Saturday night described the Orlando City Soccer Club perfectly. First, the Sunshine State was its normal, rainy self. Next, Orlando City out played its opponent for about 80 minutes, but tied the game. There was also the fact that club president Phil Rawlins came into the stands to talk to the Orlando City faithful and thank them for their support. But if you had to take just one part of Saturday night that perfectly describes the club, it was the fans.

At a scheduled kickoff of 7:30, the match did not end until after midnight. In total, the game lasted for almost five hours, with a steady rainfall for most of the playtime. Each rain delay saw fans leave the Citrus Bowl, not wanting to stay in the weather, with a fear of getting sick. Even so, at the first start of the match most of the lower deck was filled, and the Orlando City faithful came out roaring, excited to see their team in action. When the game started without the singing of the national anthem, the entire stadium erupted in voices of their own, showing their American pride. The Star Spangled Banner was sung by tens of thousands of fans Saturday night, as Kaka and Co. got the game started.

After just 18 minutes there was another huge lightning strike, followed by the groans of everyone in the Citrus Bowl, as they all knew what that meant. Sure enough, moments later the forth official called the center referee, Baldomero Toledo, over and the game went into yet another rain delay. For the next two hours, there would be a mixture of fans leaving the Citrus Bowl and waiting idly by for the game to restart. When the players were finally called back onto the field, the supporters filled the stands. The true supporters. And there were thousands of them. In the pouring rain, came supporter after supporter, who were thrilled to get the game going, and dancing and singing in the rain.

One of the most cliche statements to say in sports is, “My team has the best fans.” Every team, across every sport, claims that they have the best fans, but how do you prove it? I think that Saturday night proved, not just why Orlando City has the best fans, but it showed the world why there is a professional soccer team in Central Florida in the first place. The Soccer Capital of the South is a big name to live up to, but after sticking by your team for over five hours, most probably more as they were tailgating beforehand, in pouring rain and thunderstorms, the name is well deserved.

The game itself did not go how Orlando City had hoped for. After a NYCFC and Montreal loss, a win was a must to improve Orlando City’s playoff hopes. Orlando City outplayed Chicago for almost the entire game, but three wide open misses and a post stood between Orlando City and 3 points. After the game head coach Adrian Heath had this to say about the fantastic support his team received:

“I thought our fans were incredible again. I imagine they’re all as wet as I’ve been this evening. It was an incredible show for our supporters and as I always say, they never cease to amaze me and their support was absolutely magnificent again this evening.”

But what is it that makes a few thousand fans go shirtless, singing and dancing in and around the stadium, wait hours and hours on end, in the pouring rain, just to see a few grown men kick a ball around? The answer to this question lays in what the ownership has done.

The Orlando area has tried to have many professional teams throughout the years, and it has always been the same: if the team is winning, the fans are great, but when things go bad the fans slowly dissipate. Orlando City is different though. To put it nicely, this has not had the best of seasons. With preseason expectations of making the playoffs, qualifying for the Champions League, and Kaka and Kevin Molino winning individual awards, there was no surprise when the Citrus Bowl sold out for the season opener. But when Molino got injured, losing in the US Open Cup, Kaka not playing up to par, and more red cards than games won, it would be expected that the fans slowly stop supporting their team. Saturday night, the Orlando City faithful proved that they will stick by their team until the end.

I think one of the main reason why this is, is because of the people that built this club. When Rawlins brought a team to Orlando he had a goal in mind: go to MLS. And he did just that. But unlike NYCFC, the Orlando City front office did not buy their way into the league. Sure, Kaka is the highest paid player in MLS history, but it is also Kaka; someone who fits the team perfectly, a leader on and off the field, someone who cares about the fans and the club. Phil Rawlins and Flávio da Silva brought in Kaka, because he wants to win here. Yes, David Villa was brought into NYCFC for the same reason, but it seems that the other two DPs on their team are here to retire.

It is more than just the players, though, because this is a fans’ team. Orlando City is not Kaka’s team, not Heath’s team, not even Rawlins’ or da Silva’s team, although, yes, technically da Silva does own them. It is the 30,000-plus fans that come to the Citrus Bowl each and every week who make this team. It is the 124,000 Twitter, 115,000 Instagram, and 440,000 FaceBook followers’ team. The team is that of the Ruckus, Iron Lion Firm, and everyone in the South end zone.

Looking back on it, it started with players like Jamie Watson, Dennis Chin, and Kevin Molino. With their loyalty to the club and supporters, and amazing play in the USL Pro, Orlando City built its fan base. I remember waiting after the game to go onto the field, meet the players, and get autographs and pictures with the players. I remember after he scored goals Jamie Watson went into the stands and celebrated with the fans, on occasion. Then the Dom Dwyer era began (can a few months be called an era?), and a whole new level of fans came. With a combination of breaking records and his hard working, down-to-Earth personality, Dwyer quickly became a fan favorite and brought record breaking crowds to the Citrus Bowl. After Dwyer, was probably the only player that could make the Sporting KC forward back page news: Ricardo Kaka. Kaka was amazed at the hundreds of fans that came to greet him at the airport, and said he never saw anything like it before. It seems like every move that Rawlins and his staff did made the fans feel more and more at home. And even simple strategies such as Magnet Monday have blown up in favor of the new expansion team.

What Phil Rawlins and the rest of the Orlando City front office has been able to do is to make the Citrus Bowl a home to tens of thousands of fans. They make each and every supporter feel like they are an important, vital part of the teams’ success. This is something that should not be taken for granted, and most professional teams are not this way. Most professional sports teams only care about one thing: winning. For our team, winning is second to the fans experience. Orlando City has been built from the bottom up, with the fans in mind. The Citrus Bowl is not The House that Dom built, nor is it the House that Kaka Built. Orlando City is the Club that the Ruckus, ILF, and every other support built.