NEW YORK — LAFC have many celebrity fans, including some in the club's ownership group, but none may be bigger than Colin Hanks.
The veteran actor has been ingrained with the club, attending its first-ever home game, and he says that the environment is what drew him to the club and made him a supporter.
"I had been wanting to really get behind a team in Los Angeles that I felt sort of represented the city and was something that had an atmosphere that was sort of like the kinds of atmospheres that I had seen in some of the other cities in MLS but also around the world," Hanks told MLSsoccer.com at MLS's FORWARD25 jersey presentation event, where he represented LAFC and modeled their new 2020 home jersey.
The son of Tom Hanks was raised in Sacramento but always dreamt of a soccer club that he could experience first hand. He attended five or six matches during the 2019 season, including LAFC's win over the LA Galaxy in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.
"I always wanted there to be a team called the Los Angeles Football Club and then that happened…so the fact that the kind of dream organization that I thought would be so cool – they actually did it... It was just one of those perfect kind of fan stories. The team of my dreams appeared before my eyes.”
Just how big of an LAFC supporter is Hanks? Well, he didn't miss a chance to take a dig at rivals LA Galaxy, the five-time MLS Cup champions based in Southern California since 1996, or as Hanks puts it: "It’s Carson. I don’t get down to Carson very often."
Of course El Trafico will have a bit of a different feel this season, as Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez replaces Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the Galaxy's star striker opposite compatriot Carlos Vela, who is the reigning MLS MVP. What does the 42-year-old Hanks think of the Mexican's arrival?
"I think it’s great that he’s in the league," Hanks said in a later media scrum. "I just think it’s a shame that he’s not playing in Los Angeles.”
