Supporters Alliances - Part II

Vitesse would be cool.

Were Sevilla FC and Genoa CFC (sister cities to Columbus) already mentioned?

A friendship with Sevilla would be sweeeeeet....

On top of the black/Yellow there away colors are red/grey like OSU! That seems like a great fit.

Their logo is definitely sick too!

Looks a lot like AEK Athens...

I would definately be for FC Twente, it makes sense with them now affiliated with Dayton. Also as a bonus they are atop of the Eredivisie in the hunt for a championship. Plus Ruiz is one of my favorite players .

Vitesse makes sense on the color scheme of things, and the crest is sick. But originally didnt we say we wanted to try a lower division, Eredivisie is top shelf europe football. Im all for a an alliance but they may be less willing.

Just commenting trying to keep the attention of this thread, because I stilll think an alliance is an awesome Idea.

Nothing wrong with that. I grabbed a bunch of AEK gear while i was in Athens because of the colors.

Nabbed that scarf because it's pretty close to our bar scarf (a little thinner of stripes and obviously no LH, but it is still pretty sweet).

Don't mean to sound like a dlck but this is never going to happen when people just come in here and Club X would be cool here's why... Then someone else suggests a different team. My point is make a decision instead of posting 50 clubs that be great.

The fact is, if we're going to do this, someone is going to have to step up, make a decision, and actually initiate something. I've given it a whirl before, but sadly it didn't go anywhere.

Again...things to consider:

1. Will the club cause a huge conflict of interest for Crew fans?
2. Do the club's colours need to be black and yellow?
3. What type of alliance do you want? International or domestic?
4. What type of interaction are you looking for? Would we make roadtrips...would or could they?

I think it could be a lot of fun though, if we were to do this. Who knows, if it became strong enough the club itself could possibly benefit too, with friendlies and youth development.

Here’s the thing. If you think you have a good club that would fulfill these criteria, go for it.

INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE
Internationally, someone tossed out AEK Athens a few posts ago. If you want them as a partner, compose a letter or e-mail, share it with people on the boards for spell check and content purposes, and then send it. Sure, there might a couple of Crew fans who support another Greek club, but I don’t think you’ll step on too many toes. In time, people will learn about it and we’ll all have a European club that we can rally around as Crew supporters. If someone wants Twente or somebody else, go for it. However, in Europe, I would look at only looking to establish one fan friendship. If a friendship comes to fruition, we want it to be meaningful and sincere. Right now it’s first come first serve.

DOMESTIC ALLIANCE
I personally believe that a domestic alliance would be quite interesting and worthwhile.

On the domestic front, think about location and fan culture that already exists. As I said in my last post, could we make road trips to visit and could they do the same? What could the two clubs offer one another? Also, make sure that those clubs aren’t already in a relationship with another club. Picking Portland would be a bad idea because Timbers Army and Section 8 Chicago have a friendship already. When Portland comes to Columbus starting in 2011, don’t be surprised to see spots of red and Section 8 banners in the away section.

Think about traditional rivalries in other sports like St. Louis and Chicago. Should we talk to AC St. Louis? We would likely share a common enemy in Chicago and they are geographically accessible, so road trips would be possible. Right now, because AC St. Louis isn’t in MLS, we could possibly serve as an attractive outlet for anti-Chicago St. Louis supporters. I might be out on a limb saying this, but I would be shocked if AC St. Louis supporters wouldn’t want to stand with us when we play Chicago.

All things to think about.

Ok, so since this seems to be dead, I thought I might add a suggestion for another black and gold team. I present to you, Maccabi Netanya from Israel.



The only problem is that their website and everything seems to be in Hebrew and I do not know how to read nor write Hebrew. I pretty much just thought they had a cool crest.

I think that if we're going to do this, somebody just has to step up and do it. I made an attempt two years ago by writing offers of friendship in both English and German to St. Pauli, but unfortunately it didn't go anywhere.

I think unless you do something ridiculously stupid that would step on a lot of toes, you should be fine. I suppose there's always the possibility that another club's supporters come to us. Don't be afraid to look within the US as well. A domestic friendship could be a lot of fun since regular interaction would be far more likely.

Ok, have we spoken with Wellington Phoenix, is there interest in forming a partnership with them, and would anybody object to me sending them a letter (as I am not a member of any of the SGs but have PR experience)?

we've tried there's not much interest there it seemed to me.

I say go for it! Write the letter, post it here for BigSoccer feedback and then send it on to them. Like I said above, unless you're doing something controversial, you should be fine. I was looking at their supporters and they reminded me of us. Maybe this could actually go somewhere. Be sure when you send them the final letter to include links to our BigSoccer forum, Crewture, Massive Report, and other websites that could give them some insight into our supporters culture. Good luck and I'm looking forward to reading your letter!

(Just read Ultra's response...do what you think is best)

Well, let's put it to a consensus here. I'll wait a few days and see what the count is pro/con. In the meantime, I'll start working on a letter.

Yes, do it. Same team colors, great loyal supporters, I don't know what could get better.

Ok, I sent a preliminary message for info to the Yellow Fever website. It was nothing major, I just needed to ask for the contact info for the group leaders, that's why I didn't post it or anything. I haven't heard back yet, but I sent it late last Friday and I don't know how often they check their stuff. (they had a "request info" thing, but no links to individuals' contact info)

Second, I was just thinking that something that may be even more doable would be an alliance with a WPS side. Before you laugh, hear me out. The bigger teams have not been very receptive to us thusfar, we had some interest in the Cleveland and Dayton teams, and it might be interesting. Since St. Louis folded, the only other team that is not in a city or area where there is also an MLS team is the Atlanta Beat. Their crest is very similar to the flag of Columbus. I would be willing to contact their SG (if they have one) if we decide to go along with this, but I just wanted some input, it very well may be a stupid idea.


EDIT: Here's the crest

A team that isn't 8,500 miles away?

Yeah, that might me a problem.

I'm just checking in to say that I still haven't heard back from my information request from Wellington Phoenix, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that one's dead.

I will still go on record as saying that I am more than willing to write any clubs we would like to contact (in English, or in a pinch I could do Spanish). Just let me know who we want to go after and I'd be more than willing to help.

I've been seeing a lot of AEK Athens gear at Crew games...should we go that route?

Has anyone actually attempted to contact either BVB or AEK Athens yet? I know there were mentions but I wasn't sure if an actual letter was ever written...

Another Greek team is Aris. They are black and gold and have good support. They also have alot of fans in Greece registered on this site that post in yanks abroad because of Adu and Johnson.

Sounds good to me, but I just read that one of their rivals is AEK, so would that be a conflict for a ton of people?

It'd obviously be either AEK or Aris then. However, considering AEK is a decent club and is in Europa Cup or Champions League, they might be easier to follow since we'd probably have more exposure to them. Also, chances are that if Crew fans travel to Greece, they'd go to Athens and it'd be easier to hook up with AEK supporters in comparison to travelling outside of the city.

The problem with BVB is that a lot of people support different Bundesliga clubs. You'd no doubt step on some toes doing that. AEK is one of the best clubs in Greece, but not many Crew fans follow the Greek league as far as I know, therefore it's possible to pick a top club in Greece. AEK might play another big club in Europe that some Crew supporters like, but those meetings are not too common and when they do occur, conflict of interest would only affect a few people.

Ah fair enough about BVB....AEK sounds like the best option, as you made some good points about most fans not having much previous exposure to the Greek league.