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Pitch Invasion Podcast Episode 9 – Fire Anniversary Special

Tom Dunmore — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:55:54 +0000

PI Podcast co-host Peter Wilt, the founding General Manager of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club, looks back 15 years to the club’s earliest days, explaining where its name, identity and fans came from in a special Fire Anniversary edition of the podcast.

The show is available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes or available via RSS. Check out the PI Podcast archive here.

Follow hosts Tom Dunmore and Peter Wilt on Twitter:

Follow @tomdunmore

Follow @peterwilt1

Pitch Invasion Podcast Episode 8

Tom Dunmore — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:47:50 +0000

“It’s a driver of player compensation.” Bob Foose, the Executive Director of the MLS Players’ Union for almost a decade, explains why the Union releases player salaries annually. Bob joins Tom Dunmore and Peter Wilt to give some unique insight into how MLS operates, and how he advocates for player rights – and explains the reality behind the salaries released each year by the Union.

The show is available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes or available via RSS. Check out the PI Podcast archive here.

Follow hosts Tom Dunmore and Peter Wilt on Twitter:

Follow @tomdunmore

Follow @peterwilt1

Pitch Invasion Podcast Episode 7

Tom Dunmore — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:39:01 +0000

The head of North America’s Professional Referee Organization (PRO), Peter Walton, and San Antonio Scorpions president Michael Hitchcock join Peter Wilt and Tom Dunmore on episode 7 of the Pitch Invasion podcast.

The show is available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes or available via RSS. Check out the PI Podcast archive here.

Pitch Invasion Podcast Episode 6

Tom Dunmore — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:46:30 +0000

In episode six of the Pitch Invasion podcast, hosts Peter Wilt and Tom Dunmore welcome Real Salt Lake president Bill Manning and Chicago Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler onto the show to discuss the business of American soccer.

The show is available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes or available via RSS. Check out the PI Podcast archive here.

Pitch Invasion Podcast Episode 5 – May 2012

Tom Dunmore — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 17:06:35 +0000

In episode #5 of the pod, hosts Peter Wilt and Tom Dunmore welcome Cal FC Head Coach Eric Wynalda and Minnesota Stars FC Head Coach Manny Lagos onto the show, discussing their giant-killing efforts in the US Open Cup.

The Pitch Invasion podcast is based out of Chicago and Milwaukee, the respective homes for the show’s hosts Tom Dunmore and Peter Wilt, covering the world of soccer from a North American angle.

The show is available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes or available via RSS. Check out the PI Podcast archive here.

Pitch Invasion Podcast Episode 4 – April 2012

Tom Dunmore — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:33:04 +0000

The fourth episode of the monthly Pitch Invasion podcast features interviews with Sporting Kansas City CEO Robb Heineman and Section 8 Chicago ISA Chairman Joel Piktel.

The Pitch Invasion podcast is based out of Chicago and Milwaukee, the respective homes for the show’s hosts Tom Dunmore and Peter Wilt, covering the world of soccer from a North American angle.

The show is available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes or available via RSS. Check out the PI Podcast archive here.

Please let us know your thoughts on the show in the comments below or drop us a tweet:
Tweet #pipodcast

Pitch Invasion Podcast Episode 3 – March 2012

Tom Dunmore — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:19:04 +0000

The third episode of the monthly Pitch Invasion podcast features interviews with FC United of Manchester General Manager Andy Walsh and MLS agent Patrick McCabe.

The Pitch Invasion podcast is based out of Chicago and Milwaukee, the respective homes for the show’s hosts Tom Dunmore and Peter Wilt, covering the world of soccer from a North American angle.

The show is available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes or available via RSS. Check out the PI Podcast archive here.

Please let us know your thoughts on the show in the comments below or drop us a tweet:
Tweet #pipodcast

District Ultras: Small Numbers, Big Support In DC

Tom Dunmore — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:10:25 +0000

In the corner of RFK’s crumbling edifice, a small but experienced group of fans have in recent times been making significant shows of support for DC United considerably out of proportion to their actual numbers. They are the District Ultras, founded in 2010. Here’s what they did in their first year:

Many of the individual members of District Ultras are not new to DC United, or to DC United’s historically active supporters’ group scene – arguably the consistently strongest throughout much of the league’s 16-year history – but as a group they are a new addition to a scene traditionally powered by the well-known Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles groups.

Pitch Invasion asked Srdan Bastaic, one of the driving forces behind the District Ultras, where they had come from. ”Our core group has been around for much longer, handling all the tifo in the Barra for a long time, but as dominant as we were in, say, the 2005-2007 MLS period, by 2009 or so the supporter scene in US had become much stronger. It wasn’t just DC and Chicago anymore,” Bastaic said. “The DC atmosphere was already stagnating at that point and we wanted to be able to rival the new and old and improved groups. Successful groups need money to run and selling t-shirts and scarves to raise funds really wasn’t going to cut it at that point as it has in the past.”

Bastaic explained that this desire to take DC tifo to a new level and the required funding led to some intense discussions within Barra Brava. “So our tifo crew met, then tried to compromise and talk it through for several months and at the end we didn’t have a choice but to split into a separate group,” Bastaic explains.

