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One of the things that Adam and I have always believed in is the development of supporter culture in Edmonton. I have looked at the landscape in Edmonton, and I think there’s absolutely every opportunity for Edmonton to have a passionate fan base for soccer in the city. One only needs to look at the most recent run by the Edmonton Oilers to see how passionate Edmontonians can get about their sports. So why hasn’t the needle moved in 8 years for supporters with FCEd?

First off, it does need to be stated that the precious demographic that makes up the majority of supporter groups around Canada and the USA (18-35) hasn’t been a priority for FC Edmonton. The Faths have made it very clear that their target audience is the “Family Crowd” (the 30-50 range with kids). More recently, the target seems to have shifted more towards minor soccer teams and attracting larger groups (a good thing in my opinion, but thats a post for a different day). So, yes, this focus means that the crowd of people who might want to take part in supporter culture is secondary for FCEd right now.

However, this doesn’t let the supporters off the hook in terms of growth and recruitment.

Lets start with a small summary of what groups there currently are. Most recently the creation of the “River City Elite” has joined the supporter section. These are primarily a group of guys who hang out at the Pint, play soccer together, and have run a bus to FCEd games for about 3 seasons now. Loosely organized, they’ll invite anyone and everyone to take their bus (costing $20 I believe, which includes a beer, ticket to the game and the ride) from the Pint and promote as such via their social media. Typically they stand on the left side of the supporter stands in the south end of Clarke. There is no official number of members to this group, as its more a “show up and join in”, but I think it would be safe to say that the group will consist of anywhere from 10-40 people depending on the game.

The other group is the “Edmonton Supporters Group”. This group has been around since 2010. As I’ve talked about in a previous post, this is the group that both Adam and I joined up with and eventually separated from. In the start, the slogan of the ESG was “If you think you are ESG, then you are ESG”. The group has moved towards more of a structured organization in the past several years, and it is sometimes unclear if there is two types of tiers for membership. On their website the ESG repeats the above slogan, but states that in order to continue to continue to provide items like scarves, they have implemented a paid member program (in 2017, this paid membership meant that members would receive a ESG branded toque, 10% discount on other ESG merchandise, as well as 10% off at a local bar as well as a local restaurant). This program costs $21/year for local members (it is $26 for members within Canada, and $36 for international members). For the purpose of this article, it is also worth noting that the ESG has adapted a leadership structure, which includes a President (Currently Markus Gluecks), Vice President (Currently Terry Hunt), Secretary (Currently Garrett McPhee), Treasurer (Currently David Cholewa) and Director at Large (Currently Dallas Walker). In my research for this paragraph, I was unable to find any minutes from the 2017 General Meeting posted on the ESG website (Edmontonsoccerfans.com and you have to dig through several pages of posts on the forums to find the leadership team). Membership is not made public, but judging by game-day, numbers would range from about 4-20 regular attendees.

Alright. That does it for the facts about the supporters here in Edmonton. Here comes the opinion piece.

To say that there has been conflict would be an understatement. While I would be the first to admit that Adam and my own separation (and at the time attempted supporters group, see more about that in my earlier post about my history as a supporter) was not handled well by us, the reaction from the ESG (the only other group at the time) was rather startling. Having more than one supporters group is not unusual. Most times these groups are seen to be complimentary and provide different things (for example: one might provide structure while another is more free-form). However, the separation (again, in part because of how we acted in the start… trying to take full credit for what happened!) was met with a startling amount of resistance, aggression and was occasionally personal in attacks on us. I am proud to look at several members of the ESG who approached us back in 2013, so we had some positive impact on the development of supporter culture I suppose. The reason that I bring this up, is that this ideology is still seen in the groups today.

At the most recent game (Sept 17, 2017 vs Indy Eleven), there was a clear divide between the RCE and the ESG. The RCE repeatedly chanted and sang over top of the ESG while the ESG were attempting to start chants. This was somewhat expected, as earlier in the week we had heard that there was again conflict between the ESG senior members and RCE organizers. While many of the ESG took this good-naturedly, smiling and giving banter back to the RCE, there were some who appeared to take it personally. For myself, after the game, I was advising (in what I thought was a warm tone) to just let it go, and was snapped at by a ESG member who stated that they had been personally attacked. Unfortunately this isn’t the first time that either Adam or myself have been aggressively talked to by ESG members (particularly some in their leadership). For the record, we don’t feel like we fit in with the RCE either, especially when it is so contrary to other groups, and seems to forget there is a game being played.

So what does this mean for supporter culture in Edmonton? Well from this neutral perspective, it would seem that there are a few in the ESG leadership who are either burnt out, or spinning their wheels in the wrong direction. There is a continued focus on what the other groups is doing, and not on becoming the most inclusive and enjoyable group that they can be. There appears to be a lack of ability to promote their own group to grow, and we have seen it shrink rapidly this season (I would estimate that there were 3 ESG members in the supporter section on Sept 17). The clearest example of this was what I can only think was an attempt to undercut the RCE by providing a bus for $15 and operating at cost, rather than charging the same $20 and working to develop a bit of money in the bank for other endeavours. There have been “protests” held by the ESG, which weren’t posted to general members until after the game at which these protests were held. On the other hand, the RCE isn’t innocent either. Too often they also focus on the conflict between the supporters, and focus on drowning out the others chants, rather than focusing on the game being played.

This has resulted in what I’m afraid is the driving away of casual fans from these groups. No-one wants to be a part of a group that says they are one thing (supporters of FCEd) but only serves to drown out another group. Likewise, no-one wants to be a part of a group where some in leadership chose to try and attract fans from other groups before looking to build their own. This conflict between the two groups is clearly causing the downfall of some, and I fear that it will continue until there are few to no supporters left. There are several (including myself) who routinely choose to stand elsewhere in the stadium as I don’t feel comfortable or correct in standing in those supporter stands; a true shame considering what FCEd has done to get that stand there.

So what needs to change?

In my experience, the people who make it the farthest in life don’t do it because they spent time worrying or working against others. They kept their head down, worked at becoming the best they could be, and didn’t concern themselves with others. In my opinion, the only way to continue developing the supporter culture in Edmonton in a positive manner is for both groups to do this. I do think that this will mean that there needs to be a change at leadership in both groups, as I do believe that a significant amount of the issues between the groups stems from the leaders issues, not the general members. This is nothing against either groups leadership personally… just that I think the last few years have shown that there isn’t the right direction for either group at this time. There needs to be a clear and refreshed direction for the groups, focusing on developing their own practise and regulations, and working towards becoming better known in Edmonton. For the record, this doesn’t mean selling tickets for the club, but instead means working to help people a) understand supporter culture, b) understand why supporting local is better than supporting a club thousands of miles away and c) working to develop a game-day presence that stays true to the directive of the individual group.

I get it.

This is a massive investment of time, energy and sacrifice. Which is why I had to step back. But it truly pains me to see this divide and focus of energy into fighting against each other and the destruction of supporter culture in Edmonton rather than the creation and development of building a solid, passionate base.