It’s impossible for me to convey everything that happened at yesterday’s event. If you were there I hope you had as much fun as I did. We met a lot of new people and had some laughs. STLFC was kind enough to have players and front office staff out to meet the fans and answer questions and they even unveiled a new pre-game sponsor, Mission Taco. Which is great because everybody loves Mission Taco and they just so happen to be physically connected to iTap (our partner bar). So basically away game watch parties at iTap with Mission Taco food is something we would be doing anyway, but now we can claim its to support the team. (Drink a 2nd Shift beer while you’re there just to show some love.)
So, all that was great, but here are the topics we covered and the details:
1. MEMBERSHIP– Membership in the St. Louligans continues to be FREE. No one ever wants to hear that you can’t afford to go to a game because you paid for a Louligan membership or you can’t afford to be a Louligan member because you spent your last $20 on game tickets. If you want to be a Louligan all you have to do is show up and stand with us in section 8. Done. But there are times that Louligans get special perks and if you want to be on that list we need to know your name. You can send an email to info @ Stlouligans.com with your name and just say you plan to be in Section 8. If you are a season ticketholder please let us know that in the email.
2. LCFC Roadtrip– Game #1 for STLFC is on the road vs. Louisville and it also is the first game in our Kings Cup rivalry series. We will be making a road trip. We are determining some of the details. Basically we have to see how many tickets LCFC has allotted to us. After we get that total we’ll go through our list of members that have already expressed the desire to buy tickets to this game. IF there are any extras we will post on facebook or twitter and they will go on a first come first serve basis with Season Ticketholders getting priority. The team will be providing bus transportation. We hope this can be done without spending the night (saving us money on hotels) and we are checking to see what the bus policy is. More details will be provided after we know how many tickets we will have.
3. T-shirts & Scarves– The Scarves have been ordered and are being made now. As soon as they come in we will post when they will be available for pick up. Most likely it will be at a pre-season match or any other Louligan event after that. If you haven’t paid for your pre-order your scarf will be held for a reasonable amount of time but will be sold if you do not pick it up. (I still have shirts that haven’t been picked up from last season.) We will also be doing another run of the Blue Louligan/Fighting Chupacabra shirts. They will be available before games during the regular season while supplies last. Again, if you pre-ordered but haven’t paid they will be held for a reasonable amount of time. If you ordered a scarf to be mailed, they will be mailed the day after the first local pick-up party happens.
4. TIFO– Yes we will be doing a Tifo for the opening match. If you don’t know what we’re talking about, these are the large painted banners that you see supporters groups raise before games. Obviously we don’t have the budget or personnel to match what Timber’s Army or ECS pull off on a regular basis. We’ll start simple and move to more complex and larger designs as we grow. The first design for our home opener has been approved. We will announce the day, but we will ask people that want to come out and help us paint and form a Tifo committee from that group for future projects. We won’t do a big banner for every game, but for important matches we will have things planned. We will also have a day before the season starts to help people make their own signs/banners. A workshop of sorts so people know how to do smaller personal ones for whenever they want.
5. Chants/Songs– Jack & Liz will be our Capos for the season. If you’ve been to any of the chant practices you’ve already met them. We will have a few more practices before the season starts, but we encourage everyone to at least become familiar with some of the basic ones. They have been recorded and are available on our site to listen to. Click here. If you have ideas for songs or chants I encourage you to go to one of the practices or talk to Jack or Liz at a game.
6. Tailgating– STLFC has designated the very back of the lot at Soccer Park for our tailgate area. The park will open at 5:30 for 7:00pm games. That gives us an hour and a half to have some fun before we walk in. We will be allowed to bring in our own food/drink but the team will also be selling food/drink. Food trucks from around the city will be involved and they will also have beer available for us. This will be a work in progress. Times and policies are subject to change depending on what works and what doesn’t. Basically do not abuse the hospitality being shown to us. As long as we work together we can iron out any problems that arise. We will also be doing a march to our section from the tailgate area. Our section will be reserved so no one takes our area, but we will walk in together singing and chanting. There will be a process for us to get ticketed and into the stadium quickly and with our drums/flags etc without slowing up the general public entrance.
