I fully plan on supporting the Silverbacks should that team actually materialize. I agree that a very good way to boost your city's chances of getting a MLS team is to support the team you already have. Blank would be much more likely to buy into soccer if Silverbacks Park was packed with singing fans every game. Unfortunately, the truth is most people in Atlanta will not settle for minor league. Though there are many soccer fans in ATL, most tend to be eurosnobs who turn up their noses at USL/NASL or whatever they call it now. Having a team in the top "major league" division might help to convert some of them from the eurosnobbery, though we should try to do that with our lower division teams. I've been to Silverbacks games and it's good fun soccer. It's also nice because you're right on top of the action since the stadium is so small. I think that our strategy at this point should be to drum up support for the Silverbacks until more word comes on the MLS front. Also, those people who sang and beat drums etc. at 'Backs matches were/are a supporters group known as Westside 109. They were relatively few in numbers but had a lot of passion and commitment to a team that wasn't always too great and whose management was less then spectacular.
Communication, recruiting, mobilization, leadership, distinction, are the 5 key needs we must employ to be successful in being rewarded a top tier team in the South.
Really? Guess I don't hang out with very many soccer fans. I think one major problem was publicity. At the time of their existence, I don't think there was hardly any buzz for the (men's) Silverbacks. I don't see why the AJC couldn't give a little space other than the scoreboard on the back page. Sure, they could argue that it's because people in Atlanta weren't that interested, but then how could they be if no one is telling them that it's there? That's pretty awesome. I wish I could have gone to more games, but all my Friday nights and Saturday days are blocked off, which is basically when 90% of their games were. I was excited when I found that one weekday game.
Here are a few ideas that could help get some exposure: 1. First of all, the team needs to actually advertise itself (something which is really out of our control). I suppose we could petition the AJC to cover the team more thoroughly and show that their is an audience. 2. Once the season starts we could hit up soccer locations such as club team fields and soccer bars to pass out flyers leading up to games. 3. Organizing pre-game tailgates is something that's fun for everyone and can get casual fans interested in the sport and team. Most supporters groups have their own tailgates and BOSS should do the same at Silverbacks games. We should try to get in contact with people from Westside 109 and try to work with them. Perhaps they would want to join forces with BOSS?
Communication . . . CHECK. We have this board and, hopefully, a website to use. Recruiting: We who use community sites like facebook, myspace, and twitter can recruit everyday. Recruit ANYBODY that has even the slight bit of interest. Mobilize: those in your area need to plan to get together at pubs that show futball, plan to go to games and rep the B.O.S.S., start B.O.S.S colonies in your area. Leadership: no explaination. We need one for the B.O.S.S. in general and one for each of the colonies if that is something of interest. Destinction: We need SOMETHING. . . ANYTHING that will set apart from the rest of the chumps in the MLS. This can come in the form of how we do chants, what we wear, banners and flags, colors, songs. How about we do things that are not the typical Disney/Americanized version of football for once, like letting a nickname evolve.
I just read a rumor on a website, which may or may not be true given the website I read it on, that a fan e-mailed Don Garber that fans want a team in Miami. His response was that MLS does as well and they will get there soon enough. Should we point out to Don that there is an established fan base ready to cheer on a true southern team? Does anyone want to take it upon themself to represent B.O.S.S.?
Don is the ultimate politician...i could ask when a team is going to come to Athens, Georgia and he'd say the same thing, "we'll be there one day."
Not exactly sure what you mean by this. Do you mean not trying to think of a name until later on? And what other "things" are you referring to?
The Silverbacks had some supporters' group(s?). Not sure what has happened to them. I'm not too happy with how the whole minor league situation happened, anyway, so I'm not sure I could really support them. There's the Beat, though. I don't care about women's soccer, but I do want to see soccer in Atlanta, so I will try to support them.
How 'bout we get over this superiority complex that makes us think that because it's the world's game, we have to march in lock-step outside of playing by the Laws of the Game? How 'bout we allow the game to become ingrained in American culture, instead of holding it at arm's length from the populace? As long as soccer is seen as a "foreign" sport (and it most certainly is not), it will never be fully accepted here. How 'bout we let the people who are actually spending the money to get the team here name the team themselves, or hold a "name the team" contest, and pick the most popular? "Letting a nickname evolve" translates to "letting 25-100 so-called 'supporters' choose some dumbass name like 'Hoops,' 'Rokerites,' or 'Hatters,(great if you're in England, but stupid if you're here)' that the other 15-20,000 of us have to live with, and the sports media will never use." Allowing the ones who actually paid for the team to name the team saves us from that (but I still cringe at the thought of having an indoor soccer team called the Wallbangers (1977, Super Soccer League; never played a game).
wow . . . what a prediction on the numbers. Yeah, I guess you're right. The people who actually go to games, pay for tickets, the players, the merchandise, the food and bev, the stadium (through taxation), shouldn't have a say in it AT ALL. As a marketing GENIUS, I have to say that to have the majority of fans find a nickname for themselves as a community (the South in general), a franchise will find itself with a strong following and a constant heaviness in the coin satchel. THE SOUTHERN BAD ASSES, for intsance, would be great. WHY? Because the MLS CAN'T TOUCH IT! Our official "name" would be something like AC ATLANTA, or "blah blah whatever" ATLANTA/SOUTH and leave the nickname for us to decide. Who the hell NEEDS an "official" nickname?! FC Dallas is cool because they let their different fan bases use their unique spin on it (latin americans = El Toros, euros = FCD, Red Stripes, Hoops). If you like Fire Birds, good for you, but don't throw it down our throats. Maybe Empire likes "Southern Bad Asses" or I might like the "All-(whatever colors they come up with)s," but having an official nickname is sorta nazi-ish.
