Re: Supporters Group Name Barra refers to a group of hinchas. Propably arrived from the fact that "barra" in spanish also has the same meaning in English, "bar" (as in the bar room furniture): Since a lot of the members of the "barra" are referred as "los borrachos" (the drunkards.".
Sorry I reposted his entire message, but I wanted it on the same page as my response... It was CeltTexan whose impassioned gift of rhetoric turned me onto the idea of having a Hispanic (not particularly Mexican, mind you!) name for ourselves. (If he weren't already our interim President, I'd nominate him as Official PR Man without a moment's hesitation.) To begin with, I first saw ourselves as having "Battalion This" or "Somebody's Army" or even "Houston Hooligans" (however briefly ) as our name. I thought that English would be the default language, as we do live in the good ol' US of A, no matter how imperfect it can get, and English is our official tongue. But - and this is where CeltTexan comes in - if we are going to be bringing history in the large doses that we have been discussing into this mix, then, yes, he has several very valid points. I am not Texan by birth, but I do find the history of this region to be fascinatingly rich and complex. It is something special into which I think our rivals to the North of us have either been unable or unwilling to tap. (With a name like the Burn, though, what could you really do? And they turned all right, in the overall picture...) And speaking of the Inferno - I look and see not one, grand supporters group, but one larger one (great bunch of guys, one and all!) and a one or two other, smaller (?), Hispanic-oriented groups, about whom I honestly know very little. Cool. Fine. But not one united voice in the stands on game day. I caught the occasional game on TV out of Dallas, and I heard only one set of drums, and one set of voices, for those games. I could tell merely by listening from the next room in the house that it was the Inferno. Think how much louder and grander they would sound if all of those fanatics were joined under one banner... Not knocking the Inferno, or La Raza Latina, or anyone else - just making an observation here. We have a chance here to start at the beginning and form one united front for our passion. Let the other Houston TBD (today, today!!!) groups form as they will - the soccer moms or the under-teens or the local youth leagues or whatever - but let us be the yelling, screaming, noisy, drum-beating, horn-blowing, chest-thumping, alcohol-drinking, adult group whose members truly reflect the cross-section that Houston is. I don't care if it's English, Spanish, Eskimo or even Portuguese (thanks for pointing that out, out anderson!) A name is simply a tag, a label, a handle, but attitude - well, that's a reason for living. I'm still not sure how to vote on this one...
The group could make money selling hats that say 36's, similar to the .45s: That's the kind of hat to wear to the games!
I actually quite like this one. I still hope that if the North End thing works out in the stadium, that we can do something with that name as well.
So now that we know the team name when do we pick the supporters group name, and what format will we use?
I'm thinking that the when portion will be handled at the next supporter's club meeting Feb 11th. There's going to be a lot to do there between naming and elections.
Hey, now, there's one I could go with. I've always been a big fan of Spanglish, and now Portuenglish, as well... Seriously, I like this one.
I still like "Club 1836" or something along those lines. I was looking at the bio of Sam Houston to see if I got some inspiration. Other than liking his hat as something for supporters to wear, I thought it was interesting that he was the only person to be governor of two different states, Texas and Tennessee. Funny considering the plight of the Houston Oilers.
A Baseball cap??? No, no, it has to be a Cowboy hat with our motto which should be: Fort 1836 - Come And Take It Cabrones! And I bet they will sell more than Baseball caps, plus they will stick out at your youth games and people will be like wow what is that hat?
I'm a little hurt that nobody wanted to run with my idea. It brings out the best of both English and Spanish . . .Tex-Mex for sure! Cheese EncHinchadas with Onions! The CEOs!!!!!$$$$!!!!
I still believe that if we go with Sam Houston as an influence; it needs to be the the Ravens and our section the Ravens nest. It is a very respectful name.
With the team name referring to Texas history, you should be inclusive of the state and taking away Texas soccer from F*C* Dallas, lord knows they don't deserve anything anyway. I suggest you borrow from Austin and the finest culture that Texas has to offer and name yourselves Putas Del Fuego. In conclusion: Please secede from the Union and Welcome to the league.
Raven black it is an offical color of the team. Again I think that the Ravens is a great name for the support group.