Soccer always will have supporters groups. Supporters groups love their teams no matter how poorly they perform, and often clash with rivals. In order to gauge the hatred of various supporters groups, I put up a poll asking people about their opinions of supporters groups to figure out which group is the most hated in MLS.

This is similar to the biggest MLS rivalry poll I did, but rather than weight the overall average so it did not turn into a popularity contest, I simply let people vote. The more votes a group got, the larger the dislike. There were three possible answers: Dislike, Hate, Absolutely Despite. A score of Dislike scored a 1, Hate a 2, and Absolutely Despise a 3. The higher the number, the more hatred for that group

I tried to include groups from all MLS teams which identify themselves as supporters of a team. Some groups are so large that I tried to break down a subset, such as 107ist with Timbers Army. I also included fans that sit in a particular section as their own group of supporters, such as Nordecke and Brougham End, since their large numbers warrant their own spot in the poll. Remember this not a definitive list, but simply the results of people willing to take the poll.

The Voters By Team

Each person polled was asked to identify a team he/she supporters. These are the numbers:

Chicago Fire – 5

Colorado Rapids – 2

Columbus Crew – 8

D.C. United – 8

FC Dallas – 2

Houston Dynamo – 2

L.A. Galaxy – 14

Montreal Impact – 1

New England Revolution – 5

NYCFC – 10

NYRB – 10

Orlando City SC – 17

Philadelphia Union – 3

Portland Timbers – 27

Real Salt Lake – 3

San Jose Earthquakes – 8

Seattle Sounders – 22

Sporting Kansas City – 9

Toronto FC – 3

Vancouver Whitecaps – 8

LAFC/AUFC/Minnesota/Miami – 6

NASL/USL – 4

Other North American Team – 3

Not a Supporter of Any North American Team – 4

The Results

The Overall Scores

Name/Rating Dislike Hate Despise Overall Score Total Number of Votes Average 1 Emerald City Supporters in general (Seattle Sounders) 9 9 37 138 55 2.509091 2 San Jose Ultras (San Jose Earthquakes) 9 9 35 132 53 2.490566 3 The Third Rail (NYCFC) 20 10 18 94 48 1.958333 4 Brougham End (Seattle Sounders) 8 8 22 90 38 2.368421 5 Timbers Army (Portland Timbers FC) 10 2 23 83 35 2.371429 6 L.A. Riot Squad – LARS (L.A. Galaxy) 14 4 19 79 37 2.135135 7 Angel City Brigade (L.A. Galaxy) 14 6 16 74 36 2.055556 8 Nordecke (Columbus Crew) 14 7 10 58 31 1.870968 9 107ist – Subset of Timbers Army (Portland Timbers FC) 6 3 15 57 24 2.375 10 Iron Lion Firm (Orlando City SC) 12 6 10 54 28 1.928571 11 Section 8 (Chicago Fire) 19 4 9 54 32 1.6875 12 Hudson Street Hooligans (Columbus) 19 4 9 54 32 1.6875 13 Empire Supporters Club – ESC (New York Red Bulls) 7 5 12 53 24 2.208333 14 The Ruckus (Orlando City SC) 11 7 8 49 26 1.884615 15 Viking Army (New York Red Bulls) 6 6 9 45 21 2.142857 16 District Ultras (D.C. United) 10 2 8 38 20 1.9 17 Ultras Montreal 2002 (Montreal Impact) 6 4 7 35 17 2.058824 18 La Barra Brava (D.C. United) 10 2 7 35 19 1.842105 19 Sons of Ben (Philadelphia Union) 8 1 7 31 16 1.9375 20 La Barra Real (Real Salt Lake) 4 4 6 30 14 2.142857 21 Midnight Riders (New England Revolution) 8 2 6 30 16 1.875 22 Red Patch Boys (Toronto FC) 5 3 6 29 14 2.071429 23 KC Cauldron (Sporting Kansas City) 9 1 6 29 16 1.8125 24 U-Sector (Toronto FC) 6 3 5 27 14 1.928571 25 Southsiders (Vancouver Whitecaps) 7 1 6 27 14 1.928571 26 Salt City United (Real Salt Lake) 6 3 4 24 13 1.846154 27 Imperio Sismico (San Jose Earthquakes) 5 1 5 22 11 2 28 El Batallon (Houston Dynamo) 7 1 4 21 12 1.75 29 Curva Collective (Vancouver Whitecaps) 6 1 4 20 11 1.818182 30 Centennial 38 (Colorado Rapids) 7 1 1 12 9 1.333333 31 The Inferno (FC Dallas) 7 1 1 12 9 1.333333 32 El Matador (FC Dallas) 6 1 1 11 8 1.375

