SoB Board Members Needed The Sons of Ben want you to join the board of elders! We are now accepting applications/nominations for the following board positions. Anybody interested may email Tim.Sosar@Sonsofben.com Philanthropy Director The Sons of Ben believe in giving back. We want to give back to the City of Chester and its people, we want to help support the growth of soccer in the Delaware Valley, and we want to make an impact in causes that we believe are important to us and our members. The Philanthropy Director is in charge of planning and executing all SoB charitable events including but not limited to: Help Kick Hunger, Stache Bash, Pints Fur Pets, School Supply Drive and other causes that may change throughout the year. They are also expected to partner and help out with other groups to collect items for Crafts for Cancer and Coats for Cancer. They will need to form connections or continue the partnerships we have already built with local businesses in order to solicit for raffle and auction items. They also have to be able to say no, because a lot of groups and people will come to you to ask for us to help. Membership Director The Membership Director is responsible for promoting SoB membership. They are also expected to organize the annual membership campaign and will coordinate and assist with the distribution of membership packages. They will maintain updated membership rolls throughout the year. They will respond to questions related to SoB membership status, as well as any Membership-related issues. Additionally, we are looking for someone who can help us to coordinate our 10 year anniversary efforts Tailgate Director The Tailgate Director is responsible for planing and executing tailgates at home games, coordinate game day volunteers, manage food and equipment inventory. They will also work with the Travel Directors and other Board members to provide food for away games and other special events.
Help Kick Hunger! Saturday, December 10th at 7pm This year the Blue Meanie will be joining us as our guest host for Help Kick Hunger! Come out on Saturday, December 10th from 7-10pm to Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company for our annual food and fundraiser to benefit the Bernardine Center in Chester. We will be collecting nonperishable food, we will hold a raffle and auction featuring one of a kind items, team and player signed items, and plenty of other great prizes (if you would like to donate a prize, please email bill.gusler@sonsofben.com). There will be a 50/50 raffle, and the Nicks Roast Beef food truck will be there serving up some of Philly's best roast beef! You will have a choice of Roast Beef or Pulled Pork with fries. Admission includes 2 drinks and 1 item from the food truck and two raffle tickets. Tickets purchased now through December 9th will be $35, tickets purchased at the door will be $45. U21 tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the door. Help us by collecting nonperishable food items at your place of business leading up to HKH. All donations would be greatly appreciated! Tickets can be purchased at: https://sonsofben.ticketleap.com/hkh2016/
Elections The Sons of Ben Board Elections will be moving forward with our candidates for Membership and Philanthropy. The Voting period will begin on Monday, January 16th and run through Saturday, January 21st. As in previous elections, we will be using a secure third-party site and members will be sent an email link to their ballot. Again, our nominees are: Membership - Ashley Cunningham and J. Spike Rogan Philanthropy - Lauren Murray and Pat Wolenter The nominees are preparing their answers to a series of questions that will shed some light on their plans and goals for their positions and the group as a whole. They'll be posted next week. If you haven't yet had the opportunity to read their biographies, they can be found here: http://www.sonsofben.com/blog/2016/12/2017-membership-and-philanthropy-director-nominees Please read up on the candidates and their plans. They will be part of our group's leadership as we continue the fine traditions our past leaders have put in place! If you have any questions or comments about the Elections, please contact Tim Sosar at tim.sosar@sonsofben.com
10 Year Anniversary Cruise Happy 2017! The holidays are in the rear view mirror and all Union fans are waiting on Earnie to give us a belated Christmas present. But while we wait for transfer news the Sons of Ben are celebrating our 10 year anniversary. One of the upcoming events is our first ever booze cruise! On Saturday evening January the 14th we will be boarding the Ben Franklin Yacht for a 3 hour tour. We will depart from Penn’s Landing and cruise down the Delaware River to an illuminated Talen Energy Stadium for the Ultimate photo opt for any Union Fan. For $45 you will get Beers from our friends at Yards and Neshaminy Creek Brewing (a cash bar will be available also), 3 decks of food, beer, dancing and fun! This is an all ages event. The decks are enclosed and heated so no one has to worry about the elements unless you wish to enjoy a cigar on the deck. Email Matt at matt.gendaszek@sonsofben.com if you have any questions. We need at least 150 people to purchase tickets or the event will be cancelled. So don't wait, purchase your tickets here: http://bit.ly/2iA63cn Join us for the 1st event to celebrate our ten year anniversary and start the new season off on the right foot!
