A Californian Sunday: Angel City FC
It’s becoming a bit of a tradition for me now to make sure I get to a soccer game every time I travel, no matter what initially brought me to town.
Just last month, I found myself sitting in the front row of a Chicago Fire game while visiting a childhood friend. In the last weekend of September, though, I took my Dad to Los Angeles for a massive concert experience that neither of us will ever forget. But it was a last minute decision to include Angel City FC’s final home game of their first season that floored me.
There were so many things at play making this experience what it was.
First of all, let’s talk about the city itself. Anyone who supports a soccer team anywhere in the world knows it’s as much a part of the team as any player. LA is a big sports town, whether you’re into basketball, American football, or the beautiful game. The passion from the community for the game is staggering - there were almost no empty seats, and the crowd was loud - one of the loudest I’ve heard. It’s also mind-boggling to think the capacity inside the Banc of California stadium is 22,000, making it even larger than Brentford Community Stadium where some of the Women’s Euro tournament games took place earlier this summer.
The stadium itself is located centrally, just south of the USC campus. It shares a space in the city with museums and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and is also home to the men’s LAFC team.
When we talk about the community, we have to talk about the fans. We’ve all seen diehard Premier League fans on TV (or, if we’re very lucky, in person). Whether it’s the Kop at Anfield or the Südkurve at the Allianz Arena, the boom of the collective voices of true, diehard local fans have a distinct sound.
For an ACFC game, it is everything you could want from home supporters. Led by their OG supporters group, Rebellion 99, the supporters’ end is adorned with banners in both English and Spanish, as well as pride flags for the LGBTQIA+ communities. There are rows of drumlines in the middle of the stand, leading the supporters in song during the match, and those seated closest to the field are tasked with setting off pink smoke bombs when a goal is scored.
Sat around us was a beautiful landscape of soccer fans. There were diehards, decked out in their gear – a temptation I succumbed to myself, I’ll admit. There was a parent with a small child sat next to us, who couldn’t have been more than four or five and their attention span was limited. But hearing their parent explaining what they were seeing and relating it to how they kick a ball around their own garden at home was endearing.
The famous faces of people who are financially invested in the team like, soccer legend Abby Wambach or actress Gabrielle Union, would appear on the big screens from their seats in the owner’s box. There were young teens grouped together watching from the balconies that open up into the second tier of seats, and a wonderful group of older women with their faces painted with the pink and white team colors.
The entire stadium was electric, and not just because of how the team is performing. Finishing mid-table in your very first ever season as a professional team is something to be proud of, and the race to a playoff position did come down to the very last game of the regular season. But in the stands on a beautiful sunny California Sunday sat a beautiful tapestry of the Los Angeles soccer community - people from all walks of life, families and friends, here to cheer on some of the best players the game has to offer.
One of my favorite moments during the game actually came from my father. He usually watches games with me on TV but is not as invested as I am, so he’ll get up and leave the room from time to time. And up until this game, he’d never been to a live soccer game before. During halftime, he was absolutely stunned by “how fast 45 minutes went.” When you’re watching a fast-paced sport like soccer that covers such a large playing field, it’s not hard to believe how quickly each half goes.
For me, the best part was seeing how aggressive the Angel City players attacked the game. They were hard-hitting, pushing the boundaries of defending, and working together to create complex and thoughtful game play. Anyone who has supported the growth of the women’s game has heard the utter nonsense from people who claim that women are not aggressive or fast enough to keep the game interesting. I don’t know where those people were this summer. The athletes on the field at Banc of California Stadium were playing the game both physically and intelligently, offering puzzles to solve for the tactical nerds out there (I assure you, I am trying to become one and I admire you all) and entertainment for those who just want to see some people get tackled (this is me, I’m her).
Earlier in October, I saw an announcement that the NWSL had already hit one million in attendance for the season. Earlier in September, Angel City’s trip down to San Diego to play at the brand new SnapDragon stadium sold out all 32,000 seats. It’s so moving to see thousands of people come out to support these players, especially in light of the recent Yates report commissioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation which outlined the horrific abuses that players in the women’s game have faced. This past Friday the US Women’s National Team joined with England’s Lionesses behind a banner proclaiming the need to “Protect the Players” before their match at Wembley.
When we think about the aftermath of this past summer’s boom in the women’s game, and we look past these milestones into the future – next summer’s World Cup, for example, and beyond – one can only think that the incredible talent of the players and the overwhelming support from the community will help us hit more goals. Maybe, one day, we’ll just call it all soccer, and leave the gender of the player’s out entirely.