When the Sounders made their MLS debut on March 19th 2009 at Royal Brougham Park it was but the next stage in Sounders history. On that night the ECS reminded everyone of the Sounders past with the “Tonight Our History Becomes Legend” tifo display.
Just like joining the MLS in 2009, Sounders 2 starting play in the USL represents the next stage in the development and growth of our club. And so we have, “Sounders 2: The Legend Continues” with Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson leading the charge at Starfire Sports in front of fervent supporters and under the Seattle skyline.
The production of this display marks the first time the ECS has done a large vertical display at Starfire. Using the poles for our larger flags, we were able to hoist the 26’x20’ curtain in front of our section. In this grand moment we displayed what represented about 10 hours of design and 30 hours of production work from our volunteer team.
Want to be part of the Sounders Legend? Join us for S2 matches all year long!
For the first match of 2015 Major League Season, the Emerald City Supporters unveil a tifo honoring the Sounders’ highest achievement in 2014: the Supporters’ Shield. The tifo consists of a custom stylized image of Captain America in typical sounder colors. In the image, the Supporters’ Shield is integrated into the design as Captain America’s shield. The design is not a specific Sounder player, something of a trend for home opener displays for us. While there may be an easy connection to Clint Dempsey with the "Captain America" style tifo, it's a generic character, not Clint himself. This is important for us as no one player won us either of our trophies last season and no single player will be responsible for adding to that this season. This is a team, and as a team we want them to defend the shield, defend the US Open Cup, and win the MLS Cup.
The tifo elements include a cut out overhead in Sections 121-122-123 (Approximately 100 ft. x 45 ft.). The remaining space in the six section supporter section is filled in with cards. The display also has a vertical 8 ft. x 100 ft. text banner with the text: “2014 Supporter Shield Champions.” The card display (1,500 in total) is coordinated with the text banner background colors to add complexity to the display.
This display was completed in early February over the course of 4 days. Over 30 volunteers worked nightly from approximately 5-10pm each evening to complete the tifo. Approximately 350 man hours were spent on the display concept development, planning, design, and construction. On the first night Brian Schmetzer actually showed up with 3 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts for everyone to enjoy. Thank you Brian!
All ECS members are invited and encouraged to come meet their fellow supporters and participate in a tifo making session. Follow @ECSTifo for more information or you can email your questions to tifo@weareecs.com. Please also like Emerald City Supporters on Facebook to stay up to date with ECS events such as tifo.
Tifo projects such as this are supported by the sale of our membership kits and by donations.
Join our ranks today so that we may continue to inspire our players and fellow supporters to achieve even greater goals in 2015.
See you on the terraces!
Emerald City Supporters