Nice article about the 10th year anniversary here: http://www.phillyvoice.com/an-oral-...ben-are-trying-to-rediscover-a-lost-identity/
We are looking for volunteers to help us stuff membership packages! On Sunday February 19th starting at 1:30pm we will be meeting on the 2nd floor of Field House in center city. Those who volunteer may take their membership packages home with them after we are finished. Please email tim.sosar@sonsofben.com and bill.gusler@sonsofben.com if you plan on coming!
That reminds of the days I was involved with the Sons of Ben, thanks for posting that link, friend. Attending KiXX games and Red Bulls games just to sing for imaginary Philly MLS, playing on the Sons of Ben CASA team, playing on the Futbolito teams (dude, that was fun), emailing SoccerPrime website banner graphics, spending time trying to figure out how to get people to sign the expansion team petition, meeting up in Center City on various occasions, marching into the expansion announcement ceremony singing Four Leaf Clover, calling up The Two G's radio show to report on the announcement, coordinating plans with everyone right here on BigSoccer... Those were some good, exciting times and some decent people to be around--and I won't forget. But after moving away for grad school, I missed the entire inaugural season and just never reconnected with the guys again. There are just a few of us left on this forum from those days! Man, I can't believe it's already been ten years!
Tonight I watched the same section that always chants beat the traffic at fans leaving early, hemorrhaging SOB's before the end of the game. Really sad. What happened to Ad Finem Fidelis? Kind of a joke. I don't ever want to hear another word about how the true fans stand in TRE. Please, mostly cheap tickets and frat hijinks crowd.
Ad Finem Fidelis? Most of the people that threw that phrase around in the early days don't even come to games anymore So what is the role of a supporters group? Do they remain positive and cheerlead regardless of what transpires on the field or do they hold the organization accountable for results? To me, it is an important question to ask considering what's happening on the field and in the stands
I guess you are right on this point. It is a good part of why I am not active with SOB anymore. Things have changed and while I continue to belong as a member, I choose to sit elsewhere and not participate. I sit close enough to see what goes on in TRE. On the outer edges it has become a lot of drunken college age guys who appear to spend more time drinking and carrying on than watching the game. Supporting the team, chanting, singing... does not happen. If they are SOB's, it's for the cheap tickets, tailgates, and party. They're not supporters. Mind you, I know there are a lot of hard working, dedicated supporters (like you) who do not fall into this category. But SOB has changed, and not for the better. Good question. I believe supporters (in TRE and other sections) need to support the players. Not be their best friends, not blindly say they're great, but support and cheer their efforts. What supporters should not be is a corporate shill for the club. They should not be a group that supports what management does with blind faith. The supporters should challenge and call out the organization when it rolls out a product that is less than what our support deserves. So, yes! Hold the club accountable.
I can't imagine SoB leadership engineering any sort of protest. I don't get the sense leadership reflects the feelings of membership. But that's my view from the outside looking in.
The Nack that went out last week which was basically blaming "stub-hubbers" or the general population looking for cheap tickets for the some of the atmosphere issues rubbed me the wrong way.... although those situations aren't ideal they really aren't the reason the atmosphere has been shittier than usual... and honestly the whole note just came off as creating more of a seperation between the SoBs and the general public... it needs to be more inclusive, not the other way around... if you start cracking down on all of the "stub hubbers" non-singers and people looking for cheap tickets you might as well just consolidate the SoB section to 136, 137 and 138 because they won't be filling up much beyond that. (and honestly 3 sections is probably generous at this point) As crazy as it sounds, I think the people obsessed with being "real supporters" may be more harmful than any other group in the River End. In my opinion the SoBs should do the following: Do not tell people what to do or how to support, this is an instant turn off. Lead by example, sing, chant, do the SoB thing, and do it well focus on the songs and chants, don't focus on the people not doing it... when things are on point it spreads and more people open up and aren't as shy about it. Games like these are when the atmosphere is great. Yelling at people to sing automatically makes people shut down. If people want to boo or be critical of the team, let them, "tough love" is part of the "Philadelphia Sporting Culture" like it or not, and you're not going to eradicate in Chester, don't even fight that battle... it goes back to point number one and letting people support how they want to, the people still love the team, they just verbalize it differently. It probably adds a touch of uniqueness to the atmosphere too. Do everything to communicate what kind of section the River End is to someone new to the stadium.. it is a standing section where people drink a bit more than other sections, curse a bit more than other sections, singing is encouraged, and you may have an occasional flag in your face.. Most people already should know what the deal with the section is at this point, but if for some reason the memo isn't received you tell your members to POLITELY let people know about the section and then work with security and the FO to get people relocated to another section if needed. (god knows there are enough empty seats to just put these people elsewhere these days) If people are there from Stub-Hub, or people are there for cheap tickets, or to drink and have a good time, whatever... let it be as long as they are complying with the above bullet points.... if they take issue with some of the bullet points that's when you have them removed. (or if they are drunk beyond reason, but at that point it should be securities job to actually enforce something) You want to create an environment that people want to be at and want to be in and a River End that is legit filled every game... the atmosphere will follow and the cream will rise to the top to the top after that. The whole theme should be inclusion.... Frat boys and all, they may not start as supporters, but if the environment is right they will follow suit and at least start acting like something resembling a supporter. It needs to be more open and inclusive... end of story.
