As I started to ask in another thread... Do they really even exist anymore? It seems like SA is no more than just a name for the US section at matches these day. The local supporters clubs take care of most everything, there is no scarves or merchandise anymore, and inquiries don't seem to get responded too anymore. I'd like a replacement scarf and buy my brother his first. All they seem to be good for is buying tickets through which isn't anything special, the supporters clubs can arrange the same. Just seems to be a non-presence these days.
i'm glad i didn't respond in that (was about to hit submit, but got sidetracked) i'd essentially concur that you are correct but that's not a bad thing... i wholeheartedly believe that the local supporters should run the show... it's their venue, they will be the largest group in the section, they work together all the time however, i'm not against sam's army making a bigger presence... i know i'd love to get a scarf (had checks returned in the past for them) but still, the nod should be given to the locals to run the in game support... it's nice that they still get up info for the games... that's great, as i imagine a lot of people do look there for it
Then do we stop refering to the supporter's groups as Sam's Army? I remember at the Chicago game against Poland, there was almost no Sam's Army presence at all. Yet all the hard work Section 8 did setting up and eventually cheering our lungs out at the game was credited as another strong showing from Sam's Army. I am not, nor will I ever be a member of Sam's Army, so those statements did bug me a little. Plus, I think if the support was recognized as representing the local supporter's groups, it would make for more of a friendly competition between cities to see who can put on the best show.
I don't know, an arguement can be made for it I guess. Otherwise I can also see it as Sam's Army is the name of the section(s) of US supporters and clubs, not necessarily a supporters club itself. I like the name. Unless of course Mark wants to increase the involvement of SA.
I think its cool that the local supporters clubs kinda take over the local home games, but sams army would seem important for the away games, especialy germany. I really hope sams army can pack a bunch of crazy fans for the games in germany, i know i will be there.
you already know the answer to that being a fire fan 90% of the time on the tv or in the newspapers... we (section 8) are referred to as the barnburners... you know that ain't true, i know that ain't true... but that's how it goes and personally, i don't think it really matters a whole hell of a lot we go out there and do our thing, that's what we love to do... who cares who the ******** gets the credit??? i sure as hell don't if you're getting caught up in getting credit from media personalities... you need to quit what you're doing... you're out there because you love it and because you are trying to do what you can for your team... screw the media
Although the Sam's Army apparel page has been down for over a year now, I was able to order the scarf through the direct producer. Here is the info. in case anyone wants to order: > There are two styles available: > > [1] Generic style with the bottom line reading USA USA USA. ($25) > > [2] Personalized style with the above line personalized to your request with a maximum of 13 characters (including spaces). ($30) > > Priority mail shipping on either scarf is $4.00. > Payment has to be in the form of money order or cashier's check. It takes about 6 weeks to ship.
I know. I've made this(your) same exact statement regarding the Section 8 - Barnburner thing several times. Regarding that, I don't really care about getting credit from the media because I don't need validation from them. The national team thing only bugs me because... well... I'm not a huge fan of Sam's Army. It just bugs me that, after spending several hours setting up place cards and other tifo before the game, credit for said tifo was given to an organization that A) had no part in it, and B) I'm not a big fan of. That said, I really do think that a healthy, fun level of competition between supporter's groups would be great for the game. It would bring a little more character from the host city into the national team match up. Cities would undoubtedly develop their own styles of support, and would strive to be better in order to one up each other. That's just how I feel anyway. Sam's Army should only be the name used when speaking of traveling US supporters.
and trust me... we already do have competition between places for who can do the best u.s. job but it will probably always be called sam's army... always i see no reason why anyone would bother to call it section 8 during a national game (hell, even barnburners)... they might mention us, but they would call the group sam's army and that's the way it should be... sam's army is the exact same thing section 8 is right now... some term used for the support at a soccer game (fire and u.s. respectively) does sam's army comprise the entire sam's army section???? or even close to it??? of course not does section 8 comprise the entire section 8 section??? everyone in section 8 is something else... a barnburner, ultra, pyro, arsonist, mdsc, not associated with a supporter's group... this should be insanely simple for a fire fan that resides in section 8 during fire games to understand... and i don't mean that in a bad way... just you know it, quit fighting it screw the whole notion you have of people pumping you up with this and that about the sam's army elders and deal with the fact that sam's army is to national games as section 8 is to fire games nothing else makes any sense... screw supporter's groups it's merging everything together and i do have a serious question.... who the ******** do you expect to do the set-up for games??? people traveling from all over the country... or people do this all the time at the stadium in question obviously the answer is the locals the biggest problem out there right now is that a decent amount of people don't understand that there really isn't a sam's army group... sam's army is just a supporter's section at a u.s. national team game
I think Jim got it with that last post. Local supporters group does most of the planning in regards to parties, tailgates, hotels, ticketing, how to get flags/banners/drums into the section, etc. They know the city where the game is played, the stadium and all that. So it makes sense that they're the ones in charge of all that. Sam's Army isn't a "real" supporter's group, but rather the combination of everyone in the section. Like Chicago, you have bb/ultras/mdsc/independents/pyro/arsonist/whoever else. When those groups combine, then you have section 8. Is there actually a supporter's group called Section 8? No. It's the combination of all the groups. For USA games, when all the individual people, or "brigades" as they're sometimes called combine, then you have sam's army. So I suppose.. does SA still exist? I don't really think there's a wrong answer.
