Brougham Times for December, 2009

Now that we are finished with the season we can sit back and reflect on the season. In this newsletter, we look at where we have come from, what we can do now, and where we can go in the future. We are all proud (with good reason) with what we have done but this is just the beginning. We are going to be bigger, better and stronger in the years to come.

Up the ECS and Up the Sounders!!!

-The Emerald City Supporters

Editor: Eric has been a part of the ECS since the beginning and has a
unique perspective of the ECS as it has grown to what it is today.

To those ECS who have been around since the USL-1 days, the
differences a single year makes are incredible. We've gone from 100 or so
regulars (swelling to 150 on certain matchdays) at the end of the 2008 season
to several times that — membership of well over one thousand. Tifo displays
have gone from a few rows of seats to several entire sections — not to mention
more complicated artwork or choreos.

The biggest positive change has been seeing new members stepping forward to
volunteer for things that in the USL-1 days would have seen the same 4-5
leadership doing. From working on tifo, to arranging road trips, to doing
liason work with the club and stadium security, and countless other tasks… we
have no shortage of volunteers to get it done. We used to fill only a single
bus for Cascadia road trips… this year we sent several hundred supporters to
a mid-week cup match. And when 2011 rolls around, we anticipate being well
above one thousand! ECS represented well past our northwest base… 2009 saw
large organized presences in San Jose, LA multiple times, DC, Houston, Chicago,
and more, as we earned a reputation for one of the best travelling SG's in MLS.

With change, there ultimately is a growing pains stage to go through. Early on,
the ECS "version MLS" wasn't necessarily the well tuned machine we'd
have liked to see it be. It takes time for large numbers of new members to
learn the songs, to understand supporter culture, and so on… akin to new
military recruits at boot camp. But like boot camp, slowly but surely the new
recruits become soldiers, and we are surely stronger and more unified than we
were at the start of the 2009 season. As a seasoned veteran, it's always
exciting to see the development of a supporter from "just a fan" to
true supporter, and in some cases, to "ultra".

The changes coming in 2010 are going to make us even more powerful as a group.
We anticipate continuing to grow and expanding our reach in the Brougham End,
especially as we're able to incorporate more of our members into the End.
There's road trips to places we haven't travelled yet, including a tasty away
Champions League fixture in a locale yet to be determined! We cannot be
satisfied with what we've done so far though. There is much work to be done to
achieve our ultimate goal of having the best hardcore support in all of the
CONCACAF region. We need our existing members to continue to work hard and we
need to continue to grow our numbers to take over more and more of Qwest Field.
The future for ECS, as well as for SSFC, is certainly bright and the best is
yet to come!

When it comes to the ECS, there are three words that I've
learned to turn to when I'm frustrated, when I'm angry, when I'm upset, when
I'm confused: In due time.

I feel like all the successes, for both us and the club, have paid off due to
giving it time. After years of feeling overlooked, we are awarded one of the
best expansion franchises in sports history. After 2 years of losing in the
USOC semifinals, we not only make it to the finals, we bring back a cup. After
weeks of expressing our frustration to a seemingly ignorant FO, the band no
longer occupies 121. And the most important one (and one that only the founding
ECS members can feel the full benefits of), after years of the cliché blood,
sweat, and tears put into it all, the Emerald City Supporters have emerged as
one of the best supporter groups in North America.

It all came in due time.

We have definitely earned everything we have; I am by no means saying that we
are just given what we want when we want it. No, it's taken the leaders in this
group that have been doing around the clock discussions with the front office,
the people that give up their weekends and evenings making tifo, and the
collective support we as group give the club to keep the ECS pointing in the
right direction. But once we are aimed at what we want, there's one more
ingredient that we cannot rush: time.

The reason this group continues to thrive is that on top of the veteran core of
people that are the heart, we've got individuals that seem to pop up out of
nowhere to take on responsibility, to voice their concerns and offer their
suggestions, and to be the Sounders-'till-I-Die driven Ultras that make our
support second to none.

Look at the last 7 days: We pulled off two fantastic tifo displays, we drove
our boys to a fantastic end to an unforgettable regular season, and we continue
to push the Rave Green into the playoffs… It's been the best week we've ever
given the players.

But it seems like everything I read on these forums are about fights breaking
out, people stealing tifo, people wanting to be more selective in our
membership process, about how our players are headhunted on the pitch, ACES,
fuck that guy, I hate this dude, etc. etc.

So let me take what I've been trying to convey and combine it with the overall
attitude of the ECS right now: Everything that you think is wrong or needs to
be fixed will be corrected in due time.

As a member of the leadership crew, I can assure you that the leadership knows
about the problems that have been occurring in the Brougham End, and I can tell
you that they will be fixed. The problems with security and the problems with
individuals all have solutions, but they also require the continued support
from the ECS members.

All our problems are fixable, and will be fixed. Right now, making sure the
supporters section is all supporters is one of our bigger problems. The
leadership is working with the FO to make sure they give us the tools to make
it an easier struggle, but there are things you can still do to help.

What can you do?

-Continue giving your full 90 in the Brougham End.

You hear the Capos say it all the time: The match is not about you, or me, or
the ECS. The match is about the boys on the pitch in the Rave Green. When the
capos say jump, you jump. When the capos say sing, you sing. This is a concept
that has become widely understood by our members now, but not yet by all.

-Encourage those who are not participating to do so.

The motivation to get the useless sacks of shit that invade the GA to become
worthwhile supporters will come from the people around them, not the capos. On
top of giving their support, the job of the capos is to direct the rest of us.
Our job on the other hand is to motivate those around us. Make eye contact with
people not participating, direct your chants in their direction (even if they
are behind you or in a direction where you can't see the field), and put your
arms on their shoulders when we jump like they are your brother.