ECS, San Jose Ultras, and NYCFC’s Third Rail all come in at the top three for most hated groups. Last year Ultras groups from NYRB and NYCFC engaged in some fighting before the Hudson River Derby. This could also be a popularity contest, so I wanted to look at the average results as well.

The Overall Average Scores

Name/Rating Dislike Hate Despise Overall Score Total Number of Votes Average 1 Emerald City Supporters in general (Seattle Sounders) 9 9 37 138 55 2.509091 2 San Jose Ultras (San Jose Earthquakes) 9 9 35 132 53 2.490566 3 107ist – Subset of Timbers Army (Portland Timbers FC) 6 3 15 57 24 2.375 4 Timbers Army (Portland Timbers FC) 10 2 23 83 35 2.371429 5 Brougham End (Seattle Sounders) 8 8 22 90 38 2.368421 6 Empire Supporters Club – ESC (New York Red Bulls) 7 5 12 53 24 2.208333 7 Viking Army (New York Red Bulls) 6 6 9 45 21 2.142857 8 La Barra Real (Real Salt Lake) 4 4 6 30 14 2.142857 9 L.A. Riot Squad – LARS (L.A. Galaxy) 14 4 19 79 37 2.135135 10 Red Patch Boys (Toronto FC) 5 3 6 29 14 2.071429 11 Ultras Montreal 2002 (Montreal Impact) 6 4 7 35 17 2.058824 12 Angel City Brigade (L.A. Galaxy) 14 6 16 74 36 2.055556 13 Imperio Sismico (San Jose Earthquakes) 5 1 5 22 11 2 14 The Third Rail (NYCFC) 20 10 18 94 48 1.958333 15 Sons of Ben (Philadelphia Union) 8 1 7 31 16 1.9375 16 Iron Lion Firm (Orlando City SC) 12 6 10 54 28 1.928571 17 U-Sector (Toronto FC) 6 3 5 27 14 1.928571 18 Southsiders (Vancouver Whitecaps) 7 1 6 27 14 1.928571 19 District Ultras (D.C. United) 10 2 8 38 20 1.9 20 The Ruckus (Orlando City SC) 11 7 8 49 26 1.884615 21 Midnight Riders (New England Revolution) 8 2 6 30 16 1.875 22 Nordecke (Columbus Crew) 14 7 10 58 31 1.870968 23 Salt City United (Real Salt Lake) 6 3 4 24 13 1.846154 24 La Barra Brava (D.C. United) 10 2 7 35 19 1.842105 25 Curva Collective (Vancouver Whitecaps) 6 1 4 20 11 1.818182 26 KC Cauldron (Sporting Kansas City) 9 1 6 29 16 1.8125 27 El Batallon (Houston Dynamo) 7 1 4 21 12 1.75 28 Section 8 (Chicago Fire) 19 4 9 54 32 1.6875 29 Hudson Street Hooligans (Columbus) 19 4 9 54 32 1.6875 30 El Matador (FC Dallas) 6 1 1 11 8 1.375 31 Centennial 38 (Colorado Rapids) 7 1 1 12 9 1.333333 32 The Inferno (FC Dallas) 7 1 1 12 9 1.333333

Both ECS and San Jose Ultras keep the 1 and 2 spots for overall average as well, with Timbers Army and 107ist claiming 3 and 4 for overall average of dislike. So in the end, according to those polled, Seattle’s ECS are the most hated group of supporters in the MLS, followed by the San Jose Ultras, both on total number of votes, and overall average.

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