We are the Sons of Ben

I'm a big fan of the Philadelphia Flyers. Mainly due to the legendary Bullies of 74-75. But their fans attitude is just brilliant to this day. Unfortunately I was visiting during the ice hockey off-season. I did discover however that Philadelphia had recently added its own Football (or Major League Soccer, as they would call it) team to its list of Sporting Clubs. Their supporters club seemed to have a not dissimilar approach to that of the Mighty St Pauli. So I decided to go along for a look. There was Sons of Ben BBQ/Tailgate party behind the ground before the match. Given that the ticket for this included as much beer as you wanted, it seemed to good a shout to pass up.

It was another roasting day. Getting out to the ground was a bit of a hassle, the stadium located waaay out-of-town. Several people warned me to be careful as I was going to pass through a bad part of town. Several people had said that to me about where I was staying over the last couple of days though, so I was getting used to everyone being a little wary of every neighbourhood outside their own one. I did pass a lot of boarded up houses (this certainly seemed to be a running theme in Philadelphia).
The BBQ was great, apart from the lack of shade. Everyone I spoke to was really friendly. There was an American chap there in a kilt, who told me they also had a guy from Peterhead who usually came to matches. They also kindly gave me the use of a season ticket so I could get into the "River End", which is what the home fans called the terrace at their end.

US sport seems to be more about fun and less about duty than it does back home. I have a few friends with season tickets. None of them ever seem to happy about being season ticket holders. It's just something they have to do.
The Union take the field to AC/DC. The Sons of Ben turn their backs and yell "SUCKS" after every opposition team players name is read out. At the front of each terrace stand they have a drummer, or someone with a megaphone to lead the crowd in singing/cheering for the 90 minutes. When Philly score, they play this and set off smoke grenades. At 20:10 they play the song "looking over a four leaf clover" to commemorate the clubs founding in 2010. The depth and breath of supporter made merchandise is great, loads of banners and shirts, making it feel much more of a community thing than any football match I've been to back home.

The end result was a 2-2 draw, Dallas grabbing an equaliser in the last gasp of five minutes of injury time. Understandably, the Union were not too happy. The Referee left the pitch to some serious booing and chants of "WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE".

Getting back was a real pain in the bum as well. Seems the majority of fans drove there as I was alone on the train platform for forty minutes. After such a long day in hot son, I decided to head home for an early night. When I got back to Brewers town, stoop life was in full effect. Everyone sat out on their steps trying to beat the heat. There was even an early smattering of pre-July 4th fireworks.

[Pic: Philadelphia Union and Sons of Ben flags at PPL Park]
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