Fort Report

Before the bitter memory of a disappointing end to the 2009 season is erased through holiday festivities, I thought I’d give a rundown of what I saw in The Fort this year, and offer up my hopes for next year:

In my opinion, 2009 was a year of slight decline for The Fort.  Lower overall attendance affected the numbers in our section.  Although a lot of the “pedestrian traffic” mitigating the “gap” issues of years past (the gap being a series of rows of people just standing and not participating), it’s hard to say The Fort sounded better than it did in 2007 and 2008.  Granted, I’d slot 2009 ahead of 2003-2006 in regards to atmosphere, but clearly we didn’t make great strides.

Reasons?  Well, the economy cut down on the amount of games a good deal of regulars attended.  I have no clue as to the numbers, but I know several people who made less games.  The Season ticket holder lot on the North side was also very sparse.  Supposedly, the Defend The Fort ticket sales went well.  That added to the number of season ticket holders in The Fort, but a lot people I’ve spoken to who bought them were attending games regularly anyway.  Still a good idea, though.  At $200 for 18 games, you can’t go wrong.

The state of the team may have also worn on some of the supporter enthusiasm.  Let’s face it, that was some of the worst soccer by the home side since the start of 2004.  Granted, the recent run of form since then hadn’t seen a proportional rise in attendance for various reasons.  I also don’t think that it had a serious impact in keeping people away as the economy did.  However, there seemed to be something missing this year in regards to spirit/passion/whatever.

There’s also personal perspective that is skewing my opinion.  I didn’t come into the season with a lot of hope, and the team dropping key players like flies didn’t exactly get me pumped for the on-field festivities.  Throw in the fact I thought for certain I was moving out of town for work from August-October, and I wasn’t as excited to go to games as I was in years past.  Those factors could be throwing my assessment off.

On the plus side, I had a handful of memorable moments in The Fort this year.  Taylor Twellman’s two appearances got the place rocking.  In fact, that DC game was simply incredible after he came on at the half.  Beating New York 4-0 the next week is always fun and Twellman got his 100th and 101st goals.  In regards to chants, we have a new permanent fixture in “Mama, mama…”.  Flags finally got approved for permanent use thanks to the hard work of a few Midnight Riders.  We are forever grateful for time they put in to clear that ridiculous hurdle, as the flags adds to our gameday atmosphere.

Looking forward, I hope we can make 2010 the best year ever in The Fort.  There are whispers of a new banner.  We’re hoping the Barra can grow in Section 140.  There’s a new supporter group forming that wants to call Section 141 home.  The midnight Riders will still be loud and proud in Section 143.  Rev Army, wherever the heck they want.  If all this is the case, let’s hope the front office takes my advice from a previous post and tarps off the top rows, concentrating the supports horizontally.  If not, it will likely remain a scattered mess.

We’ll see.  One thing’s for certain, and that is I’ll be there all year once again.  The new theme of this blog will be to talk about the goings ons in The Fort, offering up critiques and letting everyone know about the unique culture we have developed in order to better support the Revs.

Cheers, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and see everyone in 2010!