Pretty much what I say every time this topic comes up. It can be a real no homers club in there at times. Winning cures all of this though
Another thought.... the reality is we need to start separating "The Sons of Ben" from "The River End"...its two different entities at this point... the sons of ben are a group that's sits in the river end, the river end is not all sons of ben.. honestly the consolidation line i threw out there probably would work.. I mean there's a reason going with a "big" group of ~50-100 SoBs t an away game seems more effective than what we get at home in the River End.... unfortunately the reality is they'd never lock down the center section with people who buy into the "vision" because people who don't buy into the vision wouldn't forfeit their seats.....the people that do buy into the "supporters vision" probably could find enough seats if they start in a corner section of the River End though and slowly branch out from there, but even the SoBs "dedicated to the cause" wouldn't give up the prime center seats for the greater good...
Survey about General Admission: https://www.surveymonkey.com/survey...oWI1dtoF8ZAajbWTt17wMyoB0HuKHpWeHP_2F4Lgp4_3D I'm for it, because I think General admission would start to solve some issues. That being said I just don't see a viable path to making the River End general admission... the time to push for this was in 2010 and it didn't happen. There is going to be a lot of disgruntled people if they are suddenly told their seats don't belong to them any more. No way in hell this flies.
What would it solve? I'm not in TRE so I don't really care what happens with this, I'm just curious what people think will change.
I think it would result in a consolidated "active" supporters section... I think there are a lot of people who are active today (or would be active) but they are spread out around the river end and can't play off each other... these are the people obsessed with "being the best fans in the league" (lolololol) On the other end of the spectrum there is a large (probably larger contingent) that go to the games to stand, watch the game, yell and also want the ability to be rowdy, heckle the opposition, etc. Occasional singing but they ain't going 90 minutes and you won't convert them. They are less concerned about singing and putting on a show for everyone else. Then there is the red herring "stub hub" issue.... which really isn't an issue at all, but if you did have GA, any stub hubbers who wanted to god forbid sit down could just go over to a less populated section of the River End and take in the game at a more leisurely pace. I'm not saying any style of supporting is right or wrong, but they are philosophically different and constantly at odds with one another,., it's such a negative vibe each game with some people complaining about the non-singers, others complaining about flags in their face or being nagged to sing... the River End is a mixed bag of people, it's not 100% sons of ben, it's not 100% Timbers Army style support... it's a unique entity. GA I think would result in a bit of self segregation and you'd end up sitting with other like minded individuals. that plus figuring most people will gravitate towards the center and you won't have big bald patches in the end, and when the team isn't garbage the "less active group" would probably follow the "active" groups lead and we have a decent atmosphere. (But of course if the team was winning this probably wouldn't be a convo at all) People on both sides are too concerned with "their seats" for it to work though so it's a moot point... that Facebook post is a shit show... I think it's funny when people say they don't pay money to sit in the nose bleeds... jesus, have you people been to the stadium before? Any seat in the place your basically on top of the field, not to mention the River End isn't filling up very often, you aren't going to have the worst seat in the house, even if you show up at kickoff or a couple minutes after... i mean I get it to an extent, people love their front row seat in 137 and it is prime real estate, but if your quitting on the team over a seat... meh. so yeah, philosophically I think GA would make a lot of sense... practically, no way in hell. I still think the best solution at this point in time is for the people who want to sing and wave flags, etc. etc. etc... they all try to consolidate in a single section and push outward from there.
the only reasonable thing I saw on that facebook post was the suggestion to make rows 1-5 reserved and the rest GA. People who want reserved can move down based on seniority, then a free for all above row 5. it would take a lot of logistical planning, but it could work. but yeah, 2010 was the time to fight for this, not now.
I saw that... don't think it would work at all... the people in Row 5 are going to be okay with it and the people in 1-4 get special treatment after they already have the better seats? It would need to be all or nothing.