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WA native Kasey Keller
Something unusual happened this week in Seattle. 90 people
gathered in a pub to watch soccer. That’s not unusual in
itself. A scattering of ex patriot pubs will be able to
claim this feat many Saturday mornings between September and
May. When the
USA
national side play in the World Cup numbers soar into the
hundreds. What was unusual was that the throng who packed
the Atlantic Crossing pub weren’t there to watch Chelsea,
England or even the USA. They were there to watch the
Seattle Sounders. And not even the Seattle Sounders FC that
the mainstream press deigns to cover when an MLS related
press release is unleashed. They were there to shout, cajole
and yell at a TV screen hooked up to a laptop showing our
current USL Sounders do battle in Charleston.
And there was hardly a European accent to be heard as the
die hard (and many new) members of the Emerald City
Supporters (ECS) club were joined by front office staff of
the Seattle Seahawks, Sounders Meet Up group members, a few
of the increasing core of soccer media in Seattle and some
pub regulars who remained there to see what the fuss was
about.
Well the fuss is about soccer and it’s coming to a screen
near you. Whereas you may get the impression from reading
the Seattle Times that the Seattle Sounders’ progression to
the big time is a series of high profile media
announcements, behind the scenes and relatively quietly, a
movement is growing. KJR radio have begun broadcasting a
soccer show which is currently only available on line,
co-presenter and current Sounders TV commentator Mati Bishop
is launching a Seattle Soccer Magazine, the ECS are getting
more organized and are planning game day activities to match
their decibel level. Soccer pub guides are appearing on
Prost Amerika, Kevin Calabro has been enticed from
basketball to make spreading soccer to a new audience his
new mission, and the Sounders FC have appointed Bart Wiley
as Business Development Manager, a post which specifically
includes fan liaison. Add to that Facebook pages for fans
and the 1,200 people who’ve actually voted to be on a
Membership Council and you get the idea. In short everyone
is cooperating to make the new franchise the best it can be.
The key word here is cooperating. There is an incredible
sense of unity in the city. After the recent home game
against
Puerto Rico, fans and owners were seen chatting amicably and casually,
and this was after a defeat. For a club that’s setting
itself up to be the first democracy in American sport, this
seems to be an excellent start for a franchise still 8
months from playing its first match and who only just added
their second player.
Which brings me to Kasey Keller. The worst kept secret in
Seattle was made public as Lacey, WA native Kasey Keller
joined Sébastien Le Toux on Seattle Sounders FC’s playing
staff this week. The former Millwall, Fulham, Spurs,
Leicester and Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper is 38 and
presumably sees joining the organization as something long
term. His media adeptness was demonstrated as he became the
first person in
Seattle
soccer history to conduct a press conference in three
languages. In the short term, the signing will be judged by
his performance on the pitch and among all the emphasis on
Keller’s past deeds and the kudos he brings to Sounders FC,
it was the keeper himself who stressed that he’s come here
to play.
Everybody’s
Having Fun
At the press conference to formally announce Keller’s
signing, there were plenty of smiles. Quite a few of those
were on the face of Adrian Hanuaer, current Sounders owner
and the man set to be the first GM of Sounders FC next year.
Quite clearly a long term fan of Keller’s, Hanuaer’s pride
as he presented the new signing was palpable. When it was
Keller’s turn to face the press, Adrian seemed to do
something quite rare for him in public. He seemed to relax.
He even seemed to be enjoying himself. And why not? Us
mortals are stuck with playing Fantasy Football when picking
our team, he gets to do it for real. He’ll be in Peru or
Venezuela watching players as you read this, clutching his
big yellow Spanish/English dictionary. Yo hablo espanol
Senor Hanauer! Then again, you could just take Kasey Keller
whose Spanish was more than impressive. And very
Castillian.
Two other people who seem to be enjoying themselves are Mati
Bishop and Matt Gaschk of KJR’s
Seattle
Soccer Show. They bravely abandoned the studio on
Saturday to record their first ever outside broadcast in
Seattle’s Fado pub to launch the English season.
Interviewing pub regulars of all nationalities about their
hopes for their own teams in England, the laughter coming
from their corner of the bar punctuated the air as the rest
of the pub enjoyed watching Spurs lose. Hopefully their
first venture outside the safety zone of Sounders related
guests in their studio proved a success and we can hope to
have more coverage of European football to go with their
local output.
Lastly, I’d
like to give a shout out to about fifty other people who
seemed to be having fun as the Puerto Rico Islanders
hammered our Sounders. The growing Emerald City Supporters
club provided not just their noisiest but easily their most
coherent and organized show of support for the club and kept
it going right till the final whistle. While it wouldn’t be
unfair to say some of them couldn’t carry a tune in a
bucket, their efforts to carry the team through a bad patch
were praised by many in other parts of the stadium,
including the press box. I’d encourage anybody interested in
letting off some steam at the football to go down to
Starfire Complex and join them on the far left of the main
stand.
OK
...
that’s all for this week, I hope YOU had fun reading. Next
week, we’ll have a preview of this year’s Bundesliga season
in Germany.
For a full list of Steve's soccer articles
here
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