This led to a breakaway group of tifo-mad ultras looking for a new section to call home at RFK, briefly floating amongst the other supporter group areas. “Nine of us walked and it was pretty funny for a few months,” Bastaic says. “We were all over the stadium, in the La Norte section one match, then in Screaming Eagles, then between sections. We actually did a few displays by walking into a section of regular fans and putting up these big 20 foot high banners, it was a pretty bizarre time.”

The District Ultras badly needed a space of their own. Bastaic continues, “Around the middle of the season, the DC front office figured we’re not going anywhere, so they gave us a far corner section in RFK. That’s when we started to grow, as people who were interested in our mentality had a stable section to come to.”

DC United versus Seattle, 7.15.10

DC United versus LA, 7.18.10

DC United versus Philadelphia, 8.22.10

DC United versus Columbus, 9.4.10

DC United versus Houston, 9.25.10

DC United versus Toronto, 10.23.10

That first year in 2010 – with a tifo display every game – was, as would be expected, something of an uphill battle since the District Ultras had to “build everything all over again from the ground up,” as Bastaic puts it. Relations with the club were also “rocky at the start”, though smoothed over as the front office came to understand the group’s purpose: “we’re on the same side after all,” Bastaic says. Support from DC’s Screaming Eagles – particularly helpful with tickets for away games – was a big boon for the nascent group.

In 2011, another smaller though older DC supporters group, La Norte, moved adjacent to the District Ultras, and the two groups have developed a strong relationship together. This helped the District Ultras reach a new level with their support in 2011.

DC United versus New England, 7.20.11

DC United versus Toronto, 8.6.11

DC United versus Salt Lake, 9.24.11

DC United versus Chicago, 10.15.11

DC United versus Portland, 10.19.11

DC United versus Kansas City, 10.22.11

Starting a new supporters group is a massive challenge, even for those with the experience of the District Ultras leadership. As DC United General Manager Dave Kasper mentioned on the recent Pitch Invasion podcast, DC United’s support may have to wait until the club moves to a new stadium before it matches the new standards set in MLS support in recent seasons, reclaiming the ground once held by Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles.

One suspects if DC’s support does take a fresh spurt forward, it’ll be in part from District Ultras’ imaginative tifo efforts: as Bastaic puts it, “We’ve got a good mixture of veterans and new blood, and we can really go anywhere from here, supporting our club and representing our city.”

Update: Here’s a roundup of District Ultras’ 2011 tifo efforts

All photos provided by District Ultras. Photos 7.15.10 and 9.24.11 by Neil Brandvold.

The Pitch Invasion Podcast Episode 2

Tom Dunmore — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:48:29 +0000

The second episode of the monthly Pitch Invasion podcast, focused on North American soccer, features interviews with DC United General Manager Dave Kasper on the club’s upcoming MLS season and general development, and a conversation with Jeremy Wright of the Timbers Army, discussing the growth and future of supporter culture in Portland and nationwide following the recent Independent Supporters Council conference hosted in the Rose City.

It’s available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes. Please let us know your thoughts on the show in the comments below, and you can also listen to episode one here.

Amateur Football In Germany

Tom Dunmore — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:18:35 +0000

SV Pfiffelbach vs. SV 1951 Gaberndorf. Ground: Waldsportplatz Pfiffelbach.

Pfiffelbach score.

SpG Glesien/Zwochau/Zschernitz vs. SpG Naundorf/Zschepplin. Ground: Sportanlage an der Mühle.

SG Gnandstein 49 vs. TuS Pegau 1903. Ground: Sportstätte Gnandstein.

BSV Halle-Ammendorf vs. Hallescher FC Landespokal Sachsen-Anhalt. Ground: Stadion der Waggonbauer. Banner is a protest against rising ticket prices.

Hallescher SC 1996 II vs. Post- und Telekom SV Halle 1. Ground: Sportplatz Brandberge.

SG Aufbau/ Tasmania III vs. SV Bruckdorf 1948 II.

Ground: Sportplatz Motor II.

SV Spora vs. SV Mertendorf. Ground: Sportplatz Nißma.

SV Teuchern II vs. SV Krauschwitz 1. Ground: Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Stadion.

Naumburger SV 05 II vs. TSV Leuna 1919. Ground: Sportanlage NSV 05/Hallescher Anger.

The “Upper Ground” and the “Lower Ground” are seperated by a railroad. Grounds: Sportplatz Grün-Weiß Langendorf.

SV Eintracht Profen vs. TSV Leuna 1919. Ground: stadion des Friedens.

Ground: Erich Schulz Sportstätte, Deuben.

Ground: Sportplatz am Wald, Droyßiger SG.

Ground: Sportplatz am Wald, Droyßiger SG. The ground marks the edge of the wood of Droyßig.

Football ground of Fortuna Bad Bibra.

TuS Germania Schnelsen vs. FSV Dörnberg. Ground: Stadion Lindenberg.

TSV Geyer vs. BSG Motor Zschopau. Ground: Sportplatz Geyer II.

VfB Apolda vs. FC Carl Zeiss Jena. Ground: Hans Geupel Stadion.

All photos taken by and used with the permission of fchmksfkcb on Flickr.

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