Oliver Rodriguez still remembers his first drum beat. He can mimic it over video chat, playing an imaginary bass drum with his left hand, and a cymbal with his right, a pitter-patter of classic barra rhythm ubiquitous at South American and Mexican soccer games.
He first played it at seven years old, when he attended a Liga MX game with his father. At halftime, he was introduced to one of the drummers, taught the simple groove, and allowed to practice for the entire second half. Rodriguez, now 18 and living in San Diego, still plays some variation of it to this day.
The Southern California native – and proud San Diegan – is one of the hundreds of thousands of fans San Diego FC is trying to reach ahead of its inaugural season in Major League Soccer. This is a unique sporting culture, a place infatuated with its soccer but – truth be told – slightly resentful of the professional franchises in other major sports that have been stripped from its grasp over the years.
The challenge for the club, then, is to tie it all together, and in the midst of a chaotic political climate, unite fans around an entirely new product.
“It’s been very, very carefully thought out,” Jerry Jimenez, supporter relations manager at San Diego FC, told GOAL. “Understanding that supporters need to grow into what their own culture is going to be. They need to figure it out on their own. And we’re here just to facilitate that and be a conduit to what they want to create for the community.”