Sam EisenIntermediate NonfictionDecember 11, 2013

The Hounds Go Marching On

East Carson Street is something of an anachronism. This twenty-one block expanse spans much of Pittsburgh’s Southside neighborhood, one of the city’s most historic. It is a mix of brick and concrete, Victorian architecture nestled alongside newer developments that are already crumbling. East Carson Street’s cultural currency is bars—lots of them. Establishments with names like S Bar and Tiki Lounge, all garish neon lights and pulsating music, are burrowed inside these historic facades.

Piper’s Pub stands alongside the healthy collection of bars, lounges and clubs that line East Carson Street. The outside of Piper’s is nondescript, a heavy wooden door flanked by two long windows and a black awning that buffets in the wind off the Monongahela River. But this one is a little different. On a Friday or Saturday night, most of these bars are filled with students and young professionals, guys with gelled hair and girls in towering heels, drinking fast and hard and spilling out into the lively streets. By midnight, Piper’s won’t even be open.

That’s because Piper’s is a soccer bar, and its clientele arrive much earlier: 7:30 A.M. rubbing sleep from their eyes and filling the spacious booths to watch matches from England, Scotland and Ireland. Popular foreign imports like Stella and Carlsberg fill patrons mugs. You can even clog your arteries with an authentically English breakfast, a heavy plate loaded with mashed potatoes, sausage and eggs doused in gravy.

Piper's Pub, http://img242.imageshack.us 1

Soccer is not a passion of convenience in the United States, and certainly not in Pittsburgh. It takes dedication to wake up early for matches, and expensive subscriptions to cable packages and online streaming services to see everything. But Piper’s has come to be something of a cultural mecca for the Pittsburgh soccer fan: a rare atmosphere where fans can watch games that caters to the truly ardent. This is where the Steel Army was born, the official supporters club of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, the city’s professional soccer team.

But the sport has a long history in Pittsburgh. In England, the game didn’t blossom in London, the nation’s population center. Rather, it was the industrial towns and the port cities where the sport thrived, among shipyards and manufacturing plants in Manchester and Liverpool. And in Pittsburgh, as it was in England, soccer was born in a working class environment, boasting teams populated by local laborers and immigrants. In 1911, two major leagues formed, the Pittsburgh Press League and the Pittsburgh District League, featuring teams from neighborhoods around the city. When the Depression hit and many mines and plants closed down, teams folded, as local companies sponsored most of them. These leagues eventually faded away, replaced in the late 1940s by the Pittsburgh Indians, the first Pittsburgh team belonging to a semi-national American soccer league. But this league would go on to merge with another, and the Pittsburgh Indians did not make the transition. 1

The Riverhounds, founded in 1999, represent the longest running soccer franchise in Pittsburgh’s history. The Hounds occupy the third tier of American soccer, known as the United Soccer League. Two steps below what is considered professional soccer, Major League Soccer (MLS), the league is mostly made up of teams from smaller cities, like Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Dayton, Wilmington and Rochester. The rosters are filled with a mix of fresh-faced college soccer players just out of school and veterans who have bounced around in leagues throughout the country. 2

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Ben Cole sat at a table towards the back of Piper’s Pub. It is November 2007, nearly fifteen months since the Pittsburgh Riverhounds played their last game. In the midst of ownership changes and financial restructuring, the team forfeited an entire season of play. 3 He poured himself a beer from a thick glass pitcher, and took a long, slow sip. The bar is mostly empty, except for Ben’s table, which is crowded with a few of his closest friends, all Riverhounds supporters. They shoot the shit and talk about the team, discussing the new ownership group, and its promise of a stadium in the heart of Pittsburgh’s metropolitan area.

1 http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/pittsburgh.html2 http://www.theuniondues.net/2013/02/13/usl-pro-profile-pittsburgh-riverhounds/3 Paraphrased from interview with Ben, 9/16

“I first discovered the Riverhounds through Piper’s Pub. A friend had started taking me down there, I was getting into soccer, and I met a bunch of the guys who would become the Steel Army. I had no choice but to go along for the ride,” he says. 4

Last season ended on a low note, as the Riverhounds fell 2-1 to the Charlotte Eagles in a play-off. The aggregate final score, over two legs, was 6-1. 5 Back then, the Riverhounds played at a lot of high school fields, scrapping for wins in front of only the most dedicated of their family and friends. The upcoming season will be played at Chartiers Valley High School. The field is multipurpose, with football field goal posts towering over the soccer nets, and a brick red track lining the perimeter of the grass. Emblazoned in the middle of it all is the Chartiers Valley mascot, a white bronco galloping forward across a great, blue expanse.

