Plenty of folks likely want to close the books on 2016 and all the rancor and discord it often brought. But – yes, let’s be corny for a second here – as soccer fans, the game’s drama and suspense provided a welcome escape hatch from whatever else was happening in the world. And as players, teams, and tactics strengthened inside the white lines, off the field, soccer culture around MLS provided some welcome high-water-mark moments, too.
Intense rivalries strengthened, making for some cracking fireworks when it counted, while fan culture flourished as a platform for human creativity. Most importantly, it proved a unifying platform for humans of all stripes, showing that we can still come together when it matters.
Before we focus on the kumbaya stuff, though, it’s worth noting that one of the most exciting parts of soccer culture around MLS this year was the hardening of rivalries. High drama and blowouts made for crackling atmosphere that will doubtlessly carry on into next year. During the regular season, the New York Derby, especially, finally got some real teeth, thanks to the unforgettable epic 7-0 blowout at Yankee Stadium – followed by NYCFC themselves making good during the next match-up between the teams.
Then, of course, there’s the post-season. If anyone doubted the intensity of the 401 Derby, between Toronto FC and Montreal, their two Eastern Conference Championship games provided enough fodder for years of banter to come. (That last unforgettable match-up made our list of overall top 10 moments from the season.)
And then, naturally, there were the MLS Cup results. For Seattle to grab a cup the year after Portland, well, we can expect to see that addressed via back-and-forth tifo probably from the start of the season. And Whitecaps fans – given that the final came down to their hated Seattle AND Toronto, and that a meteor did not, in fact, crash into the final, they should be soaring on plenty of fuel.
All of that stuff fueled rivalries on and off the field, but whether spawned on by banter or not, 2016 saw some peak flourishing of creativity in fan culture. We mentioned tifo, but this year brought some truly incredibly displays. Cascadia delivered, of course, as usual – see the Timbers Army's Polaroid-themed creation, or Sounders fans' "Watchers on the Wall" tifo to taunt the 'Caps.
But let’s not forget Sporting Kansas City’s always-formidable entries into the canon -- see this Smoky-the-Bear-themed tifo vs. the Timbers, or this incredible Game of Thrones-inspired display. (By the way -- we also found out what some supporters' groups do with old tifo.)
Tifo weren’t the only platform by which soccer culture around MLS and visual art merged -- creative match posters offered another. The LA Galaxy in particularly excelled here – let’s look back at this one playing off Star Wars, or this one riffing off Where's Waldo?. The New York Red Bulls offered up some stellar entries too, like this one inspired by foosball, and this one to commemorate Autism Awareness Night.
Music, too, provided a way for fans to further merge culture with their love for MLS teams. As it turns out, this Hamilton spoof, centering on Darlington Nagbe, wasn’t a one-and-done joke; the brains behind this are still actively recording new tracks for a full-on musical. Let’s also not forget the delightful moment when longtime Boston-area ska (!) stalwarts Big D and the Kids Table teamed up with Revs supporters to jointly record new fan chants. (A little bit outside of our realm directly, we also saw the mainstream rise of LA electronic music producer ETC! ETC!, who once tried out for the Galaxy, and talked to us about his LA fandom in May, before he released an EP on Dim Mak Records.)
That’s only a glimpse of the high points of 2016 culture off the field, of course, and the fact that it’s hard to succinctly sum them up into a neat list speaks volumes. As 2017 will likely bring more challenges and surprises, we’ll look forward to soccer culture once again providing a space for the positive aspects of humanity to shine.
