Hello, and welcome to American Tifo, a newsletter for, and about, North American soccer supporters. Thank you for being here. If you haven’t already, subscribe! If you’re a member of a supporters group, please consider sharing this with the rest of your SG and encouraging them to subscribe as well.
If San Diego Loyal supporters group, the Locals, are one thing, it is true to themselves and their identity. They are what they say they are, loyal and local, and they believe that that authenticity and commitment to community will help make the difference as Major League Soccer prepares to move in.
You can’t tell the story of San Diego Loyal without talking about MLS. Just not for the reasons you’d think.
In 2018, a group put together a bid to bring an MLS expansion team to the city, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Out of the ashes of that failed bid rose a bid to join the USL Championship, the country’s second tier league. San Diego Loyal was born.
“This whole thing kind of started as a ‘Let’s get to MLS thing’ and then we got a really great thing out of it that’s not MLS,” said Jason Radcliff, head of comms for the Locals. “Loyal was not created with the endgame of getting to MLS. It was created as its own thing. The point was to make a USL team, and to make it as good as possible.”
The Locals were formed soon after. The group and the club grew together, communicating and staying on the same page, while remaining independent.
It’s that bond that helped both the group and the club survive early trying times and emerge stronger. First, its inaugural season was affected by COVID. But it was an isolation that allowed supporters to connect from a distance, so when they did finally meet in person, it felt more like a homecoming than a first meeting. Later that season, the club forfeited points in back to back games, first when a racial slur was used against one of its players, then just a week later, when a homophobic slur was used against a player. In the latter instance, the team abandoned the match when they were winning, a result which would have guaranteed them a playoff spot. Instead, they missed out on playoffs altogether.
“We really had the chance to stand up and stand behind what we believe in,” said Radcliff. “That galvanized us and put eyes on what we really stand for, which isn’t a small thing.”
“I feel like even though it was a challenge for both us and the club, that really solidified who we are and really made strong foundations for our group,” said Nic Duffee, director of stadium operations for the Locals.
Since then, the Locals, along with the club’s other official group, Chavos de Loyal, built an authentic, San-Diego-specific brand of support that does real work within the community, and has been growing its average attendance year on year.
On a typical match day, the groups will gather at a local brewery for some pre-game drinks before marching to the match and cheering for 90 straight minutes. Afterwards, they’ll head to a local Irish pub to either drown their sorrows or toast to victory, with players and coaches sometimes swinging through to join them.
“Our group is focused on inclusivity and representing the diverse landscape here in San Diego. It’s a town of transplants, and so there’s a lot of flavor and character,” said Duffee, a New Zealand native. “You’ve got a guy from Philly and a guy from New Zealand talking about a San Diego team.”
“It really has replaced church for me,” said Radcliff. “It feels like the community you have at a church, seeing your friends on a Sunday, everyone gathering together, everybody hanging out, cheering, singing songs.”
Even before the Loyal, San Diego was a hotbed of soccer passion and participation. There’s a thriving youth soccer scene, a contingent of dedicated European fans who rise early every weekend to watch matches, as well as committed Liga MX audience, with the league’s closest club just 20 miles to the south. Add in the Loyal, and the NWSL’s San Diego Wave, along with their SG, the Sirens, and the city is bursting with passion for the game.
But can it handle one more team? We’re about to find out.
Earlier this month, Major League Soccer awarded an expansion franchise in San Diego to Mohamed Mansour, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and Padres star Manny Machado, making it the league’s 30th club.
“We knew that there were always people sniffing around, testing out the city,” said Radcliff.
Once the news hit, Radcliff’s first emotion was fear. MLS has notoriously snuffed out USL and lower league clubs once they move into town, so the announcement felt like it brought a legitimate threat to the club.
Then there was anger. “We quickly went to ‘We built this, they’re not gonna take it from us!’” he said.
But calmer heads soon prevailed, and the group decided to take an optimistic, somewhat innovative, perspective on the situation.
“Why can’t the city have two teams?” said Duffee.
The existence of multiple successful soccer clubs in one city is commonplace across the globe, but less common in the United States.
Here is where the Locals believe they can change that.
“We can have a strong MLS team, we can have a strong second division team, and we can show the rest of America that it’s possible to have two teams that can both be successful and have separate character,” said Duffee. “I don’t care that MLS is in town. I want them to do well, I want them to represent San Diego well, but San Diego Loyal is my team. They have my passion, they have my focus, and I’m focused on growing San Diego Loyal to be the best team that it can be.”
“Tranmere Rovers in Liverpool pulls in 6,000-8,000 people a week, and they have two teams in the Premier League,” said Radcliff. “You can exist as a lower level team, but in America, it’s not seen that way. You have your 30 NBA teams and that’s it. You have your 32 NFL teams and that’s it. So I think having that knowledge of soccer, that it doesn’t have to be just that, it doesn’t mean that this is all over and it’s going to die. It comes down to us really. Do we want it to continue, and do we want to put in the support for it? And we get to answer that question.”
Great piece. Love the SGs in San Diego and they deserve to continue to have a great community club.