Meet Your Councilmen

The two fellas who have been selected onto the council are quite interesting. Click-through to find out more about them and their passion for football. Who knows, maybe you might learn something new!

The Emerald City Supporters have thus far been able to have a presence on the Sounders FC council. The Sounders Alliance Membership Council is a focus group made of fans that have been elected by 25 other season ticket account holders. The purpose is to create a focus group of individuals representing other fans to convey concerns or praise to the front office. There are currently 3 council members, 2 of which are your fellow ECS members, Greg Mockos and Robby Branom. This is a chance to get to know your representatives, who thank you for your votes and loyalty, so that you may convey concerns or questions to the front office through them. The importance of becoming a large presence in this council cannot be underestimated. Please step up if you want to get on the council.

Greg Mockos is the second person elected to the Sounders FC Membership Council. He is one of the many organizers of the ECS and, along with Keith Hodo, is the ECS liason with the front office. Greg Mockos is FuzzyForeigner on your ECS Forums.

Greg’s passion for soccer began in 1988 as a 6-year-old American boy living in Naples, Italy. With Napoli winning the scudetto for the second time with Diego Armando Maradon and the 1990 World Cup around the corner, he fell in love with the world’s game. In 1988 his father brought him to the San Paolo Stadium to see Napoli-Lecce. He stood on the concrete terrace on the southern edge of second tier of the stadium-in the Ultras Napoli section. This section was where the ardent supporters of the Partenopei stood and cheered on Maradona and his teammates. The game ended 4-0 for Napoli.

Greg continued going to home games on and off between 1988 and 1990. The world cup was then an event during which his understanding of the game became more refined. The 1990 World Cup got him more involved with soccer as he began to play it and watch it. In the following years Greg’s family moved to Turin. During his time in Turin, he began to follow Juventus because of their dominance. One thing led to another and he began to play on an amateur team of Juventus fans, but they weren’t just fans, they were ultras (ultras is a term used to describe ardent soccer supporters. The word “ultras” is derived from the Italian word “oltre” which, translated into English, means “beyond.” The concept being that Ultras were beyond the average fan in terms of dedication, passion, and support.).

Greg spent two seasons in Curva Sud, the supporter section on the southern with the main Juventus supporters group, Drughi. The Drughi were born by the fusion of several smaller groups (Gioventu’ Biancornera, Black & White Supporters, Filadelfia, Indians, Arancia Meccanica) after the Heysel disaster, in which 39 Juventus fans lost their lives as a result of English hooligans. The event had made the groups want to rid themselves of English names and resort to a local Italian name: Drughi.

Although, he was just another body and not a significant player in the group, the prestige that came with sitting with the Drughi made you feel superior to the other “fans.” The additional effort put forth for making banners, flags, and singing and standing the whole game made you feel like you deserved attention. And attention the Drughi would get. Almost without fail, when a goal was scored or a penalty stopped, Juventus players would always point to us. Those precious moments were worth it and drowned out all that was bad in life. Those moments strengthened your love for your team. These are the moments that Greg wants to recreate with the Sounders in Seattle come 2009. Greg plans to do so by being an active member and organizer of the Emerald City Supporters-a group of individuals in whom he saw the same passion and the same love for their team and city as he did in curva with the Drughi.

Robby Branom is the third person to have been elected to the Sounders FC Membership Council. He is one of the capos of the Emerald City Supporters, and in this role he helps lead chants and choreographed tifo displays on match days. Robby Branom is SuperBayern on your ECS Forums.

Robby’s love for soccer stems from his father, who was first introduced to the sport as a U.S. Army Intelligence Specialist stationed in Munich, Germany from 1969-1972. His father came to Munich at the perfect time, as FC Bayern Munich won their second championship shortly before his arrival, and this would be the beginning of many decades of success for the club. Standing on the terraces of Munich’s Gruenwalderstadion, Robby’s father became a fan of soccer, and this love for the game has certainly rubbed off on his son.

When the Seattle Sounders were resurrected in 1994, Robby was taken to his first professional soccer match, and has had a season ticket to the Sounders ever since. He has been an active member of the Emerald City Supporters since 2005, helping it grow into a larger and ever-more impressive group. Robby has traveled extensively throughout Europe with the main purpose of watching live soccer, including a 5-week trip through Germany and England in 2007 in which he went to 15 matches, as well as trips to the 2006 World Cup in Germany and EURO 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. These travels have given him first-hand experience with the thriving supporter’s culture which soccer enjoys in Europe, where the atmosphere at matches is simply breathtaking. He has the passion and impetus to help make such an atmosphere possible here in Seattle, and looks forward to helping make the Emerald City Supporters the largest and best supporter’s group in North America.