Chartiers Valley is nice, but it’s still a high school field. It’s also a reminder of the fitful progress the franchise has made, moving between lower tier American soccer leagues and enduring losing season after losing season.

“It’s better than when we played at Bethel Park,” they remind each each other. 6These guys remember the earliest day of the Riverhounds, when the players, some old, some young, some local, some who crossed oceans, carpooled in sputtering vans to the field, piling out into the fresh air. Bethel Park High School, a thirty-minute commute outside Pittsburgh, was the Riverhounds first home, from 1999 to 2003. It was always tough for the players, who helped re-spray the chalk lines and plant goal posts in rough, muddy turf, playing in front of paltry crowds, searching for the path to professional soccer, whether in the United States or overseas. It’s hard to explain to people why you’re chasing a dream when you still have to share a field with junior varsity softball practices.

“We can’t afford to go backwards,” MJ, another Hounds fan, tells the group. In 2004 the team moved down a USL league after a few years of mild success. The Hounds were sold to Sports Facility LLC, who relocated them to a minor league baseball stadium over thirty miles outside the city. The group murmur in assent. No one quite remembers who first thought up the idea, but pretty soon, a piece of paper is passed around, titled simply Pittsburgh Riverhounds Supporters Club. The name Steel Army hadn’t been dreamed up yet. 7 The half-dozen guys sign, divvying up

4 From Steel Army Podcast, http://steelarmypgh.com/2013/01/steel-army-podcast-12713/5 http://books.google.com/books?id=IEtLjtqaCTgC&pg=PA1253&lpg=PA1253&dq=pittsburgh+riverhounds+2006+playoff&source=bl&ots=tZw0XetKz9&sig=9Cr6RV47acsmlO3rd8TheCvytag&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xPenUufdGcirkQfzhICIDw&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=pittsburgh%20riverhounds%202006%20playoff&f=false6 http://steelarmypgh.com/2013/01/steel-army-podcast-12713/7 Paraphrased from conversation, Ben Cole, 9/16

duties and responsibilities, planning already whom they can recruit, what they can accomplish. Ben is granted the presidency.

“There were only about eight of us there,” Ben recalls. “That’s how it all started.” Five years later ownership delivered as promised—a new stadium, one that could stand proudly alongside the other historic ballparks of Pittsburgh.

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A crowd two hundred strong, mostly male, surges into the South Stand at Highmark Stadium. It’s April, but the air still holds a late winter chill, and the breeze is sharp and cutting off the water. There are bleachers, but the fans won’t be sitting for the next two hours. A thick man at the center of the group supports a heavy drum slung around his back, and thumps along to a steady rhythm.

The players have yet to emerge from the tunnel. It is April 13th 2013 and the clock reads 7:55, five minutes until kick-off. Tonight is the Pittsburgh Riverhounds home opener, and the first match at Highmark Stadium, the team’s new $10 million home field.

“This is no high school field,” Ben says, leaning over to his friends. “Look at it.” The grass is a deep, rich green. The chalk lines are still pristine, drawn with faultless precision. There isn’t a blade of turf out of place. Just behind one of the goals stands a flagpole, an American flag and Riverhounds flag side by side. Near the center circle sits a modest scoreboard mounted on two red beams, the words Highmark Stadium printed just above. A wrought iron fence stands between the pitch and the railroad beyond, bordering the East and North ends. And out, past the fence and beyond the shore, lies the city of Pittsburgh, the skyline framed against the sky. City lights shimmer and ripple in the river.

The Steel Army in action, http://en.wiki 1

Suddenly, the players emerge, sprinting out of the tunnel and towards the center circle, the April night snapping at their heels. The Steel Army erupts, sending cheers into the black night. Sharp shadows dance around the field, cast by a few towering floodlights. It is now less than two minutes until kickoff, and the referee walks slowly towards the pitch, holding the game ball, and the songs of the supporters drown out even the referee’s whistle. The players take their positions, and the game begins. Let’s go fucking mental, the Steel Army sings, hoisting scarves and banners, waving flags, stamping their feet, their hands stretched to the sky.

The Steel Army is far from glamorous. Most of the men are a little overfed and a little under-groomed, and tonight they are bundled tightly in the blue and white of the club. More than a few pairs of eyes are bleary; some of the group has been drinking since the morning. “You know what makes this unique?” says MJ. “No-one can go into a supporters group with an open mind and not have a good time. You just can’t. If you find this type of environment at a soccer game, you’ll be hooked.” 8

Though it takes seventy minutes for the team to christen their new home with a goal, the support is unflagging, and the Steel Army sings loud and proud, their voices raw, their lips chapped. Jose Angulo opens the scoring for the Riverhounds, and the crowd roars its approval.

