Story of the Club

First Obsession: The Game

Like many Americans under the age of forty, I once played youth soccer. With the youngest teams, “Everyone Gets a Trophy!” and the recent unearthing of mine revealed that I competed at the U-7 level. My playing career culminated right around the time of the USA-hosted 1994 World Cup, and I have a vague memory of watching the Round-of-16 matchup between the US and Brazil in which the Americans put forth a gritty, hardworking effort only to fall short 1-0.

Shortly after that, I moved on to watching and playing other sports and my interest in soccer fell off the face of the earth. I never belittled or denigrated the game the way some people feel the need to (I’m sure everyone knows or has met a “soccer-hater”), I just didn’t pay it any attention. It wasn’t until I was in college that I happened to stumble upon the game again.

Mainly out of curiosity, I watched parts of all three USMNT matches at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Although the results were abysmal, my interest was piqued enough to watch some of the non-US matches and I even sat through the entirety of the tense but somewhat drab final (the Zidane headbutt game). Almost immediately thereafter, I went out and bought the latest edition of FIFA and began to learn more about the players, teams, leagues, and minutiae – it took me a while to understand aggregate scoring and the away goal rule. I’ve loved the game ever since, with high-points being the USMNT’s run in the 2009 Confederations Cup, Landon Donovan’s goal against Algeria, the USWNT’s epic comeback against Brazil in the 2011 World Cup, and attending my first live match – USA vs. Canada at Ford Field in 2011.

You may notice a theme here – all references to country and none to club. This is simply due to the fact that up until 2012, I had no club.

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Second Obsession: The Club

Being born and raised in Metro-Detroit, I found it impossible to just “adopt” an MLS team. I couldn’t bring myself to support the three that were geographically closest – Columbus (being a life-long Michigan Wolverines fan has disqualified me from ever being able to stomach any team from Ohio), Chicago (Chicago’s sports teams are historic rivals of their counterparts from Detroit), and Toronto (see Chicago + foreign country), and latching on to any of the more aesthetic or well-supported teams – L.A., Seattle, Portland seemed too “bandwagony.” On top of that, the foreign teams that I had gravitated to – Everton, Barcelona, A.C. Milan – were on another continent an ocean away and it was impossible for me to ever become connected to them in any meaningful way.

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“Not only was it [Detroit City Futbol League] a way to meet each other through the league, but the success of that league really made us think, ‘Hey, there is an underserviced market for soccer in this region.'” – Detroit City FC co-owner Sean Mann

“It will work because there’s a market for it.” – Detroit City FC co-owner Ben Steffans

I can’t find the video that contains the second quote, but I can repeat it word-for-word because it is burned into my memory – I remember it because I am that market. Playing FIFA and watching a half-dozen USMNT games a year wasn’t enough for me – I was starving for a club.

I first heard about DCFC on a Sunday afternoon in March or April 2012. My brother had found out about the club online and we both purchased season tickets that day. $30 for eight games was a great deal, but I was just as excited to get such a beautiful scarf.

I wasn’t at all dissuaded to find out that City would be playing three levels below MLS, or even that at that moment they only had three players. I was sold by the incredible job that the owners had done with the branding and marketing of the club.

In short:

1 – The name: Detroit City Football Club – simple and professional. The use of the word “football” instead of “soccer” should not be ignored. FC is in the names of some of the greatest clubs around the world (FC Barcelona, Manchester United FC, FC Bayern Munich), and Detroit City Soccer Club would’ve sounded amateurish and decidedly minor-league

2 – The nickname: Le Rouge – French for “The Red” and an homage to Detroit’s history (founded as a French fort in 1701), the potential pitfall of a cheesy mascot (Kickers, Wizards, Strikers) was thankfully avoided.

3 – The crest

Incorporates the iconic Spirit of Detroit statue and stays away from the dreaded cartoonish soccer ball that is far too prevalent among American clubs (see San Jose Earthquakes).

4 – Playing in the city – The significance of this cannot be overstated and will be discussed at greater length in an upcoming piece. Suffice it to say that it would be incredibly hypocritical to call yourself “Detroit City” and not actually play in the city of Detroit.

5 – Local sponsors – Instead of trying to find one big sponsor to slap across the team’s shirts, the ownership group teamed-up with a number of local businesses and had each one sponsor a player. This kept the team from having a faceless, ridicule-inducing corporate logo (a la Erie Admirals + Burger King) and gave exposure to Detroit-based restaurants, bars, shops, and services.

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With all this, I was still a little hesitant. A little Wikipedia-ing turned up the fact that Detroit had had a successful NPSL team in the recent past – Detroit Arsenal – which had won the championship in 2005 but folded after 2006.

My thinking at the time wasn’t “I finally have a club!” It was “I finally have a club and I really hope it doesn’t flop after a year or two but it looks like these owners know what they’re doing so let’s see where this goes.”

Wednesday July 17^th, 2013 – Detroit City FC 2, Windsor 0

Among the many tired sports clichés is one that goes something like this: “We play for the fans, we wouldn’t be here without them.” At the highest levels of American sports, this is largely untrue. Multi-billion dollar television deals, revenue-sharing and a bevy of corporate sponsorships ensure that many franchises turn a profit or at least break even no matter how many people actually show up to watch them play. The worst of the worst owners may even intentionally put forth mediocre teams season after season, knowing that for them, fan support is largely irrelevant.

When it comes to soccer in America, the reality is quite different. Supporters’ groups are generally fond of reminding their ownership, the league, and pretty much anyone else who will listen that, “Soccer Without Supporters is Nothing!” I always thought this was a bit melodramatic until my first-hand experience this week.

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In response to a plastic bottle-throwing incident at a match three days earlier, the supporters of Detroit City FC were informed that (at the behest of the NPSL) representatives of Detroit Public Schools would be at Cass Tech to monitor us and that any vulgar language or other misbehavior would result in the club losing access to the stadium next season.

Due to this disproportionate crackdown, the march to the stadium was held in silence, the usual chants and songs were replaced by nursery rhymes and sarcasm (“generic sports chant clap-clap clap-clap-clap”), and a 10 minute period of silence was held.

Hearing the people who live along the route of the march to the stadium (“We wanna hear you sing we don’t give a damn!”), the kids in the stands (“Why aren’t they singing?,” “Where’s the smoke?), and even the captain of the team (“Get back over where you belong”), I realized what an integral part of the club that its supporters have become in such a short time. I’m not so pompous to say that the club would be nothing without us, but it certainly wouldn’t be as popular and successful.

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City won the match, but the story of the day was the club itself. In less than two years, Detroit City FC has gone from an idea in the heads of five men to a club that is close to outgrowing its fourth-division crib.

Since the offseason is long, cold, and dark – as of today there are 9 months and change until the next match – there is plenty of time to retrace City’s steps over the past 20 months and maybe even speculate a bit about the future.

If nothing else, it will at least be a way to pass the time…