Walk through the gates at BBVA Compass Field for a Birmingham Legion FC soccer match and you’re immediately greeted by a cacophony of sights and sounds.

From the general admission side of the stadium come the sounds of persistent drumming and chanted cheers, and the sights of waving black-and-gold flags from Legion-attired fans.

It’s game night for Birmingham Legion FC, and the fans aren’t waiting for the first kick of the match to show their excitement.

Members of the Magic City Brigade, along with other gathered soccer fans, have been ready for the game most of the afternoon -- tailgating together, sharing expectations for the upcoming match, then walking into the stadium with their drums, chants and flags.

For Brigade member Nic Gulas, the only thing left is cheering for Legion’s first home goal.

Legion FC is the newest expansion member of the United Soccer League, and earned its first win on the road 3-1 last week against two-time defending USL champion Louisville. A win, however, hasn’t come yet at home; the team lost its two opening matches at home against Bethlehem (2-0) and Ottawa (1-0).

Birmingham Legion FC hosts the New York City Red Bulls on Saturday at 7 p.m.

“I’ve had a confetti cannon purchased for months from Party City, ready to use,” Gulas said. “We know what we want to do to celebrate the goal. The team knows what they want to do. Now it’s just being anxious as we get ready for that first goal.”

“When we finally get the goal,” fellow Brigade member and avid fan Simon Iles said, “it’s going to be on a whole other level. It’s going to be something else entirely.”

Birmingham Legion FC earns 1st win, beats defending champ https://t.co/z5M8wynTZb — AL.com sports (@aldotcomSports) April 1, 2019

Gulas and Iles are the type of soccer supporters that made a home in the Magic City so appealing to USL management of the USL, because they typify a passion for the sport that might at first be unexpected in an area ruled by college football.

When Legion FC Director of Business Operation Morgan Copes helped form the amateur Birmingham Hammers, playing one year of exhibition games and then joining the Premier Developmental League for a season, he and other fans were making a business plan and looking for potential financial backers for a pro team in Birmingham.

Such interest, along with the fact Birmingham consistently ranks in the top-five nationally for World Cup television viewership and also had the highest percentage increase in state youth soccer association membership in the country from 2014-2017, proved the city could support a professional team.

Gulas and Iles were two of the first Birmingham-area fans to get on board with the Hammers and now Legion FC. Before the teams were in existence, they could be found at local bars, especially favorite soccer hangout Good People Brewing, cheering on European and MLS matches.

Then they helped form the Birmingham Brigade to give soccer supporters a shared community experience.

Legion FC designated a section at BBVA Compass Field for Brigade members, and it sold out before the season began. The group now has another section for members and fellow fans.

“We want people to see us and say, ‘We want to be with the rowdy crowd.’ Our goal is to have the entire general admission section full every game with fans who are excited about being part of this soccer culture,” Gulas said.

Legion FC management and players have been incredibly receptive to the Brigade, Gulas said, making the transition to a new home team both smooth and exciting.

Gulas said players are friendly and engaged with the community, adding they represent top-quality talent that will ultimately draw more fans to the team.

From Birmingham native Chandler Hoffman, who Gulas described as a “dream” to acquire in the team’s inaugural year, to goalkeeper Matt Von Oekel, to numerous players with Major League Soccer experience, the team is one that fans are excited about.

“We’re really the only team in town that’s a professional, high quality product with a national footprint,” Iles said.

Gulas, who proudly describes himself as the “loud one yelling at you to yell at him,” is usually the fan manning the drum and leading cheers at Legion matches. The Birmingham native first “caught the soccer bug” as a student at Shades Valley, and his love for the game has grown deeper over the years.

“Locally, we started showing up for the Hammers game with drums and horns and flags, anything we could come up with. And it just grew from there,” he said. “We’ve had a good soccer culture for a while, and now we pull in Brigade members from all over. They love soccer and want to be involved.”

From Benin to Birmingham: Birmingham Legion FC’s Femi Hollinger-Janzen shares powerful journey https://t.co/jbmoGMxYcE — AL.com sports (@aldotcomSports) March 14, 2019

Gulas also pointed out he, Iles and other members of the Brigade call themselves “supporters” instead of “fans.”

“Supporters are behind the team win, lose and draw. We’ll be here through rain or snow,” he said. “We could be down 3-0 or up by 5, and we’ll still be cheering with the same voice and the same exuberance.”

Britain-born Iles knows first-hand what being a rabid soccer supporter looks like. His home country lives and breathes the sport and when he moved to the United States in 2015 from Bristol, England, he thought he might have to resort to simply watching matches on TV.

Instead he found camaraderie with fellow soccer fans and, pretty quickly, a home team to support.

Now he wants Birmingham residents to learn how special the sport can be. He said it’s much easier than you might imagine to get caught up in the magic of it all.

“Soccer has a way of making you love it,” Iles said. “Back home, it’s been around for 100-plus years. It becomes second nature to you and the team you support becomes a part of your everyday life.”

“Surprisingly, there’s actually more access here in the States for watching it,” he added. “They broadcast every game, so it’s easy to watch. People are becoming more exposed to it and then loving it.”

When fans show up to a Legion FC match, what can they expect from the flag-waving Brigade crowd? And how can they get involved in cheering on the team, even if they don’t know as much about soccer as they’d like?

Gulas stressed it’s an organic experience that will evolve for both the beginning and avid supporter.

“I’m rather loud naturally so the question asked of me was, ‘How loud can you get?’ I want to stay loud for 90 minutes and encourage others to get involved,” Gulas said.

He said cheering at a soccer match can come in different forms.

“We can chant for the sake of chanting all game, or we can be reactive to what’s going on in the game,” he said. “A lot of chants are to songs that people already know, so that gives them beats that people are used to and they’re already halfway there. Once they learn the words, they’re set.”

For Iles, it’s even simpler than that.

“Ultimately we just want fans to be there,” he said. “I want people to enjoy it, be invested in it. But for us, as a group, it’s important that people just show up at games and get involved. The more people we can get to love the game the better.”