-Stand next to strangers.

IF YOU ARE SURRONDED BY PEOPLE YOU KNOW, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG SPOT. Go stand
next to someone you've never talk to, introduce yourself, learn everyone in
their group's name, etc. Match days aren't meetings, they're parties. Make it
known to them that the best fucking time they'll have all year is the first
time they can't talk for 3 days after shouting for an entire match.

-Defend the Supporters Section without getting physical.

We are not hooligans. Let me say that again, we are NOT hooligans. But we are
not pushovers either. If you see people getting in a fight, you help break it
up. If you see someone getting in the face of someone waving a flag, you inform
them that they are in the wrong fucking place. Defend the people waving flags;
defend your fellow ECS members (even if it's from another ECS member). We stand
up for each other, we hold each other back. Do not take the high road, tell
them to shape up or fuck off.

If your immediate reaction to the above is "the ECS is too abrasive", let me
put it this way: my entire life revolves around match day, so when someone
inhibits my support, or gets in my face for being a supporter, abrasive doesn't
even start to describe how pissed off I will get, and I wholeheartedly will
feel justified in my anger.

-Travel for Away Matches

Financial status willing, travel to as many away matches as possible. There is
so much experience you can gain as a supporter from being the away team in a
rival stadium. Nobody can accurately describe what it feels like to be a
Sounder in PGE Park, you've got to experience it. Not only will you be there to
support the boys on the road, you will come home to Qwest Field having a
greater respect for the atmosphere we've created, and a better appreciation of
your home.

-Let the Leadership lead, but speak up!

Like I said before, the leadership works hard, but we are not ignorant to the
group, or even the individual. Continue voicing your concerns on the forums; we
see and hear everything that is said. "The tifo was a good idea, but it just
didn't look good" or "I really like the new chant we are doing. Do it more
often" or "Flower is ugly, buy him plastic surgery" are all the kinds of things
we are looking for.

-Chill. Have a good time.

At the Houston match, Flower, Russ and I spent a good 5 minutes near the end
cussing out some asshole who threw a beer at someone waving a flag. You know,
we were pissed about it, and we talked about it after the match, but after he
had chilled out for a few minutes… it was a good game. The match was
exciting, there were some bullshit calls, and there were some bullshit people
in the GA…. It all comes with the job description of being an Ultra. There's
a time for worrying about it, but then you just have to know when you just
shrug it off. Start worrying about how you're getting to Houston on the 8th
rather than bitching about the shitheads in the GA last night.

Ultimately, we just need to keep doing what we're doing. The ECS is rapidly
expanding. 122 is so much more solid now than it was at the beginning of the
season. Our team is doing well. We really have nothing to complain about. Yes,
there are problems, and there are issues we need to deal with… but all in due
time my friends.

At the end of the day, the ECS will prevail, we'll follow the boys wherever
they may go. If you become angry, if you become upset, if you become confused,
if you become frustrated…. In due time.

Sounders 'till I Die.

After graduating from college I
decided to take a year off and teach in China. Unfortunately I missed both the ending of the final USL
Sounders season and the beginning of the inaugural MLS Sounders season. I honestly had second thoughts about
going to China because I was missing such important periods in Sounders
history. In the end I decided this
was too good of an opportunity to pass up so I packed my bags and headed off to
China.

I taught in smaller city in Jiangsu
province called Yangzhou, close to Nanjing and Shanghai. After getting settled in I started to
do some research on the Chinese Super League (CSL), the top-flight soccer
league in the country. Do to the
fact that there are few English websites about the CSL I had to ask some of my
students about the soccer scene in China.
To my surprise most of my students didn't know a thing about the
CSL. Even my male students who
were self proclaimed soccer nuts didn't know squat about the league. I met people who could talk my ears off
about European soccer, but when I questioned them about Chinese soccer they
usually laughed or wondered why I would care about Chinese soccer. The words people used to describe
soccer in China usually included 'Embarrassing', 'Disgraceful', and

'Horrible'. For example, last May
I went to a friendly match between China and Germany in Shanghai. For every two Chinese fans there was
one Chinese draped in German flags or sporting German jersey.

China
prides itself in athletic achievements.
Anybody that watched the 2008 Olympics and saw China walk away with 51
gold medals knows it's a country that doesn't expect anything but the best from
it's athletes. The one black eye
for China was the performance of the men's national soccer team. Going 0-1-2 in the group play and
failing to make it to the next round was seen as an epic failure. Professional clubs in China haven't
fared very well as of recent either.
The 2009 AFC Champions League saw all four Chinese clubs fail to make it
out of the group stage, including defending CSL champions Shandong who lost to
bottom feeder Sriwijaya of Indonesia in the final game to bump them from the
tournament (Sriwijaya had a minus-19 goal differential going into the Shandong
match).

Part of the lack of interest in the
CSL has to do with the shortcomings of the national team and failure of Chinese
clubs in international tournaments, but part of it also has to do with the
corruption that takes place within CSL.
Bias officiating and match fixing has taken place, which has surely
turned off a number of soccer fans in China. Despite the troubles the CSL has faced the league is able to
attract a decent number of fans.
The 2009 league average is over 16,000 spectators per match, with one
match between Beijing and it's arch rival Tianjin drawing over 50,000. While the majority of people In China
are not interested in the CSL, there is a minority that support their local
club. In my next article I'll
write about my experience with a few supporter groups I met up with in China.

Next month we will be discussing the Supporters Summit, What to expect in GA next year, and much more…

if you have any articles you would like to send in contact us at: newsletter@weareecs.com