Funny, how no other fans in any other sports in the US have a problem with it. Southern Bad Asses = major suckage. Sounds like a minor league nose-picking team (or, more appropriately, minor league butt-scratching team). FC Dallas = ditto. Want names like that? Move to England. You can't force somebody else's history down people's throats; it just won't work. 100 so-called "supporters" won't keep the lights burning and the gates open; it's the rest of us who buy the tickets and watch the games who make it work. An official nickname is a brand, an identity. Americans are used to it. What, were you out in the smoke-hole when your professor went over this? Marketing genius (if you have to tell me you are, then you're not)? Ha, right; I guess you though New Coke was a good idea too, huh?
Now, now, simmer down. Hypothetically, if we get an official name similar to most other American team names, we can still have unofficial nicknames. They would probably develop "naturally" anyway. Interestingly, I was reading about the origins of the national pastime's team names and all of the old-school teams developed kind of in the way Sandlapper was talking about. Please play nice. We're all here for the same reason. Snide or just plain rude comments are not necessary.
All I know is that if we get a team I do not want it called just Atlanta F.C. or Atlanta United or Atlanta Rangers. First of all, that shows an utter lack of imagination. Second, we do not call the sport "football" here. Third, names like United, Real, F.C., Atletico, etc. just make us sound like a bunch of eurosnob posers. The ideal name for the team is one that reflects the character and history of the region.
agreed. like Firebirds! 1) the whole story about Atlanta rising from the ashes and the phoenix on the crest. 2) What a name to turn on the southern fan base than firebirds.
I, for one, don't really care at all what our hypothetical name might be. More likely than not I will probably be at least a little annoyed with it either way. As for reflecting the character and history of the region, that's not going to happen. If any city in the south gets a team, the name would be 100% more likely to have to do with the city that team is based than the region. I think if it was a "southern name," that would be like MLS saying, "OK, no more teams in the South.
OK can there be some sort of moderation for the teenagers on the thread? Is DavidP always like this? wow . . . he has nothing positive to say, ever. You are in the South. NOBODY LIKES ASSOCIATED FOOTBALL HERE! So what do you do? Alienate. Good plan guys. Fire Birds? Sure, if this was an Atlanta team, but whoever owns this team knows they are going to need the whole South for this to work. And some of you still don't get the concept of why the rest of the world (excluding Australia) does not use Mickey Mouse "official nicknames" do you? Because it looks childish. "We need a nickname and it HAS to be this!" cries the baby. Wow . . .
Orlando Pirates. That's outside of Australia. Urawa Red Diamonds. You aren't a teenager? I'm shocked. From the tone of your posts, you seem immature. DavidP certainly isn't. We've had this discussion ad nauseum. And in the end, it just doesn't matter, because we are nowhere close to landing a team at this point. Unfortunately, you don't seem to acknowledge that others' opinions are just as valid. There are two camps -- one more concerned with Euro-style names, and the other with American-style names. I don't care one way or another, because I know it will just "alienate" some people (and they will get over it if they truly wanted to watch soccer in Atlanta). I'm going to support MLS in Atlanta whether they are AC Atlanta, Olympic Atlanta, or the Atlanta Osprey. Seriously, I wonder what Europeans thought of the NFL nicknames for their football teams (Scottish Claymores, Barcelona Dragons, Frankfurt Galaxy).
Nobody likes Associated Football? Not sure what you're talking about. Now, Association Football (typically referred to in the States, as well as other places, as Soccer); that's a different story. Plenty of people in the South like it. Get over yourself, poser. You probably didn't even know that soccer was until 1994 (and before you say anything, little boy (you may not be, but you act like one), I've been following this game since the 70's), and now you think anyone who doesn't think like you is an idiot. You say I never say anything positive, well here goes: I'm positive that I'm done with you, and I'm positive that we'll just have to agree to disagree. How's that? Now, off to the ignore list you go.
I'm done with this argument. They can name the team "Shredded Wheat" for all I care. Europosers are more concerned with "looking right" than they are with the game itself. I want to see the Pompus Lake Blue Sox, an American team, beat the crap out of somebody like Liverpool, Juventus, or Peranol (sp?), instead of having the rest of the world laugh because Crawley Town beat Racing United St. Louis, the "Arch Crawlers," not only because the St. Louis team sucked, but also because they look like posers with their contrived nickname, bestowed on them by 15-20 "supporters" who think the US will never be respected until every American team has a Euro-style name. But hey, name it what you will; I'll still be there, but shaking my head in disdain when "Olympic Atlanta United FC" is announced over the loudspeaker. I've had it.