Okay so this time was suggested and it's looking good for people so far. Saturday, January 7 @ 7PM at Richmond Arms. Richmond Arms is located at 5920 Richmond Ave. Their website is here and a map here I guess we'll do a sort of roll call to get an idea of how many will be there.
Good Luck to you guys! Based on observations of watching (and being involved in) supporters groups, you will have a blast, make a lot of new friends, and learn quite a bit about group dynamics. Some things you will probably want to discuss: Where to sit/stand in stadium? Where to tailgate? What is the purpose of your supporters group? (drink? hang out? sing? chant? just make noise? formal group or informal?) How will people know you are a supporter? (by where you sit? what you wear? how you behave?) How will your group be organized? (membership? just whoever shows? only BS posters? dues? adults only? anyone? ) How will you communicate? (soccer boards? emails? create own website? phone calls?) How will you get the word out to potential new members? (just let it happen? word-of-mouth? internet? flyers? get a newspaper article? radio? space on team's website? hook up with local college kids?) Roadtrips? Coming up to Dallas for Feb 19 US friendly? Two games at FC Dallas? World Cup in June? Other games? What will your group be called? Watching Parties? Game day props? Banners? Signs? Blow-up dolls? Secret Handshakes and Passwords are optional
Thanks for the map and location. For those of you that haven't been, it's just east of Fountainview on the north side of Richmond. It sit's right next to a Wendy's, and there's plenty of parking in the back. I'll fire on the old red USMNT jersey. Forecast looks nice for sitting outside, unless there's going to be some good soccer on the tele.
I'll be there. 7 PM sounds early enough to avoid the big Saturday night crowds. Looking forward to it...
Richmond Arms pic - they have a nice patio in front, maybe we can gather there if the weather's nice and there's still space:
well damnitalltohellandback! Two years after I move from Dallas to Houston, Dallas gets the Dallas Burn...gutted One year after I move from Houston to Austin, Houston gets a team...I give up! But I'll be with ya'll in spirit!! PS. Richmond Arms is a great place to have a supporter's meeting if not be the official bar of said supporter's group. Now maybe they can replace a few(preferrably ALL) of their dirty Liverpool jerseys with some Houston ones!
Just some thoughts based on what I have seen experienced with other soccer and non-soccer groups. My experience has been that email groups work best only to organize and keep a club's planning private. Keep the trolls away and concentrate on the nuts-and-bolts of a tailgate, fund raising, etc. BigSoccer.com is the best place I have seen to gather around chit-chat and fan support for the team. As far as web page, start simple. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid. You can probably start with geocities.com since they have a free web hosting and a very simple tool kit for setting up a web page. Keep at the beginning with a small of pages, maybe just start with one web page with the basic information: contact info, meeting times, etc. If funds start coming, you can probably upgrade it to a web page with your own unique url and the bells and whistles you want. Keep up the great work. Hopefully, this rivalry can get as good as a Tigres-Monterrey or Chivas-America rivalry.
Website: Let me know if you want to go a very flexible route in paying $2.99 for a year of domain name service (DNS), and $12 for a year of webhosting that offers a multitude of services - including Wiki, which allows 'open source' additions to 'agreed upon' contributors (Houston fans) to the cause. This will include Bulletin Board functionality and email list service as well. I can ask Buzz if we can use his Matchnight graphics for this proposed website in cooperation for mutual promotion.
Thanks for the ideas about the website. Someone a lot more computer literate than me will have to get back to you about hosting otions and stuff. I have always hated website design and have no clue about any of it. Celt! I'm so glad to here you are coming! I was worried when you weren't around the boards much lately.
I follow mostly South American futbol, but ever since I heard Houston was getting a MLS team I've been getting excited about the whole thing. I'd love to chant for a local team on a constant basis. The fact that I go to UofH makes things easier too! I could just walk from the Arch building to the stadium every Saturday (if that's when MLS games are played). I'll try to make it on Saturday if possible. Either way, I think I'll keep posting in these forums to keep myself informed. ^_^
word about this meeting has also been posted on the Chron.com (Houston Chronicle) message boards: http://forums.chron.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=hc-soccer
Not a clue...but the number of people who vote for the tagline should give some indication. I haven't been around BS long but I will say that I've noticed a lot more Houston supporters roaming around in the last week or so. That's awesome that the Chron forum has info on the meeting Saturday. Looking forward to it.
I've also noticed increased activity, especially from other H-town BS newbies; hopefully a good number of non-BS members see the post on chron.com about the supporter's group.
Is there one big Houston adult rec league organization, or is it broken into smaller groups by area? If its one big one, you can have them send out an email to their captains or something to publicize this. Getting in with the local adult soccer groups is a good way to attract like minded folk to the cause......people who might now follow the ins and outs of the pro game, but who understand the game. Also, you can do the same with any big youth orgs out there.....for the coaches and the parents.
Houston Football Association has 80 teams. I'm on the board and have forwarded this info to our league administrator. With approval by the rest of the board, we'll get it on the website (www.hfasoccer.com) and possibly e-mail the managers.
Oh not to fear amiga mia! I and a few other Houston supporters remember when the old Hurricanes had a supporters section in the stands. We had just a few die hards but I remember those nights like they were yesterday. We had trumpets, confetti, flags and as close to replica jerseys as we could find...usally a Boca top or Tigres top There is no way that I am going to miss this opportunity! All of us need to remain focused on a common goal of having a very well supported Team Houston and having the players feel the pressure of supplying the Alegria for us each and every weekend! I already have a few chants and songs that we used to use back in the day. I would want to keep at least one old Hurricanes song alive.