Creighton student section going wild for soccer (Streur/WBR)
The story goes something like this: two rising seniors at Creighton travel to Kansas City to see the United States men’s national soccer team in June. There they join the American Outlaws, an organization of soccer crazies with thousands of members across the country, who support the U.S. teams wherever they go. They’re jingoistic in their support of U.S. soccer, and their tailgates are unparalleled.
When I say “support,” I mean it. We’re not talking “Go-Big-Red” ad nauseam. The Outlaws stand together at each game, wearing red and singing clever songs, usually less profane than you’d expect, from start to finish. The scene could well be Europe or South America, save for the various fans sporting American flags and the one rambunctious lady in a full George Washington getup.
The two students sing and chant and cheer. And say, “We can do this. We can do this at Creighton.”
***
Three months later, school is in session and the Bluejays’ season is in full swing. Our two protagonists have the next ten weeks, and student section 2.0, planned out. They’ll wear black for visual effect. They send a list of fifteen songs, complete with matching YouTube links, to about twenty friends who’ve committed to being at the first game. They brainstorm tailgates, watch parties for away games, and road trips. Later on in the season, the group has a couple of stunts planned. And, like the Outlaws and like the myriad supporters across Europe, they plan to stand and sing for the whole game. If all goes as planned, other students will take note and join throughout the season. The goal by Halloween is to have a group of forty at each game.
“We think there’s room at Creighton for something like this. We want to create an outlet for soccer die-hards and Creighton die-hards to come together and do something that’s never been done in Omaha. Or in America, for that matter,” one explains, referring to the relative paucity of soccer supporters on the college level. “We also want to do our part in growing the sport: we want to show new soccer fans what a real soccer atmosphere can be like.”
The two seem genuinely inspired. After years of dismal student involvement with Creighton athletics, they tell me “something had to change, something had to happen from within. It also helps that we’ve got an incredible team this year.” A heralded new head coach, a couple of All-American candidates and various preseason honors—the hype has never been greater for Creighton soccer.
And should the Bluejays make the College Cup this season, eleven of their friends have already pledged to be there. Birmingham during Dead Week couldn’t sound any sweeter.
***
Each freshman class at Creighton University begins the year with Welcome Week, seven days of orientation that traditionally culminate in the home opener soccer game. Attendance at that game is all but required for freshmen, who travel in herds and generally are busy texting high school friends throughout the game. The packed student section makes for great photographs, but poor atmosphere. Generic cheers of Let’s-Go-Bluejays are pumped in, to middling response.
But with this season’s coaching change, something got lost in the shuffle, and the Welcome Week game was no more. Creighton faithful would have to wait until Labor Day weekend to see their Bluejays at home. Expectations for turnout were dampened, if not downright soggy, given the storied CU tradition of students returning home for the holiday weekend, a whole week after classes begin.
The two seniors and their colleagues hoped to fill the void caused by the missing students. They and their friends could easily make up the noise difference. Five minutes before kickoff, though, it was clear they wouldn’t need to. The few fans in black were vastly outnumbered by the other students in blue—about 750 of them. ”We thought the south bleachers would be empty, but actually it was a relief to see the student section packed,” they recall. “At that point, we ditched the plan to keep this idea confined to our group in black. We wanted everyone to buy into it.”
***
Come on you Bluejays, score a goal,
It’s really very simple,
Put the ball into the net,
And we’ll go flippin’ mental!
***
Six games into the season, and the Bluejays are ranked third in America. Students are greeting each other with “How about those Bluejays?” The Athletics department has launched a “Students Matter” campaign that seems to be having marked effects on undergrad involvement. Yes, this is real life. And the Creighton soccer community can’t stop talking about the students.
Players and longtime fans alike remarked that they’ve never seen anything like the turnout at the 2011 season’s first two home games. Coach Bolowich said in a post-game interview he could feel the stadium vibrating. This is, after all, why he came to Omaha. After coaching in Chapel Hill for twenty-three years, after winning a College Cup and establishing himself as a legend, ultimately Bolowich took the plunge and moved west, largely because of the community that surrounds Creighton soccer.
Consider this: in 2009, the season North Carolina advanced to the semifinals of the national tournament (losing to the eventual champion on penalty kicks), the highest home attendance was 4,439 at a conference match against Duke, their hated rivals from down the road. This season, in its first two home games, Creighton averaged 4,833 fans against lackluster opposition. *
That includes one student in a banana suit, who’s become something of an unofficial mascot for the Creighton soccer squad.
***
Ethan Finlay can’t say enough about the fan support so far. “In my whole time here, and even on recruiting trips, I’ve never seen anything close to this.”
The atmosphere means more to the team than you might think. Even as a senior, Finlay notes, “it’s really inspiring to look around and know ‘these people came to see us play.’ We really mean something to them.” That thought, he says, and the knowledge that all four thousand fans have the team’s back, are incredibly motivating. “I can’t imagine how the freshmen and new guys must feel, walking into this.”
The crowd does its part in shaking up opponents, as well. He recounts how, in his freshman year, the Bluejays visited the infamously hostile Ludwig Field at the University of Maryland. He explains how that stadium, like Creighton’s, puts the students “literally on top of the other team. You almost have to reel yourself back in and force yourself to focus.” Some of the typical cheers at Ludwig aren’t fit to be printed here. Even so, Finlay estimates that teams unaccustomed to such environments—like, say, Drexel and Fordham—have had to do the same in Omaha.
***
Our two students want to remain more or less anonymous. Citing vulgar soccer hooliganism and (more likely in a college setting) irresponsible drunkenness, they say “we don’t want to be seen as the guys in charge if something happens.” They’re quick to reiterate: “We’re not in control of too much. We lead the usual cheers and that’s about it.”
This is a big week for the team and their fans. This Wednesday, Kentucky comes to town. Next weekend, it’s Saint Mary’s for Homecoming. Creighton has this week’s games to get all its cylinders firing before next month’s Murderer’s Row: #1 Maryland, Wisconsin, #9 Indiana, Missouri State, #5 UC-Irvine, and #18 Bradley.
But the autumn chill comes early here on the plains, and last Saturday’s rout of Providence saw student turnout as poor as the weather. The forecast for Wednesday night’s game is clear and cold. These two students have no delusions: “We know turnout’ll decrease as the weather gets worse and school gets tougher, but we’ll be here.”
It’s clear that to these two students, like countless others, this school matters a great deal. As it should; this old university on the Hilltop is unique. Among the reasons why–if I may borrow a line–“winning is a preference and not an obsession” here. For the men’s soccer team, it’s also a habit. And, given the landscape of collegiate athletics today, it’s unique to find a winning program where students matter as much as the score.
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*After the third home game, where 2,525 braved the cold and rain to see Creighton play Providence, the season average is still 4,064 fans per game. I think a number of factors conspired to keep attendance low, and I judge it as a statistical outlier. With this in mind, attendance at the Providence game still surpassed last season’s average, which is encouraging.