“It’s funny, we’re so used to watching them on rough pitches,” MJ notices. “The ball used to bobble all over the place, the grounds were so bad. Now look how smooth it is.” The Riverhounds stroke the ball around in their own half, passing with metronomic precision. Within eight minutes, however, the Harrisburg City Islanders have equalized, sending a low groan rippling through the stands. In the final minute of the game, the Riverhounds suffer a final blow. The Islanders score a last second winner, shock on the faces of shocked fans. 9Only a minute later, the referee blows his whistle, and the players hang their heads for a moment before shaking hands with their opponents, applauding the supporters section, and jogging into the tunnel. The Steel Army is disappointed, but not crushed. These fans take very little for granted.

“You support your team no matter what,” Ben says. Rattling off games, scores, and dates, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Riverhounds admittedly brief history. “Some games stay with you forever, and sustain you.” It’s been important for these fans to find something to sustain them. Two years ago, the club only won two games. 10The Riverhounds ownership have lofty ambitions: a place in the MLS,

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9 http://us.soccerway.com/matches/2013/04/14/united-states/usl-pro/pittsburgh-riverhounds/harrisburg-city-islanders/1443013/10 http://us.soccerway.com/teams/united-states/pittsburgh-riverhounds/

the top tier of American soccer, and eventual expansion of Highmark Stadium to over 18,000 seats. 11

“We heard for a while we would get our own stadium. This location, that location. When the new ownership told us we would get one we kind of said okay,” Ben shrugged. “We had become inundated with all these promises.” So when it comes to talk of an eventual MLS franchise, Ben is reserved. The philosophy of the Steel Army is to enjoy what they have now, not worry about the future.

But maybe that attitude is shifting. “Now that it’s down there, I remember the first time I went to the stadium and looked around it was just like ‘Wow, this is fucking awesome.’” The Steel Army and the Riverhounds finally had something to call their own.

“I didn’t know what to expect at an American soccer match,” says Phil Grabsky, documentary filmmaker and long-time Manchester City fan. Phil, while on a business trip, spotted the stadium while driving into the city. It looked like a soccer pitch, but he wasn’t sure. His curiosity was piqued. “It’s fantastic. It’s just like home. Well, a little smaller.”

On match days, Piper’s is hot, crowded and sweaty, the smell of beer and perspiration mingling in the thick air. Ben moves through the crowd genially, pushing past a throng of bodies. He’s tall and wide, recognizable by a shock of red hair and a rough, heavy beard that threatens to eclipse his face. Bodies compress, full glasses of Guinness tremble dangerously, and waitresses bustle through the crowd with hot plates. A group of friends motions him over to their table. Ben is voracious consumer of soccer. “I support Liverpool, I support Celtic, I have in-laws in Italy and support Roma,” he says over a drink. And the list goes on. But the club he holds closest to his heart is, of course, the Riverhounds.

It’s obvious that Ben loves the game. Eyes glinting, he is always happy to discuss another match or relate another anecdote. Soccer is a game of aesthetics, defined not by box scores and numbers but fluid, intricate exchanges of play. “We talk about how we want the team to play until we’re blue in the face,” Ben says. But for someone who loves the science of the game (the way a forward can drop back into the midfield, known in soccer as a trequartista, the value of the holding midfielder whose job is to protect the defense, the responsibilities of a good fullback), he is sanguine when it comes to the Riverhounds style of play. “I don’t even know what formation we use,” he confesses. Maybe it’s the personal relationships shared between the fans and players of this small organization, but Ben seems reluctant to criticize the team tactics. “I just want to see the players go out there and play. I’m not the coach, I just wave the flag.”

11 http://triblive.com/sports/otherlocal/4469737-74/mls-stadium-riverhounds#axzz2n8rEqPEM

Ben’s here to watch Liverpool play Arsenal, a crucial English league match. A waitress arrives at his table, carrying trays with towering pint glasses. Two blonde women walk into the bar as the match begins. They have tan skin and long eyelashes, and it’s clear whatever the two were expecting when they stepped in the door, it wasn’t this. Standing bemused in the corner, the room is suddenly filled with exasperated sighs as a Liverpool striker sends a shot narrowly wide of the goal post. Ben throws up his hands. Though others around him occasionally turn away from the TV, sparking conversation (despite the animosity between these two teams, Piper’s is, for the most part, a pretty friendly place), he keeps his eyes locked on the game. Only as the whistle goes for half time does he wander off to order another beer.

