This Is American Soccer, US Soccer, MNT, WNT, and MLS - Tackling the subject of Soccer in the US, and worldwide.

see more photos from Dunmore and Section 8 Chicago on their Flickr page

Tom Dunmore of ‘If This is Football’, and now PitchInvasion.net, is a mind with opinions we all should listen to here in the blogosphere. He has written for TIAS in the past, bringing with him an educated knowledge of football from his homeland, England, and his fascination with soccer in this new land. That alone, makes his perspective a unique one.

He wrote me after I linked to a story of his to fill us in with some more ideas. Turns out long after he highlighted the Portland Timbers supporter’s group, the subject is spawning some introspection, enough so that he plans to focus ‘Pitch Invasion’ on supporter group culture). His theory on the sudden wash of attention on MLS from the British media stemming in part from the newfound aknowledgement of American supporter groups, is after the jump…

Earlier, Adam asked why British writers were suddenly obsessed with American supporter’s groups. As one of the bloggers Adam cited, I thought I might share what I’ve discovered since I wrote that piece on supporter’s groups.

The English, of course, have a famous historical disdain for American soccer. I suspect many of my fellow countrymen still believe MLS games are decided by those funny NASL-style penalty shootouts and that dancing girls enter the field of play during throw-ins.

So this coverage by a few writers has come as a surprise. Adam wonders if it’s down to the arrival of Beckham that we English are suddenly noticing now what has been going on for over a decade in America.

But I suspect the answer actually lies much closer to home, my home, and has in fact more to do with England than America: if these groups have existed all along, the discovery of them is more likely something to do with us rather than them.

And I don’t think it’s Beckham, though he may have cast a spotlight on MLS. In fact, it’s in some ways a rejection of the past decade of English football: the admiration for U.S. supporter’s groups, however patronizing or late or ill-informed it may often seem, stems from a disillusionment with the over-hyped, over-priced and sterilised atmospheres in the Premiership and a desire to look elsewhere.

For English sportswriters or soccer bloggers who have spent time in America, such as myself or Steven Wells, there is something refreshing about the game and its fans here.

Let’s go back in time and see why. Those of us who were football fans in England in the 1980s were in fact almost outcasts: it was a game decried by the mainstream media, demonized by the Prime Minister, and seemingly on death row. The do-it-yourself culture of fanzines created by supporter’s groups desperate to protect the game and teams they loved were all that kept us going (and one sees a similar attitude in the tireless work of volunteers like Ben Burton or Liam Murtaugh of Section 8 Chicago in MLS today, supporting a marginalized sport in the U.S.).

In England, the 1990s saw the game transformed: the Taylor Report after Hillsborough mandated all-seater stadiums and destroyed the groupings of standing, singing supporters that had typified grounds; the hype around the game following England’s dramatic run at Italia ‘90 transformed the perception of the game as something acceptable to the mainstream, cemented by the literary success of Fever Pitch. The sudden infusion of satellite television money brought with it gross rises in ticket prices and the gradual freezing out of young and working-class supporters, fostering an atmosphere in stadiums fit only for munching on prawn sandwiches.

A well-known, perhaps exaggerated and cliched tale that may be, but nonetheless necessary background to understand the long-time English football supporter’s despair at the state of the Premiership today, its ever bloated hype out of proportion to its quality as a “product”. Misty memories of the 1980s may be misguided, given the problems of hooliganism and crumbling terraces, but at least then, supporters were supporters, not fans.

I go to MLS games, stand with Section 8, and I see young people paying $12 a ticket to stand up and sing throughout the game; I see them having a drink or two and a good time; I see their passion and enthusiasm for the game, and it’s hard not to be impressed. Whilst it’s certainly important to keep these eulogies strongly in perspective - only at Toronto have I seen the whole stadium into the game in something close to a European fashion, and most of these groups are small in numbers - it would actually be instructive for the Premiership if MLS grew successfully while safely allowing large supporter’s groups to stand, drink and sing.

It’s really no different from the spate of articles on German stadiums and their safe standing areas that have dotted the English football press periodically in recent months: those unhappy with the Premiership’s elite hegemony and sterile stadiums are looking elsewhere, so soccer writers in countries with a different approach cover alternative angles. No one writes praising Italian fans, but positive examples are worth covering.

Nor do I believe this attitude is patronizing to U.S. supporter’s groups, as it might initially seem; Section 8 do not strike me as mimicking British fans. Rather, they are potentially producing something quite unique and interesting, as they integrate elements from supporter’s groups around the world. While some of their chants are familiar to me, I’ve never seen a capo in England or the kind of tifo they bring out, nor have I heard a chant in Spanish before or seen such desire for pyro as many younger supporters have.

The English have long been insular when it comes to football. When we venture abroad, I for one can’t help but find different and passionate approaches to the game we love fascinating. MLS supporter group’s provide a colourful contrast to the depressing dulling of Premiership stadiums over the past decade, and remind us in some ways of what our football is in danger of losing.

Thomas Dunmore runs PitchInvasion.net, a website about football supporter’s culture around the world.