I devoted an entire chapter to this in "A Massive Season," but for a while there was an annoying bit of fiction going around that 2,300 Toronto FC fans came to Columbus and humiliated Crew fans and as a result, they got together and formed the Nordecke. It made for a good soundbite, since this was the MLS era in which Toronto was inventing everything before Seattle eventually invented everything, but the only problem was that it wasn’t true.
In 2007, Crew Union, Hudson Street Hooligans, and La Turbina Amarilla were scattered across the North End. When the Hunts erected the stage at that end of the field, the three supporters groups were then shoehorned into the north corner, which is where the name “Nordecke” would come from.
On that afternoon, knowing that the fans were going to be a big story, Dante Washington and I watched the game from the upper deck on the west side, right near midfield. That way we were equidistant from both sets of fans. The honest truth is that the 1,000-strong Nordecke was louder than the 2,300-strong Maple Menace. Granted, the 2-0 score probably helped with that.
The achievement was significant. Crew supporter groups had traditionally been a fractious lot. As much as it sucked, it wasn’t uncommon for several hundred Fire fans to come in and chant “Fiiyyyyyyyy-uuuurrrrrrre” for 90 minutes and be the loudest group in the stadium. Granted, the relentlessly pro-Chicago scorelines over the years also probably had a lot to do with that. But on March 29, 2008, all that changed. In the face of a record away-fan invasion, Crew supporters banded together and rose to the occasion.
Toronto did play an unwitting role in the creation of the Nordecke. Their incessant off-season smack talk about how they were going to take over our stadium provided the impetus for the Nordecke to get its act together. They were ready. And they prevailed.
“Our section over in the corner responded to all of the hype over the Toronto fans,” noted Danny O’Rourke from the winning locker room. “They put on a show today.”
“I thought it was great how our fans stepped up to the challenge,” said Crew coach Sigi Schmid in his postgame press conference. “I know they were disappointed with the stage going in, but with all of them sitting together in the corner, I thought it was tremendous. To see all that black and gold, and all the flags, I thought it was tremendous.”
So it wasn’t Toronto humiliating Crew fans that created the Nordecke AFTER March 29, 2008. It was Toronto prematurely running its mouth beforehand that inspired the Nordecke to rise to the occasion ON March 29, 2008.
The lesson, as always, is #LOLTFC.