This past season, the Steel Army started a tradition of marching to games, through the Southside and down the wide avenues that run toward the stadium. Ignoring crosswalks, the Army, wielding drums, flags and beer, sound their arrival like a military battalion. There’s something revolutionary about the scene: they carry flags of unusual colors, singing songs with syllables stretched to breaking point, leaving a wake of confused locals and discarded empty’s.

It all feels a little bit counterculture. “We’re a bunch of weirdos,” admits Bobby Zebrasky. “There’s a preconception of going to watch athletics and letting the scoreboard tell you what to do, when to cheer. With us, you just put it all out there.” 12

Ben marches at the head of the group, shouting into a megaphone.

Who are we?! Ben asks the crowd in a loud, harsh yell.THE HOUNDS!! the Steel Army roars back. 13

Ben is wearing a baggy blue Riverhounds t-shirt with a heavy, knit Riverhounds scarf around his neck despite the warm weather. Pulled over his head is a white and blue hat, also bearing the team’s logo. He’s not the only one dressed like this; the rest of the Army is decked out in the same heavy scarves.

“These scarves are new,” says MJ. A few years ago the Riverhounds wore a checked, light blue shirt, and before that black and red. With each new ownership came a rebranding, new colors, and often new logos. “Let’s hope these are here to say,” he says, holding up a scarf.

12 Quote from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4FcmwRhq2413 Song quotes from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3-HSCjNhIY

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On the last day of the 2013 season the Riverhounds tied one all with the Richmond Kickers to earn their first playoff berth in half a decade. The dream season would continue, at least for another week. 14 Pittsburgh is drawn against Orlando City in the first round of the playoffs, a perennial powerhouse who finished only one point off the league’s top spot. The match is set for August 24th in Orlando. 15The Riverhounds are to make one of their longest road trips of the year. The team departs for Florida earlier in the week, ready to fight to keep their season alive. The matchup suggests the Riverhounds are heavy underdogs, but league results against Orlando this season say otherwise. In two games, the Hounds managed to hold Orlando scoreless, and buoyed with confidence, they board a commercial flight headed to the quarterfinals. “I think when we play well, there's no one in the league that can stay with us,” says midfielder Matt Dallman before the match. Orlando City hasn’t lost a match in nearly two months. 16

August 24th dawns hot and muggy in Florida. As the Riverhounds warm up at the Florida Citrus Bowl, an open, tangerine-pink stadium that idylls at the shore of Lake Lorna, big, pregnant storm clouds drift overhead. By the time the match kicks off at 7 P.M., the air is thick, and thunder rumbles ominously. Orlando City race off to an early lead, scoring two goals in the first five minutes of play. Not too long after, the heavens open, drenching the pitch. The drainage isn’t effective, and the ball skids

14 http://www.riverhounds.com/Media/GAMES/index_E.html15 http://www.riverhounds.com/home/749749.html16 Quote, info from http://triblive.com/sports/otherlocal/4570324-74/orlando-hounds-pro#axzz2n8rEqPEM

and kicks across the slick grass, sending players sprawling. The game, and the season, is slipping away. 17

Over 1,000 miles away, the Steel Army pack into Highmark Stadium, hauling chairs and beers, arranging themselves among their friends, ready to watch the playoff. The match will be streamed live on the stadium scoreboard. When the final whistle blows, the score is 5-0 to Orlando City. Some of the Army trudge to their cars, shaking off the sting of a bitter defeat.

But a few of them stay behind. They look up at Riverhounds flag, big and blue, a clean outline against the crisp black sky. They look at the main stand, now empty. After tonight, the Army won’t be back to the stadium for eight months. “Take nothing for granted,” Ben says, gathering up his blanket and his trash, disappointment etched on his face. And with one last look around, he walks away from the stadium, out, across the lots and the avenues. It’s last call at Piper’s.

17 Scenes from video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdKkjJy5Qnk

Reporting Log

Ben Cole, Spoke to 9/14 and 9/16, 5-6 and 7-9 respectively.Contact: benmcole@gmail.com

MJ, Spoke to 10/28 8-10pm.Conact: mjinpitt9@gmail.com

Bobby Zebrasky, spoke to 10/23 8-9:30pm.Contact: rzebrasky@gmail.com

Interviews with Piper’s Patrons, 9/28, 11/9, 11/16, from 9am-12pm, 8am-10am, 11am-2:30pm

Phil Grabsky, spoke to 11/14, 5-7 via videoContact: pgrabsky@seventh-art.com