Just like the team they root for, the Sons of Ben hope an infusion of passionate newcomers can help raise the level of their club from a fledgling start-up into a bona fide league power.
And after a successful but trying inaugural season, the Philadelphia Union’s supporters group is ready to do just that, starting Saturday with the club’s home opener vs. Vancouver (4 pm ET, Direct Kick, MatchDay Live).
“It was tough getting up and running at first – getting everybody on board and understanding what it’s all about being a supporter,” Sons of Ben president Bryan James told MLSsoccer.com. “I’d be surprised if it did anything but increase this year.”
According to James, the group already has 2,000 members – a number they didn’t hit last season until June. There are currently 10,000 people on the Sons of Ben’s mailing list.
In addition to unveiling some new chants and retiring some of the older ones that are done at other stadiums, James says the group will also show “more creativity tifo-wise” with choreographed displays on the River End of PPL Park.
“We’re trying to do it bigger and better than last year,” James said. “We have motivated guys in place, and we have a better grasp of what to do by learning from our experiences in Year One.”
As always, the Sons of Ben have been in close contact with Union officials, discussing everything from road trips to tailgate spots to putting chant lyrics on the stadium scoreboard so other fans can sing along (and not misconstrue the wording).
It’s a unique relationship James does not take for granted.
“I don’t think Eagles fans are able to contact the front office when they want to,” the SOB president said of Philadelphia's other football team. “We meet with them and talk about things to improve.”
Such a partnership make sense because the Sons of Ben are as intricately involved in the growth as this franchise as anyone. It was some of the group’s charter members, after all, that began supporting an MLS team in Philadelphia even before there was an MLS team in Philadelphia – and then played an integral role in bringing professional soccer back to the city after a 30-year hiatus.
“It’s crazy to think about that the further away we get from being there,” said James, who, along with Andrew Dillon and Dave Flagler, founded the Sons of Ben in January 2007, more than a year before the Union were founded. “The love of the Union has just grown really strong and our fans are a good point or pride.”
