wrong and you could feel it. It was home game and yet we were clearly outnumbered by hundreds, possibly thousands. The Hondurans were everywhere, and for every red, white or blue shirt, there were 3 blue Honduran jerseys.

The elation from moments earlier sunk even lower when we made our way to the Waldron Deck, an upper ramp of a south side parking lot. This is often where tailgates take place and both the American Outlaws and Sam’s Army had said we would meet up there for pregame activities. We climbed the stairs to the top level and there was a group of about 10 US supporters tailgating and the rest of the lot was a sea of Honduran Blue. I was with my friend Charlie who had been complaining throughout the weekend that he thought it was a mistake holding the game at Soldier Field. He said this knowing 55,000 tickets had already been sold and feeling as if US Soccer should have held the event at Toyota Park where they could have better controlled the tickets sales and therefore allowing a great percentage of US fans to attend the game. This has often been done in place like Columbus Crew Stadium for the US vs. Mexico games.

I again asked Donahoo from American Outlaws what sort of arrangements were made with US Soccer in securing the Waldron Deck. Donahoo told me that AO’s plan was always to tailgate on the Waldron deck, which was supposed to open at 3 p.m. “Our U-HAUL was stuck in traffic and arrived at 3:05, and it (Waldron Deck) was full,” said Donahoo. “We tried to get both US Soccer and Soldier Field to reserve us a spot on the Waldron Deck for weeks beforehand, but Soldier Field wanted thousands of dollars for it, which is obviously ridiculous. So we were forced to the South Lot.”

Buethe also responded to this point saying he felt that the supporters themselves have some responsibility to get there early for events like this. “U.S. Soccer does it’s best to provide supporters clubs with information to help them with their pre-game activities, including tailgating at the stadium,” explained Buethe. “But we’re also limited as it’s different for each and every venue we play in. In this instance, the Waldron parking lot was opened up by the stadium and the city of Chicago much earlier than the set time of 3 p.m. due to the large amount of traffic that was attempting to get into the lot. The traffic was backing up on Lake Shore Drive starting at 10 a.m. and to ease the congestion of cars, the lot was opened around 11 a.m.”

So while the Hondurans partied around and near the stadium, US fans were seen carrying cooler and grills a 1/4 to 1/2 mile or more to the southwest end of the South lot. After many cell phone calls to arrange new rendezvous points with other Minnesotans, some of them who still had to pick up tickets from our group ticket coordinator Neal, we hoofed it to where the other US Supporters were in that south parking lot.

As the stadium filled there seemed to be oceans of Honduran blue in the stands. Estimates ranged from 60% to 80% Honduran attendance. Buethe from US Soccer said they didn’t have exact numbers but estimated the numbers to be closer to 65% Hondurans to 35% US fans.

There is also an issue of supporters colors. While attending the game on Saturday, you knew the Honduran supporters — they all wore their blue and white colors. The US supporters still have an identity problem. Sam’s Army always wore red. When the American Outlaws started, they wore a royal blue which was being pushed by Nike who supports them and US Soccer. Meanwhile other US supporters wear their white or dark blue US replica jerseys and still more will wear a kit of their favorite club team, usually from Europe. It’s time that US Soccer, Nike, Sam’s Army and American Outlaws all get their act together and wear red. It’s distinctive and there are very few CONCACAF teams that use the color. I know from a marketing standpoint red is never a great seller in apparel. But, it’s a unique color that stands apart and clearly indicates who you support. We need to make this change and Nike and US Soccer need to do whatever they can to support this. Who knows, if all US Supporters had been wearing red at Saturday’s game, we may have realized that we weren’t as outnumbered as we thought.

With all the blue and white Honduran colors in the stadium, the US supporters who were located behind the South goal became a bit frustrated. This came to a head when Sunil Gulati stepped onto the field in front of the supporter section. A smattering of boos could be heard that were directed his way.  Although this may have been an unfair attack and was very limited in its scope, it was still an indicator of the frustration of some US Supporters.

At times the game itself felt very much like an away game with the bulk of the noise coming from the Hondurans. But the US Supporters, particularly the end zone of the South side of the stadium which was filled with SA and AO supporters was also vocal and rarely stopped singing and chanting. Spirits were low after Honduras scored early, but eventually the US players rose to the occasion with a very gritty performance and pulled out a win for the home supporters.

The only ugly incident of the game came in the second half after Donovan had scored on a penalty kick and a call went against the Honduran team a few minutes later. Beer started raining down from the second deck to the left of the US Supporters section and was then replicated behind and to the right of the section. Hundreds and hundreds of beer cups were thrown down on what they must have thought were US supporters, although I’m sure many Hondurans also received a dousing. However, I never saw or heard of any scuffles or fights either before or after the game and both sides seemed to keep their frustrations in the stadium. Of course after the game US supporters were jubilant and the Hondurans very quiet.

Reflecting back on the weekend, I realize that even though the US has come a long way in its support for the National team, there still may be a half truth to what Gulati said was FIFA’s concern. We are still miles away from other CONCACAF countries in the sheer number of fans who are passionate for their team. Even a small Central American country like Hondurans outdid the US in attendance for a game that is held in a large city like Chicago with a small Honduran population. Talking to Hondurans over the course of the weekend I found they came from all across the US. So much so they filled the parking lots and stadium entrances 6 hours before the game kicked off. The US supporters have grown and there is plenty of passion within those that do support the US, but the truth is, the numbers still aren’t there.

Buethe told me that even though the audience for the game was clearly dominated by Hondurans, he felt that atmosphere was still fantastic and his view was reflected by the players he spoke to after the game. “We’d love to have it the other way – 65 percent US fans and 35 percent opponents – but I’d still say there was a pretty fantastic atmosphere with more than 55,000 people in the building on Saturday night,” said Buethe. “And while outnumbered somewhat, that impressive contingent of US fans on hand Saturday provided an exciting and passionate environment, which the players and staff noticed and appreciated.”