{"id":27730,"date":"2014-09-05T15:14:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T19:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=27730"},"modified":"2014-09-05T15:26:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T19:26:23","slug":"a-common-bond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=27730","title":{"rendered":"A Common Bond"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Monty-Sean-01\"<\/a>

Former Midnight Riders president Monty Rodrigues (left) and Cauldron president Sean Dane often catch up with each other whenever the Revs and Sporting K.C. meet.<\/p><\/div>\n

In many soccer-loving countries across the globe, supporters often adopt a hardened stance toward\u00a0opposing partisans.\u00a0The mindset: if you’re not with me, then you must be against me.\u00a0Harsh words and hard objects are hurled with\u00a0equal fervor.\u00a0Dubbed “hooliganism” in England in the 1880s, there\u2019s simply little\u00a0room for friendship or pleasantries\u00a0among dueling football clubs.<\/p>\n

In Scotland, Celtic and Rangers, established and supported by Catholics and Protestants, respectively, despise each other to the tune of verbal and physical abuse. In Italy, the Derby Della Capitale between Roma and Lazio has led to\u00a0countless clashes, one of which\u00a0witnessed the\u00a0death of\u00a0a fan in 1979 who was killed\u00a0by a flare. There have been numerous spats between supporters, similar to these, across Europe and South America.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s virtually none of that in the U.S., where\u00a0MLS fans are undoubtedly passionate about their teams, but are careful to draw a line between rivalry and violence. In fact, lasting\u00a0friendships are actually formed between fans from opposing factions.<\/p>\n

Hours before Wednesday’s conference clash between the Revolution and Sporting Kansas City at Gillette Stadium, I witnessed this sense of comraderie first-hand. I had found out\u00a0on Twitter that the Revolution\u2019s supporters groups\u2014The Midnight Riders, The Rebellion, and the Rev Army\u2014were linking up with fans from Kansas City\u2019s group, The Cauldron.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the greatest things about where supporter culture is in this league,\u201d said Sean Dane, President of The Cauldron, in front of a caravan of tailgaters. \u201cWe are engaged with each other. We have friendships. We have known each other for 10, 12 years. Nobody was following the game and you saw the same supporters wherever you went on the national landscape or the local landscape. The idea of camaraderie, the excitement of seeing another soccer fan, really helped shape how we\u2019ve all approached the supporters\u2019 culture in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dane, 38, is a cheerful guy who seems to wear his team\u2019s heart\u2014and his own\u2014on his sleeve. On Wednesday, he was wearing a black polo with his group\u2019s insignia on it, the letter \u201cC\u201d made to look like a cauldron cut in a half. He attends practices regularly. He says he\u2019s close friends with some Kansas City players and knows the details of Matt Besler\u2019s transfer offers from abroad, which, out of respect, he won\u2019t reveal. He has his own podcast about barbecue. In fact, he\u2019ll talk to you about every pit and smoker his side of Sporting Park. He works for a company that sells wireless lighting equipment for live entertainment, such as Cirque du Soleil and Disney, allowing him to travel often and link up with his home team on the road.<\/p>\n

About 60 Cauldron members made the trip from Kansas City to attend the game, many of them travelling through their work as Dane sometimes does. About 200 are expected to be at Red Bull Arena for Saturday\u2019s tilt at New York, according to Dane, who will also attend a Yankees-Royals baseball game this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Supporters-01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dane says The Cauldron tailgates and socializes with most fans, with some exceptions. He and other supporters group presidents, including Fran Harrington and Monty Rodrigues, current and former presidents of the Midnight Riders, respectively, met each other through Sam\u2019s Army and the American Outlaws, two of the U.S. National Team\u2019s largest fan groups.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a clear difference between the fan experiences of in Kansas City versus those in New England, of course. The most glaring difference is the setting. Sporting Kansas City inhabit one of the most modern homes in MLS: a\u00a0recently-built 18,500 seat-venue with a natural grass field, an interview room for supporters to watch post-game press conferences, and an 8,000 square foot club for The Cauldron. The Cauldron, according to Dane, are also privy to food and beverage discounts. But perhaps most important of all is that Sporting Park is a mere six miles from downtown Kansas City.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could maybe put that stadium in the EPL, definitely the Championship,\u201d said Rodrigues. \u201cIt would work. A nice 20,000 seat stadium, packed to the gills, roof over their heads, it\u2019s phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had the pleasure of going to SKC for away games,\u201d Rodrigues continued. \u201cI\u2019ve known these guys forever through U.S. Soccer. They hosted us great, took us into that stadium. They\u2019ve shown me around the stadium and I\u2019m drooling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The friendship between the groups stems from mutual respect between the Revolution and Sporting franchises.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of parallels,\u201d said Dane. \u201cWe both were owned by NFL franchise owners, played in NFL stadiums, we\u2019ve struggled with attendance at times, seen our team not be popular. We\u2019ve fought hard to just remain fans and that the game was worth engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MidnightRiders-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Revolution defeated Kansas City 3-1 on Wednesday night, the second time they\u2019ve beaten the defending champions this year. But Kansas City got the best of New England in last year\u2019s playoffs, edging them 4-2 on aggregate in a thrilling two-game series.<\/p>\n

Any chance they would have rooted for the Revolution, as good sports, had Kansas City gone out instead?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been hard,\u201d said Dane with a sigh. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to cheer for the guy who kicks your sister. I would have been fine with them advancing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0complaints about the atmosphere\u00a0– or lack thereof – at\u00a0the 68,000-seat, NFL-sized Gillette Stadium\u00a0have been\u00a0raised numerous times over the year. But in bonding with Revolution supporters, Dane says that there\u2019s no reason New England can\u2019t create\u00a0an experience\u00a0similar to the one often seen at\u00a0Sporting Park, though it would take considerable measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou watch what happened with Sporting Kansas City, and that engagement of the fan base through the creation of a soccer specific stadium and the buy-in of the city, I think the same thing is possible wherever you go. Once the game is housed that fits the game and draws attention to it, that atmosphere can be created,\u201d Dane added.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0banter continues between the two groups continues. Soon, they will make their way to the\u00a0stadium, where they will\u00a0passionately pull\u00a0for opposing sides in what proves to be a physical match.\u00a0Yet, there\u00a0are no punches, no curses, no hostility between the partisans. There’s a mutual respect.\u00a0From that respect comes friendships which,\u00a0even after a spirited 90 minutes, will carry on long after the final whistle sounds.<\/p>\n

Follow Julian Cardillo on twitter @juliancardillo or email him at julianccardillo@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike some of their counterparts across the pond, supporters across MLS often forge lasting friendships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Monty-Sean-10.png?fit=485%2C258&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27730"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27730"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27748,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27730\/revisions\/27748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}