We always want to give our members a platform to have their voices heard. We asked some of our most active members to tell us why they chose to become Pride Members.
Abbey Witzgal
Anyone who knows me is usually a little confused when I tell them I'm now a soccer fan. They tend to slip into disbelief when I tell them that I am also on the executive board for The Pride. I'm not what you would call a “sports fan.” Sure, I followed the Cincinnati teams, I fill out a March Madness bracket every year (it doesn't usually go well), I even played some sports, including soccer, when I was younger but I was never the type to get this invested in sports.
Coming together with friends to focus our passion for FC Cincinnati
When I joined The Pride, it was a purely practical reason: I wanted to know when the march from U-Square was leaving and I had heard there was a group text for it. I missed the march that match, funny enough but joining The Pride was one of the best decisions I could have made. My boyfriend had already joined so I figured, why not? Once we went to the first open meeting at Molly Malone's in Covington, I was hooked. This wasn't just sports. This was fun!
Before I started going to FCC matches, I could not tell you the first thing about soccer aside from “get the ball in the goal” and “red cards are bad.” I honestly still don't know much about soccer except now I kind of understand what offsides is. I don't just react to cheering now, I know what we're cheering for. I knew I was fully indoctrinated when one weekend morning I woke up on my own to watch the Tottenham Hotspurs take on Liverpool and woke up my parents with how much I was cheering.
An amazing night that girls all over the Queen City will not soon forget
After that first season, I wanted to get more involved and found a way by helping man the sign up booth at the 3rd kit release party at Madtree. It was that easy. I hung out with friends all night, had someone buy me a beer for signing them up for The Pride, and left feeling good. And then it was announced that the position of Membership Coordinator was open on the executive board. I was a little apprehensive at first: what business did I have being one of the people who ran these supporter's groups? I didn't know anything about soccer! I can honestly tell you then, and now, I don't know the difference between Messi or Ronaldo (except for that statue) or most of these players. I applied anyway.
Having been a soccer fan for only a year and a half, all of a sudden I was on the executive board for The Pride. I thought going to FC Cincinnati games was going to just be a fun thing to do on Saturday nights. I thought going to FC Cincinnati games was just a way to root for another sports team. I didn't realize that it would give me new friends, new motivations, propel me into learning the inner workings of local government, or give me a sense of pride in my city that was honestly waning.
Who knew being a soccer fan was going to be more Sim City than FIFA 18
When asked to write a blog from a women's perspective, I thought, “Well my perspective isn't really the one all women have about soccer.” and that's okay! For me, my perspective on all this has been different and everyone's will be! What I can tell you is while FC Cincinnati has given me so much, my favorite scarf isn't from any FCC match. The scarf I will treasure most is from the USWNT match at Nippert.
I took the entire day off for that match. I helped set up the tifo at Nippert beforehand and seeing all the pomp and circumstance for women blew me away. This wasn't something where women were the sideshow, they were the main event. Usually, when walking around during an FC Cincinnati match, you usually see little boys running around in kits. At the USWNT match I saw more girls in those kits than I thought possible. To be cliché, those kids are the future of our national teams, which I hear the men's team has some rough spot it's going through. Those women who play for the US are fighters. They fight for equal playing conditions, equal pay, and equal exposure. The fight on and off the pitch to show what is it and what it isn't to be a woman. A woman's perspective on soccer usually is limited to the sideline reporters interviewing coaches at halftime.
My perspective on soccer is this: it is for everyone. Young, old, man, woman, nonbinary people, gay, straight, somewhere in-between, rich, poor, whatever political party, it is for you. Whether you understand the game, or don't really even know who Messi is, it is for you! That is what made me fall in love with The Pride. If they can have me, someone who still doesn't really understand how formations work, on their executive board, it is truly for everyone..
Max Ellerbe
I joined The Pride to help build on the momentum of what had already been created. In my first few games sitting at midfield, it was awe-inspiring to see what had come together in the Bailey in such a short amount of time. What I was seeing was not a mistake, nor an accident; but rather, it was the result of a hard work, passion and dedication. I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of, but I also wanted to find my own niche within the group.
