How soccer will emphasize Austin’s unique culture – CAPITAL CITY SOCCER

Austin is known as the live music capital of the world, with a wide array of food, culture and style of life to compliment the title.

Now? It’s about to be the soccer capital of the United States, but it’ll need all the help from the city it can get.

There’s a reason this sport is widely accepted as the world’s sport; it’s universal. So how could Austin and soccer help each other out? Let’s dive in with an example:

When the city of Atlanta announced it would be welcoming in a soccer team, there was a fair amount of backlash from sports pundits. “Atlanta isn’t a soccer city,” was the consensus. How could a city that already had professional football, professional baseball, a massive college, and a slew of other events play host to a soccer team?

They didn’t take into account that soccer would emphasize and compliment their way of life. For Austinites, it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase to the world the diverse culture of their city.

One of the greatest ways to maximize the options of expression is through a supporter group. Supporters are identifiable by the grand display of color appropriate flags, yelling, chanting, and especially the drums. They go by “outlaws,” “rebels,” “ruckus,” and “army” of many variations but they all have one mission: to cause as much hell as possible.

Fans organize these groups and, as a reflection of that, the groups take a unique shape. As a capital city of a very famous state, I suspect for chants and flags to be emblematic of Texas’ fight for independence and iconic “Lone Star” mentality.

An even more illustrative expression of Austin’s culture, literally, would come in the form of tifos. Tifos are a choreographed display where fans raise a large banner (or banners) together that, together, form a large image. See this example for the Portland Timbers:

In exciting fashion, Portland has used this tifo to emphasize their state’s lumber economy through a play on Bob Ross’ “happy little trees.” A similar effort is used in every club with varying levels of creativity and scale.

Austin, having a variety of icons will yield an almost limitless arsenal of tifo ideas. Because other sports hardly recognize this practice throughout spectating, soccer is offering Austin something that football hasn’t: an opportunity to stand out.

Jeramey Gillilan is a contributor for Capital City Soccer and is absolutely mental for the sport. He’s always down to share a pint. Follow Jeramey on Twitter.