Philly Trip A Sign Of Growing US Fan Base

Unlike the trip to New York City's Legends bar which started this two-year blog tour odyssey, there was not a fully formed group of Newcastle supporters in Philadelphia when I visited last weekend.

Coming from a city with a similar situation, I can sympathize. With virtually every match available on TV, with a relatively inexpensive Fox Soccer 2 Go subscription, or through legally dubious streaming websites, it's a lot of effort to wake up even earlier on a weekend morning to watch your club - especially given the dire results we've seen most of this season.

But travel they did - and for a 7:45 am start time, no less! And that's why that as impressive as it was to get 40 or so black-and-white clad fans into Legends over New Year's weekend, it was an equally worthy feat to pack a dozen into Fadó to see Yoan Gouffran score his first goal for the club. It was a shame that a decent effort didn't get the point it deserved.

Maybe the biggest shock about the States, for our English fans, is the sheer scale of our great country. As I described it when recapping my trip to NYC for the January issue of The Mag, that trip from Boston to New York would be one of the longer Premier League travel days, at a shade over 200 miles each way. That obviously means plenty of miles to log when I'm doing the blog tour, but it also presents logistical hurdles to arranging fan groups in the US. 

And lest you think that the folks in Philly put something together especially for me, they're already planning to do more now that I've left. In the week since, they've already thought about designs for a custom flag to take with them to the pub - or hopefully to NUFC's next set of American friendly matches. Some of the people at Fadó that day had never actually met each other before the Spurs match. Now, they've got a reason to get together again.

That's why, as my co-blogger Bob explained a few months ago, it would be a mistake for Newcastle to sweep through Brazil before paying another visit to our fair shores. There's a market here, whether it's people just getting into the Premier League, or Newcastle fans searching for groups to call home, that another preseason trip would help bring to the forefront. If Philadelphia can get a dozen people to turn up when some silly writer walks through the door, imagine the response when Hatem Ben Arfa or Papiss Cissé comes to town. That would seriously be something unforgettable.

If any fellow fans are coming to Philly on matchday, it's worth your while to get in touch with Chris, aka @ToonArmyPhilly on Twitter.

Comments

[MichiToon25]

Do you have a schedule of your upcoming tour dates?

[andy]

Does Fado have Fox Soccer Plus?
How many Toon fans are going to the game at Fado's this Thursday?

I went to Tir Na Nog to watch the UEFA cup game v Metalist, they have the best fish and chips, curry sauce and sausage rolls I've ever had in USA and that's coming from an Englishman! Plus they have Fox Foccer Plus and Newcy Broon on tap!!!

[shawn]

Do you know of any NUFC supporter groups in Florida? Particularly Central Florida?

[rob]

Andy, Fado does have FSC and FSC+ and they make some pretty good breakfast foods (hangover breakfast sandwich is my favorite). I doubt I will come into the city Thursday and Southampton is not on TV. Next match on TV I should be there.

[sidekick]

Shawn;
My oldest son lives in Florida (Land O' Lakes) , but he does not know of any NUFC supporter groups.
A number of his friends now support 'the toon' and I had to send a few Toon shirts over when they went to watch us play in Orlando.
They sometimes watch games in a bar in Tampa.

[Matt]

Thanks for the help, guys! I guess Orlando is the next place someone needs to get things started.

Andy, the Philly group has a Facebook page as well (search Toon Army Philadelphia), so definitely introduce yourself to everyone over there.

MichiToon25: I do have a tentative tour schedule for the rest of the season drawn up, but don't announce anything until the hotel and/or flight is booked. At the moment, DC the last week of March (Man City) is official, and I'm planning on three other cities in April and May, but haven't locked in any of those.

I forget, was it you who had asked about Lansing a few months back, or was that another Michigan-based person in the comments? Regardless, it's on my list for the fall. Thankfully, it looks like we'll still be in the Premier League then. Relegation would've put a serious dent in this whole tour.

[Chris]

Hey Andy, there's a slim chance I may catch Metalist @ Fado on Thurs -- depends on work. As Rob said, Fado has both FSC and FSC+ as well as one TV with FoxSoccer2Go access. Definitely join the group if you have a chance:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ToonArmyPhilly/

[MichiToon25]

Matt,

Yes, I was the Lansing based person from a while back. I'll keep an eye on the blog and in touch with you and hopefully this fall we can set something up.

[Andrea]

For those of us who have watched Newcastle in our homes and had never met another Newcastle fan, meeting others at Fado was great. Thankfully the blizzard went to our north that weekend. I don't know if I could have made the hour drive that early morning if I had to shovel out a drive way first! For those of us here in America, it is harder to be a fan. You just don't see anyone walking around wearing your team jersey. You can't talk over the game at the water cooler on Monday mornings. So it was a pleasure to meet fellow Toon fans. Matt, thanks for making Philadelphia one of the stops on the blog tour. It was nice meeting you.