Hello, and welcome to American Tifo, a weekly 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.
In supporter culture, scarves can be sacred. Produced by everyone, clubs, leagues, supporters groups, for just about any reason, theme nights, fundraisers, season campaigns, scarves are shorthand for a group’s visual identity, blank canvases to show off artistic chops, a snapshot of a time and place, physical proof of forged connections and friendships, and time capsules for memories, good and bad.
Because of this, many supporters amass a robust if wonderfully random collection of scarves that track their time as supporters. Ben Goshorn was no different. But instead of displaying his scarves, or continuing to add to his collection, he recently gave most of them away, a process that reminded him just how beautiful the game in North America, and the community around it, can be.
A supporter for almost ten years, Goshorn’s soccer journey has been characterized by waves of intense involvement, and casual detachment. He was the president of Charlotte Independence supporters group, Jack’s Militia, even hosting an Independence podcast a few years ago and now considers himself an active, interested, if slightly laid back Charlotte FC fan. His journey isn’t uncommon among supporters, who can spend several seasons intensely plugged into their supporters group and club, then step back a few seasons later, for reasons including burnout, moving away, or moving on to the next phase of life.
Through his journey, Goshorn built up a collection of about 40 scarves, which, when he moved a few years ago, were stuffed into a tote bag and stored in his closet.
“I’ve taken them out and looked at them a couple of times, but for the most part, they’ve been in that closet for four years,” he said.
With another move coming up, Goshorn used it as the perfect opportunity to scale down his collection. But instead of trying to sell them, he put out a call on Twitter to find new homes for the scarves, offering to ship them anywhere, as long as the recipient covered shipping costs. He was met with resounding interest from people all over the U.S., and as far away as Manchester.
“I figured I could just recirculate them and see if anyone else would want them, or could find joy from them,” he said. “Someone had commented, ‘Oh no, don’t get rid of them, you’ll regret it because there’s memories with them.’ It reminded me that yes, there are tons of memories associated with the scarves, but if somebody else can get some type of joy from it, I might as well move that on.”
Goshorn is still keeping a few, but most have already been claimed and will be shipped out to new homes.
“It’s reminded me how I’ve been fortunate to connect with different people to the point that they were willing to trade scarves with me, or send me a scarf,” he said. “It’s also made me reflect on how many different fandoms I’ve had. I lived in Greenville, South Carolina, then I moved to Charlotte, was a Charlotte Independence fan. Right when I moved to Charlotte, Greenville got a team, Greenville FC, which now does not exist. It’s a reminder of how fickle and strange soccer culture is and how even in that short time frame, how much things can change.”
Some of Goshorn’s scarves are also indicators of the delightfully weird rollercoaster ride that is American soccer. He’s got a St. Patrick’s day scarf from the Independence, produced solely because their manager at the time was also a Gaelic football coach.
“I love how silly and absurd that is, and that’s the experience I’ve had in soccer,” he said. “There’ve been so many periods in my soccer fandom where I’ve gotten really serious and now I’m less serious. The fact that I bought a USL League scarf off eBay for 15 bucks, and I was like, ‘Oh, I have to have this because it's the coolest thing in the world,’ and now I get to pass that on to somebody else who enjoys USL too.”
Along with the gut check for what scarves mean the most to him, this process has been a good reminder for Goshorn that his fandom is unique to him.
“You sit back, and you’re like, I've got all this stuff. Why do I have all this stuff? Does it mean anything to me?” he said. ““I don't have to have all these scarves and go to games every week to be a soccer fan or to appreciate things. It’s been really freeing to me, because there were definitely times when it felt like you had to check off these boxes to be a ‘good’ supporter.”