Soccer with Brain: What makes a soccer team?

Within a few minutes and a quick Twitter search, you can find a flood of blogs, websites, accounts dedicated to a number of different teams both in the MLS and NASL as well as abroad. All have their own way of showing support. All care for the same thing. The glory and success of their club.


This is no secret in sports. Basketball, college sports, football, and even swimming have a dedicated base of fans who want nothing more than to see their team or group win whatever is the top level in their respective league.



What makes a supporter base what it is? Is it passion? Is it the desire to see a team win?


Recently, this was all brought into question as a group of Chelsea FC fans shouted, shoved, and chanted racist remarks at a black male attempting to board a train in Paris. This was done by taking classic football-style chants and attaching racist remarks to it.



The question lies with what truly makes up the image of a team. For me, as someone who hasn't been around the sport for a while, I see a team to be mainly around the supporters. When I attended my first Indy Eleven match last year, it had very little to do about what was going on on the field. While I was interested and excited to see the game live. Seeing a match live is a much different experience than seeing a match on TV. 

The reason that's different? It all has to do with the supporters and the people around you. Soccer is a much more interactive sport than any other in the world. You get an experience sitting with your friends, the smell of beer building from your feet, and shouting at the opposing team when they try to score. It's an experience and an event instead of just a normal game each week.  This is the pandora's box of soccer. The idea that a team is less what a team does business wise and more about the supporters and their actions probably unsettles many of the front offices around the world. It's true though. 

So, what makes a team? Fans. The fans control the experience of the game. They control how the game feels, how it looks. When you watch a game on TV, you hear the chants from the home section. You can see the flags. You go on Twitter, you can have endless hours of conversations with those who care about the game. Blogs, Facebook pages, tweets, interactions are all centered around the fans. They ask questions, they question decisions. Some teams, (Like AFC Wimbledon)  even have supporters who financially support the team with partial ownership.  Soccer is growing. Soccer is expanding. With that comes a whole new wave of individuals who believe in a way that you don't. It's a battle that soccer will carry on for years to come. You will always have fans who identify with a team, act out, and thus the headline reads "Chelsea fans..." This isn't ever going to be the fault of the team. Looking at the coverage from the aftermath of the video being leaked, Chelsea responded in a way any brand would. 

Today is our Game for #Equality. Here is a special message from our players and manager... https://t.co/m8erWulrY2
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 21, 2015

This, along with a number of other events and things that Chelsea did in light of the actions of a few of their supporters, it screamed a little of the wrong message. It was very smart to deny the actions of those supporters, it reached a point that there were portraying a stance instead of "we don't agree with them." It hit a "we don't agree with them... because we have black players on our teams."


Regardless of the right and wrong of this situation, the level it hits is this. Supporters have a LARGE impact on a team and their actions. The moves, the choices, and the success can be centered around sponsorships and the players, but ultimately the overall success of a team is centered around the actions and the environment that supporters create in the stands.


So, to answer the question? What makes a team? Is it the players? Merchandise? Front office or management?

The supporters. Supporter make a team.