I am very grateful for Sam's Army. The concept of Sam's Army was what made section 137 the loudest place in the stadium on Wed night and the coolest place to be. I don't know who brought the giant American Flag, but someone DID bring it! The loudest drummers were both isolated fans. The snare drummer and his wife were from Tennessee. I brought my bass drum from the Illinois side of St. Louis. Nobody told us to do that. But I read on Sam's Army website to go the middle of the section and lead songs so that's what I did. I thought it was neat that the couple from TN came right up and got next to me and we sang and drummed like we had done it a hundred times before. It makes me a little sad to hear that some people actually hate the concept of the USMNT fans being called Sam's army. I was so grateful for the ability to log onto a website and not only order tickets, but know that I would among the true fans. When I watched the game again on Tivo, I was so proud when the Rob Stone mentioned Sam's Army. When I go to a Fire game, I'm proud to be in Section 8. When I go to the big show in Germany, I will be proud to be in Sam's Army. I just hope they let me bring my bass drum in!
We are all Sam's Army, aren't we? Think of Sam's Army as (1) an identity and (2) a brand-name (especially important for the media). Sam's Army used to have both a membership scheme and a 'zine, but both have really been superceded by what can be done on the internet. It is important to keep the Sam's Army identity alive, because it has been built over ten years; it's too valuable to lose. If fan groups at local USNT venues want to take on the Sam's Army banner and host events in connection with matches, that's great. Maybe we should think of Sam's Army as a network of activist fans. But apart from having a source for pins, t-shirts and scarves, it doesn't need much in the way of an institutional presence. More important is that each and every one of us built a tradition of U.S. national team support by going to the matches, participating, singing, and bringing others. We are all Sam's Army, aren't we?
This is how I've always looked at it. When the United States play, we all unite. We call ourselves Sam's Army for a match. I drummed at the USMNT match against Jamaica. I'm the leader for a supporters club called Legion 04. We had our banner over in 138, I expected to see a Sam's Army banner in the middle. This is a time when supporters clubs fly their banners flanking Sam's Army. We didn't exist on Wednesday, on Wednesday, Legion 04 was part of Sam's Army. Supporters clubs and devout fans comprise Sam's Army. We must keep the name, because it gives those like that one man from St. Louis someone a group to identify with. We all mold into one. I'm in Columbus and I was chatting with a member of Chicago Ultras. Any other day it's in your face trash talk, but not on this night. We're both there with one common goal, to support our nation. It's not a matter of crediblity as some people have talked about. Next time the USMNT plays in Columbus and I help set up, I don't give a crap about the credit. I can say, "Yeah, Legion 04 set up for Sam's Army." WE ARE SAM'S ARMY!!! Barra Brava is Sam's Army, La Norte is Sam's Army, V-Army is Sam's Army, LA Riot Squad is Sam's Army. We are all Sam's Army.
erm... Barra Brava is Barra Brava, whether DC or Nats play. We just put american flag over DC crest on our banner. I saw something funny the other day, there was a thread on my Croatian group's board about nicknames of national teams (like Spain - Furia, Germany - Elf, Italy - Azzuri etc) and one of our boys posting from San Jose said american national team's nickname is Sam's Army or Screaming Eagles
I was told by an extremely reliable source, one involved at one point with Sam's Army, that many among the original directorate, including my source, have little or nothing to do with Sam's Army anymore. According to my guy, there was more to it than just fatigue, burn out and life's inevitable distractions. Many, he said, were disgusted that Sam's Army became co-opted by a certain element. At that point, someone spotted me and implored me to go fetch a beer and a burger and our conversation wrapped up before he could elaborate. I could speculate but I prefer not to. As long as Sam's Army is a registered trademark, I'm uncomfortable with using it as the umbrella term for the endzone rowdies/organized supporters.
Well, San Jose fans are idiots. Also, it's interesting that we are having this discussion as Spain has recently come under fire for their rascist fans at the England game. The game took place at the Bernabeu, and the key Spanish supporter's in question are members of the Ultra Sur, a Real Madrid supporter's group. The Ultra Sur are notorious for their rascist views and hateful cheers. I don't really know where to take that, but if you look in british news papers, you'll see stories being written about the Ultra Sur regarding the Rascist abuse. Now, I'm not saying that any MLS fans would do something like that, but if Sam's Army in New York did something bad, "Sam's Army" everywhere else would get equal credit. Putting that last part aside, I do think that it is relavent to our discussion regarding local supporters representing a "Sam's Army", and vice versa.
he's not SJ fan, he's BBB that lives in SJ (we're spread all over world, just like Legia has Polish fans in Chicago etc ) Spain needs to get few games behind closed door so that they start policing themselves in stands, if that was an eastern European country they'd already be penalized in 78 different ways.
La Barra Brava is NOT Sam's Army. La Barra is La Barra no matter who is playing, and thats just the way it is.
I have always assumed that the US' nickname is the Yanks, though I have heard them refered to as the Eagles on FSW by the people in Canada (aka the Canucks).