Having a musical background, I felt I could add to the experience by strengthening the Bailey’s voice through work on the songs, chants, and drumming. My goal is to keep the Bailey rocking from the first whistle to the last (and beyond), ensuring that FC Cincinnati has the best support in the league. The rest of the stadium looks to the Bailey for energy, and I want to help make sure they can always find it. By joining the Pride, I feel I was able to help keep building the incredibly special thing we have going as supporters.
What we do in the Bailey can have an impact on the future of this club. We are showing, with every clip, with every headline, and with every news publication, that Cincinnati is serious about this team and the goal Carl Linder set of bringing MLS soccer to Cincinnati. As a member of The Pride, I can be a part of creating the atmosphere that brings even more people together and brings us closer to that goal. As a lifelong Cincinnatian, that prospect alone is motivation enough.
If you haven’t joined a supporters group, I strongly suggest The Pride.
Jono Bregger
I’ve been around the game of soccer my whole life, both as a player and a spectator. Unfortunately, after high school, it became more difficult. After my competitive days ended at age 18, I was no longer able to surround myself regularly with people who love soccer. Let’s be honest, the people in most bars (other than Molly Malone’s) are going to give you a blank stare when you ask to put a match on TV. That’s why, when I heard that Cincinnati was getting a true professional soccer team, my eyes lit up. The prospect of going to professional soccer games in my hometown excited me, but I had no idea what kind of community I was going to become a part of.
Late in March, after some Googling and Facebooking, I stumbled upon “The Pride.” Honestly, I wasn’t too familiar with supporters group culture prior to joining the Pride (Insert Green Street Hooligans reference here), so I had no idea what to expect. What I saw was a bunch of people who liked soccer and got together to hangout and watch matches together. Sold. Even still, I won’t lie, I was apprehensive about heading to my first Tifo night. Who are these people? Are they going to be hooligans or jerks? Will I have anything in common with them, other than the fact that we like soccer? I came to my first Tifo night with a 12 pack of beer and a smile on my face. Immediately, I was welcomed with open arms.
In the four short months since joining the Pride, I have made amazing friendships with people I would not have known if not for The Pride. I’ve joined a welcoming community that is crazy about soccer, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. Whether we’re hanging out Wednesday night painting tifos and working on chants, meeting at Molly Malone’s for away matches, or cheering on our boys in the Bailey, I always look forward to an event with my friends in The Pride. If you like making new friends, watching soccer with friends, and representing The Queen City, come hang out and join up with The Pride.
Brendan O'Brien
I’m part of the generation that grew up playing soccer. There is home video of just-learned-how-to-walk Brendan stumbling over a soccer ball and knocking it into a mini goal from close range (fitting, since throughout my 20-odd year playing career, I didn’t often score from outside the 6). I grew up watching the sport too. I’m from Cleveland, and the Crunch were an indoor soccer powerhouse in the 90’s when I was growing up. My first sports heroes were all local soccer players: Otto Orf, Hector Marinaro, Zorin Karic (FCC equivalencies being Hildebrandt, Okoli and McLaughlin).
But if you didn’t grow up with the chance to support local, you have to make “the leap” at some point. Whether it’s conscious or not, at some moment, you decide “I’m going be a fan of this team.” For many people in the United States, many who are perennial fans of the Big 4 US Sport,s they first have to make a similar jump to want to learn about and follow the game of soccer. Most people who follow and cheer for soccer teams in other parts of the world can probably tell you about their leap. “I follow Manchester United because…” or “I’m a Zlatan guy and then I just stuck with Inter” or the ever-popular “They’re my FIFA team” (As if Real Madrid needed more fans). I can tell you about my leap to my team in the EPL, but that’s a story for another day.
This is all just to give you some background on why The Pride matters so much to me. Soccer is a wonderful game to watch and learn, and I want everyone to be fearless when they make that leap to learn the game and learn to support their own local team. When the Pride started, we decided we wanted to be totally and utterly welcoming – we wanted our role to be bringing as many people along as possible and growing the game here in Cincinnati and the United States.
So make the leap, we’re here and we can’t wait to catch you and have you join up with us. We want to welcome everyone to the beautiful game here in Cincinnati and welcome everyone to The Pride.