TOW recently talked with Bryan James, the President of “Sons of Ben“, the supporter’s group for the Philadelphia Union, entering MLS next year. Bryan shares his own story, and the curious tale of starting a supporter’s group without a team, and the journey to becoming the newest MLS club.
How I found your blog…
It all started during the fall of 1997, I was 12 and I was playing multiple sports and extremely happy after the epic ass whooping that was Clinton v Dole. I was playing for my undefeated AYSO team the “Orange Crush” (a nickname that I still feel the 2004-2005 Illinois basketball team stole from me) and we got the inside news that the city of Chicago was on the verge of getting its own MLS team. My team talked about how we couldn’t wait to go to the games and support a team that should have been an original member.
She is the creator of the iconic Charlie Davies #9 banner that was so memorable at the recent USA-Costa Rica World Cup Qualifier at RFK. She is responsible for many of the high quality banners you’ve seen at USA and New England Revolution matches.
Prairie Rose Clayton, a huge USA and New England Revolution fan and artist, recently spoke with TOW to share more about her love of the sport, her support of the USA, and how she began creating her unique banners culminating in her CD9 tribute.
As you may have noticed recently, we’ve started a couple of series’ on the site. Soccer in America takes a photographic look at well…Soccer in America and now “Conversations” focuses on people that are helping to shape our sport. One of the things that we really focus on here is the culture side of the sport, and it is the fans that drive the culture. With that in mind, we are starting another series that lets fans tell their stories of their relationships with the sport, and how soccer plays a major part in their lives.
The first story in this series will be posted shortly, and as always, we need your involvement to make this work. If you feel like sharing your story and participating in this, email your story and any images that you want to include to:
ben [at] theoriginalwinger [dot] com
Picture courtesy Robert Wilson
