As the Birmingham Legion FC soccer team continues to establish itself in the Magic City community, its game-day traditions have emerged as an integral part of the fan experience.

Two of those traditions are intrinsically linked to Birmingham’s history in the steel industry and its rich sports heritage.

The traditions -- the blowing of a factory whistle during important game moments and the celebrating at a coal forge whenever a goal is scored -- have been designed to build community among fans while also creating a unique experience in the United Soccer League.

Legion FC Executive Vice President Doug Hicks said the team’s overall branding and game-day activities have been intentional.

“We want to be authentic to who we represent,” Hicks said. “We want to do things around the stadium that relate to the fans. We feel like we’re creating something that’s real.”

Fans entering the gates can hear the blowing of the factory whistle -- representing the Birmingham workers of the past -- and it’s also used when the two teams come onto the field, when a Legion FC goal is scored. and again at the end of the match.

“It represents that it’s time to get to work and then to celebrate,” Hicks said.

Birmingham blacksmith Erick Forsyth mans the coal forge at every Birmingham match and said that he senses the fans’ growing excitement at the traditions.

“It’s really nice to have a tradition like this,” he said. “It’s exciting enough when the team scores a goal, but this makes it even more exciting. I’ve had fans gather around, wanting to know what we’re doing.”

A coal and coke forge sits on site under the scoreboard during each game, during which Forsyth and his assistants keep the forge going and at the right temperature. When a goal is scored, an ingot (a block of steel forged by Forsyth) is branded with a hammer to commemorate the score.

“We’ve gone with what they wanted us to do, but have also added to it,” Forsyth said. “We added a little fireworks show, and now fans know to look down at us when a goal is scored.”

Future plans, Hicks said, involve creating an area at the stadium where the ingots will be stored and viewed by fans.

Forsyth said fans often come up to him before the match and ask, ‘Are we gonna hammer down tonight?’ And I say, ‘Absolutely.’”

The forge and hammer are part of Legion FC’s brand, colors, logo and merchandise, and build upon Birmingham’s steel history and the Birmingham Hammers soccer team, the developmental team that paved the way for the USL franchise. The team’s colors are “molten gold” and “attack black” and the logo features a hammer and anvil.

The chant “Hammer down!” is repeated at the beginning of matches and throughout the competition.

The team’s name comes from Legion Field, the “Football Capital of the South” that hosted the Iron Bowl for nearly 50 years and the first SEC Championship Game.

“We wanted something to relate to iron and we worked with the people at Sloss to see how we could do that,” HIcks said.

“Erick and his assistants have taken ownership of what they’re doing, and we couldn’t be happier to work with Sloss,” he added.

Forsyth, who specializes in blacksmith and metal work at the Three Graces Stadio near Pepper Place in Birmingham, also works in conjunction with Sloss Furnaces, the city’s National Historic Landmark that served as an iron-producing blast furnace from the late 19th Century until the early 1970s.

He is known internationally for his iron work and will be competing in the upcoming World Forging Championship in Italy.

“I’ll be wearing my Legion stuff,” he said.

Forsyth is representative of many of the new soccer fans in Birmingham who have quickly taken interest in the new professional squad.

An amateur boxer and a lifelong athlete who played every sport in school “other than soccer,” Forsyth said he’s quickly learned to love the sport.

“After doing this, I’ve become a big soccer fan,” he said. “I tend to think it has got to be the best tradition in the USL.”