by First in a series of guest posts by Tony Preston
After reading about DCFC and getting to know more about the fans I wanted to find a way to get involved. In my search for information on DCFC I found this blog and a little while later an idea formed. To get involved I could write a few pieces about my experience as someone who is new to attending the games and just now becoming a true fan of the team. I approached Andrew and he liked the idea so here is my first piece. Enjoy!
I am a new season ticket holder to for Detroit City F.C. I am also a sports nut. Soccer has always been my sport of choice, probably because it is the sport that I grew up playing. I also believe in picking a team and sticking with it and not just being a bandwagon fan. For me my teams are my hometown teams, the Red Wings, Tigers, Pistons and the Lions. I watch a ton of sports even when one of “my teams” is not playing. I will sometimes root for one team usually because I despise a player or coach on the opposing team or sometimes just hope it is an entertaining game. When one of “my teams” is on though, I am all in, which often results in me screaming at the TV.
Now that you have that background, here is why I am a new season ticket holder for DCFC. I remember hearing that the team was starting up and thinking “I’m glad Detroit is finally getting a soccer team.” At that time, I also thought Detroit getting an MLS team was long overdue and a fantastic idea. Now I’m hoping they skip over Detroit again, but that’s a story for another time. Back to DCFC, I followed the team for the last few years mainly through Facebook and just looking at the results every few weeks online. I wanted to actually go to a game, but my work schedule at the time did not allow it.
A few weeks ago I decided that since my work schedule now allowed for me to go to games I was going to make sure I made it out to at least a couple this summer. After looking over the schedule, talking with friends who had nothing but good things to say about DCFC, and my nature of being all in for “my teams” I decided to buy season tickets instead.
At the same time, due to my all in nature I was scouring the internet for anything I could find to learn more about DCFC, and also learned a little about the Northern Guard. After reading about the Northern Guard I was not sure if I should just sit on the side for regular fans or stand with the supporters, mainly because I did not want to feel out of place. I did not realize how involved the Northern Guard was until I posted a picture of my season tickets on my social media accounts. A couple days after posting the picture I noticed that Duke had retweeted the picture on Twitter and others from NGS had liked the picture. Soon, from just a few interactions on Twitter, I could see how tight knit of a group it was and how much they loved DCFC. Everyone was also very welcoming and made me want to be a part of it. Now I am anxious for the season to start so that I can go watch the game I love and stand with the Northern Guard to root for DCFC. Also any advice for a new fan is greatly appreciated.
