Thorns Fan Support

Here is the a website link for the Thorns fan group, By any Other Name (BAON, as in Shakespeare):

http://byanyothername.org/game-day-faqs/

And, here is the twitter account page for the name the fan group goes by, Rose City Riveters: https://twitter.com/PDXRivetersSG

 

If I weren't going to Washington, DC, I'd be there. Yet, the Timbers are playing in DC while I'm there and I'm not going to their game. So much for those who say the Thorns' attendance is a bunch of Timbers fans who can't get Timbers tickets.

 

Late last Spring, there were some posts on another thread suggesting that the Thorns supporters group -- the Rose City Riveters -- either was a bunch of Timbers Army participants or was there because they got special ticket deal bribes. I was curious, so I asked one of the initial members of the group for some history. She sent me an email that I've had on my desk for a long time, and I've been meaning to post excerpts from her email and from a couple of its attachments here. So, here it is:

The idea of a bribe is hilarious. ....

There are a lot of us who are Timbers Army. Certainly the majority of us who got together to create a supporters group for the Thorns come from that background, but as we grow, we're seeing more and more new faces, folks who either aren't involved in the Timbers Army, or are just now showing up because their true passion is women's soccer. It's an interesting mix.

Here's the piece about the name from the website [posted April 7, 2013] ....

By any other name ...

We united under the Thorns Alliance banner for one purpose: to support Portland Thorns FC.

Forty-five of us gathered in a house in Northeast Portland on a cold January night. We laughed, we argued, we brainstormed ideas. How do we go about this whole thing? What needs to be done? Flags and tifo, chants and drums, a social media presence. What else?

An identify.

Dedication. Strength. Perseverance.

Loyalty. Community.

How do you convey all of this?

Well, I think we've managed to do that with the name we've chosen.

The poll went up four nights ago. Voting was close and, at the end of the day, the name chosen is Rose City Riveters.

We're all familiar with the image of Rosie the Riveter. She was a composite of many different "Rosies," women who went to work in the defense industry in the '40s. In Seattle, Rosie went to work for Boeing. In Detroit, they built automobiles. In Portland, they worked for the Kaiser shipyards. At one point in those war years, two-thirds of Portland's workforce worked for Kaiser, many of them women who had never before worked outside the home.

It was a time in our history when many people were called to serve their country in many ways. It was a time that required that everyone do their part.

In Portland, it was a time of change. In addition to Portland's Rosies, people came from across the country to work for Kaiser, many purely out of a sense of duty. ....

So, there's your bit of Portland history. Now about those rivets.

In the simplest of terms, rivets are the things that hold stuff together.

Recognizing that two professional women's soccer leagues have failed in recent history, we believe that now more than ever, it is the responsibility of supporters and supporters groups to be the rivets that hold this new league together. Owners and players can only give so much. If we don't show up to support -- and show up en masse -- the league will crumble as those that came before.

And more than that because of where we are, here in Soccer City, USA, the bar is set pretty high. We will set the standard for the support of women's professional soccer in the United States.

Get ready.

Rose City Riveters

By Any Other Name
​

And here's the thing I wrote on my personal blog a day or two after what was then known as the Thorns Alliance first met in January [posted January 19, 2013]:

Consider this my coming out party.

No, still not gay.

I am a supporter of the Portland Thorns FC. This is a club that hasn't played a match yet, that doesn't even have a full roster, hasn't sold tickets. But I'm here. And some of my Timbers Army friends are here. And we're being joined by a few folks we've never seen in the North end on a Timbers match day.

And, as we are still in Timbers offseason antics, people are shrieking about it on the interwebs.

"You must let it grow organically!"

"Why not use the knowledge and infrastructure already in place!"

"Where is the 107ist?!"

Oh, bother.

See, here's the thing: I was pretty firmly planted on the "what's gonna happen is gonna happen" side of things until tonight. I went to the first planning meeting for the Thorns supporters group out of curiosity and my sentimental desire to be there from the beginning. Whatever it becomes, I'll want to be a part of it, but I was willing to let it "grow organically" as so many other folks are arguing it should.

Then I heard women speak with such passion about not just the Thorns, but about women's professional soccer and the influence it had on their lives as young women. I heard men speak of the responsibility we have as supporters of a team entering the third iteration of a pro women's league after the first two leagues folded.

And I changed my mind. We may not have time to grow as the Timbers Army did. And yes, I know there were times when no one was sure there'd be a team to support when the next season rolled around, but with the women's league? If history is any indication, I'd guess we have two, maybe three years at the very outset to build enough support for this club that will financially justify its continued existence. And in that time, supporters groups in other cities must do the same.

I've no idea what soccer support looks like in Rochester, but here, right now, it looks like a bunch of people yelling at each other on Twitter.

Everyone has an opinion. "Anything new is wrong. This new group is *awful* because they're trying to 'force' supporters culture. You don't want to support the Thorns or take part in the birth of the SG? Well, you might be a misogynist." Or not. Whatever.

Like I said, I was there because I wanted to be there from the beginning, to watch it come together. I wasn't there for the birth of the Timbers Army so I can't testify to what all went into the sausage-making then, but I'd guess that there were contentious times. I'd also guess that a lot of the folks shouting about the 'forced' nature of this new group weren't there at the beginning, either.

Again: whatever.

I met a 14-year old girl named Mo tonight. As far as I'm concerned, she and she alone is the founder of whatever this group becomes. She is our Nevets. You can all buy her beer in about seven years.

She is why we were there. She's a Timbers fan and was so excited by the prospect of a women's teamthat she designed a scarf for the Thorns, hoping there would be a supporters group that would wear it. She read us words she'd written that were heartfelt and beautiful. She sat quietly in the midst of a bunch of crazy yelling, arguing, swearing people, and she smiled.

She's the reason we're putting this thing together. She and every other young girl who is looking forward to seeing her favorite player take the pitch at Jeld-Wen.

So, you can mock and deride and bitch and moan and tell us we're doing it wrong if that's your thing. But I'm guessing Mo doesn't care and I'm going to try to follow her example.
​

(continued in next post ...)

 

(continued) ...

Eight months later:

 

I too haven't seen much in the way of old fashioned advertising, but I know the ticketing staff called through last year's Thorns season ticket holders and I'm guessing they also called through the Timbers season ticket holders that don't already have Thorns tickets as well as the Timbers wait listers. It think it's also possible they called through the U of Portland season ticket holders, as they and the Pilots have some kind of marketing cooperative arrangement.

I remember Paulson indicating at some point that with where it looked like season tickets were going, they are thinking 15,000 attendance per game.