



Nashville SC Supporters Section Named The Backline

Nashville SC supporters section has been named The Backline. With a final home USL match at Nissan Stadium tonight, the newly formed The Backline Supporters Collective was officially launched. While not all MLS teams specifically name the supporter’s section many do (LAFC is called 3252, Kansas City The Cauldron, Cincinnati The Bailey while Minnesota United FC is known as Wonderwall). According to the website,

“The Backline Supporters Collective is a group of Nashville’s loudest and proudest fans working together to provide the preeminent gameday environment in Major League Soccer. Made up of members from all supporters groups, and fans from all walks of life, The Backline comes together each gameday to coordinate a social and inclusive pre-game atmosphere for all supporters, orchestrate a rowdy and raucous environment in the supporters’ end of the stadium to propel Nashville SC to victory, and facilitate travel to away matches to take our show on the road. If this is something that resonates with you, join us in The Backline.”

The Backline

Why Backline? Well, it certainly ties into the Music City theme. The term backline is used in popular music and sound reinforcement system contexts to refer to audio amplification equipment and speaker enclosures that are placed behind the band or the rhythm section on stage. That fits what a good supporters section does. They aren’t out front. That’s the players. But the 12th man backs up the team and provides the sound of the stadium. Five supporter’s groups (Eastern Front, Heaters, Music City Supporters, The Roadies and The Assembly) came together on this which is also a bit unique. These groups, along with non-affiliated independent members and any new SGs will all co-exist in the Backline. This section will have tifo, drums, singing and chanting, flag waving and smoke bombs.

For matches at Nissan Stadium the next two years, the drummers will be together in a middle pit. The capos will have special stands to lead the chants and singing during the game. For those new to soccer culture, this endzone section behind the goal creates the sound and atmosphere in the stadium. Most people in the Backline will stand the entire match (especially in the front rows) so if that is an issue you’ll want to sit elsewhere or find a spot in the back or on the sides. The highlight for many matches will be tifo.

Tifo

What is tifo? The wiki definition is,

“Tifo [ˈtiːfo] is the Italian word for the phenomenon of supporting a sport team. In some countries (but not in Italy) it is mostly used as a name for any choreography displayed by fans in the stands of an arena or stadium in connection with a sport event, mostly as part of an association football match.”

Below are two videos. The first is an all time favorite MLS tifo “Legends Never Sleep” by Timbers Army. The second is a collection of the best from 2017. Can The Backline become one of the better supporters sections in MLS? Only time will tell, but joining forces and sticking with the music theme seems a logical step.

For the record, I am one of the founders of Music City Supporters.