Sacramento Republic fan base grows as team aims at playoffs
Sacramento Republic coach Mark Briggs had a big ask for fans at the start of the USL season: be even rowdier.
The Quails’ fans were rocking Wednesday night as Republic players pelted L.A. Galaxy II with shots in a critical game, but Briggs was left frustrated yet again as his team took a 1-1 tie.
Sacramento tied the game in the 88th minute when Emil Cuello’s shot glanced off the Galaxy goalkeeper’s hands, then hit the crossbar and bounced to Cam Iwasa. Iwasa ticked the ball over to Darek Formella, who easily stuffed it in the open net.
Briggs was fired up. He threw his pea coat off earlier in the second half, after Galaxy scored in the 57th minute. When Formella tied it, he exhorted his players. Even with his back to the crowd, fans could see Briggs yelling “keep it up” repeatedly. The Quails mostly did, outshooting Los Angeles 16-4 in the second half alone.
“You could feel the momentum. You could feel that the Galaxy had quit and given up,” Briggs said. “In those moments, you have to have that bit of quality. You have to have that little bit of composure to put the ball on the back of the net. We got an equalizer, but again, we’re here in the same position and we should have won the game comfortably.”
The crowd was small by FC standards, with an announced attendance of 8,636 but maybe half that actually in seats at Heart Health Park.
Cameron Dias, with Republic socks on and Republic flags dangling from his car, took it all in with his son Michael in section 204 of the stadium. Dias is a season ticket holder. Though he’s a member of the Tower Bridge Battalion, the rowdy bunch that sits behind the goal on the north end of the field, Dias prefers to sit with his uncles and dad. It’s a little quieter over in 204, but Dias says Sacramento’s soccer culture is growing, as evidenced by the crowd loudly jeering non-calls by officials Wednesday night and heckling Galaxy players who might have faked injuries to slow down the game’s final moments.
“We’re rowdy,” Dias said. “We can get loud without the language. We’ve kind of learned to do that we’ve got under opposing team skin sometimes. And it’s fun.”
Marlee and Glenn Castleman would agree with that. They’re season ticket holders who came to their first Republic game back when they lived in Santa Clara. The thing about attending a Republic game is fans don’t have to understand every nuance of soccer to enjoy attending a game, they said.
“You don’t even have to know the rules,” Marlee said. “We’ll help you. We’ve helped people understand the game and we’re quite happy to do that.”
Marlee’s not-favorite Republic player is Tucker Bone. (Her favorite players always leave the team, so she has not-favorite players.) Her kids played soccer and now Marlee has made a habit of going to Republic games.
“The one thing I love about soccer is it’s family,” she said. “You still can afford to bring a family. You can’t do that in football, hockey. Nothing, right? It’s more expensive. But soccer is still for the family.”
Plus, Glenn pointed out, soccer doesn’t televise as well as some sports. There’s nothing like being in the park.
“Being in the stadium is nothing like watching it on TV,” he said. “On TV, yes, you can get the replay. You can get the different angles, you get the commentary, but there’s just nothing like being there.”
Michael Pohl and Kelsey McLagan were there, sitting on the metal bleachers in section 120, the first people to arrive on that side of the stadium an hour before kickoff. It was the pair’s first time at a Quails game and neither had any idea what to expect. While people who haven’t gone to games might picture the diehard fans who dress head to toe in team gear for games, Pohl and McLagan were impressed by the atmosphere at the stadium.
“When you say metal bleachers at the State Fair, I’m picturing like the little four- or five-row bleachers. … These are a lot more rows and more comfortable,” he said.
“We didn’t expect the scene with the letters (seats spelling out SRFC),” McLagan said. “It’s definitely nicer than I would expect.”
Republic hopes to welcome a huge crowd for Sunday’s home game against Tacoma. With just three games left in the season, Republic sits in seventh place in the Pacific Division. Fourth-place Galaxy II is just one win ahead of Sacramento, and Republic needs to move up that high to go to the playoffs.
The fans will be there. The question remains as it has all season: Can Republic convert all their shots on goal to a win? Briggs, frustrated by Wednesday’s tie, certainly hopes so.
“It was a crucial game but we have the same story. I think we created a number of opportunities.If you don’t put the ball in the back of the net, you don’t win games,” he said. “In the first half, we go around the goalkeeper and we don’t even hit the target. If you don’t put the ball in the goal, you don’t win games. It’s as simple as that.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 7:58 AM.