7. Gameday– During the matches we will be expected to police ourselves. I don’t expect perfect behavior, but I expect us to behave ourselves to the extent that we get along with the rest of the fans. We will not have any organized chants or songs with profanity. Obviously there will be language used in the stands during the heat of the game, but we will try not to offend our neighbors. We’re still checking on things like smoke bombs. That will be an issue that the team has to work out with the city and we will abide by whatever decision is made and try to find a reasonable compromise if smoke is not allowed. During the game there will be a few designated gameday captains that will sort of patrol our area and be in charge of interacting with stadium personnel or other fans if there is an issue. These gameday captains will have the right to tell somebody to quit doing something that is determined to be disruptive to the group. Again all these policies and rules will be in flux. There will be incidents where we do not agree with the team or security. We will work through these things together. DO NOT do something stupid that will jeopardize the group’s relationship with the team. If someone is consistently a source of disruption they may be asked to leave our section or if it really becomes a problem asked not to come back to games. (I do not expect things to get to that level because all of you are good people. We all have a bad day or too much to drink occasionally- you will be given the appropriate warnings.)
8. Postgame– Still completely up in the air. The team may find a local place to sponsor after game get togethers and we will follow suit.
9. Away games– Yes we will road trip when possible and the team will be helping us when possible. For most road games we will gather at iTap Soulard (which is our partner bar) and watch the USL HD stream of games on one or more of their TVs. iTap always has different specials but maybe we’ll have something for our watch parties. Similarly we’ll work with Mission Taco to have some sort of STLFC special.
10. #PackThePark– Once single game tickets for the home opener go on sale we will be blasting twitter & facebook with the hashtag #PackThePark. LCFC has been using #SellOutSlugger for their home opener and it seems to be doing some good. So we’ll be encouraging friends and enemies alike to #PackThePark. We want the home opener to be sold out and provide the best possible game day experience so the people keep coming back. We need everyone to help make STLFC games the hot ticket in town.
11. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, email list– Please follow, like, subscribe to our social media efforts. I know not everyone uses social media, but it really is the easiest/most effective way for us to communicate to our fans. If nothing else, just set up a twitter account (its free) and follow just us and the team. You don’t have to ever interact but at least you’ll see what’s going on.
12. Podcast– If you haven’t ever downloaded “This is SiLLy!”, our podcast, give it a try. It’s Brad, Mitch and Bird being silly but we generally have some good news and information about the team mixed in along with interviews with important people in STL Soccer. We will be moving to a weekly format and a shorter show once the season starts with game recaps and previews. We hope you’ll give it a listen. It’s available on our site, iTunes and Stitcher. We will also be doing one episode a month on location at iTap so you can come out and be a part of the show.
13. USWNT Game– Coming up on April 4th the USWNT will be playing at Busch Stadium. Most of us will be there sitting with American Outlaws (most of us are members of that group). There are a few tickets remaining in the section so if you’d like to sit with us you can hit them up on facebook or twitter. Ryan and Andi run the local Outlaws chapter and they’re also Louligans. We will be promoting STLFC at the pre-game party and we’ll also be having a great time. I hope you can join us.
14. Your Electric– Mark Gardner is a longtime St. Louligan and his business Your Electric has been a sponsor of the podcast for quite a while. Mark is giving away a season ticket to STLFC. We will announce the winner on Monday night’s episode of the podcast. If you need electrical work done, call Mark.
15. Thank Yous–
Jack & Liz for running the Chant Practices
Ryan for being the Drum Commander
Ryan & Amanda from Adrenaline Prints for making our tshirts
iTap for being a great host whenever we have events
2nd Shift Brewing and Kyle for making Brewligans happen
Jeremy Alumbaugh and the rest of the STLFC staff for everything
Andi & Sarah R. for being our new Time Travel Secretaries for Road Trips
Matt Bird for having an English accent and making the podcast sound more English
Erich & Mark for being Tailgate Bosses
JP & Pat for being the Chiefs of Charity Events
Andi & Ryan for coordinating our efforts with AO
Andi & Malia for helping our diversification efforts and running Louligan Ladies
Mitch for being somewhat a voice of reason
And Thanks to all of you that come out to our events and have fun.
I’m sure I’m forgetting someone. I’m sorry. Thank you.
Update:
Here’s the video of the AGM. We ran out of battery before the players came up and joined in the fun.
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