CASCADIA — IBWM
Most fans spend the close season scouring the papers and internet chat rooms for rumours of new signings and leaked photos of garish new away kits but for a group of American supporters the months before the kick-off of the 18th season of Major League Soccer held something much grander in store.
The football teams of the Pacific North West are well known throughout MLS for their passionate supporters who proudly unfurl impressive tifo displays before matches, especially when they come up against each other. The intense rivalries between the Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders are not some marketing wheeze dreamt up by league officials. These are real fans whose devotion to their clubs goes back generations creating atmospheres that many, rather more sterile grounds, on the other side of the pond could take a lesson from. But now some of these fans are joining together for a common cause.
Cascadia is the name given to the region taking in British Columbia in Canada and Oregon and Washington in the US. The three MLS sides contest the Cascadia Cup every season which is a real badge of pride for the victors. And although there are those living in the region that campaign for political independence, these fans are all about the football. And now they want their own representative team. Lenny Laymon, President of the Cascadia Association explains: “This sport is woven into the fabric of life here in a way that is a bit different than other parts of the US and Canada. The Cascadian MLS clubs go back to 1974 for Vancouver and Seattle and in the case of the Portland Timbers 1975. While this is not as long as the hundred year histories many clubs around the world boast, it is older than the rest of MLS and most fans come from families where being a fan of the Whitecaps, Sounders or Timbers spans several generations.”
Alongside a real sense of regional identity felt by many of the fans attending matches in Portland, Vancouver and Seattle, it’s not difficult to see why the support for a Cascadian representative side has been so popular. Controversy over the MLS’ attempts to trademark the Cascadia Cup - secretly filing the name in Canada without consulting any of the fan groups from the three clubs - alongside long-held grudges held by Pacific North Westerners against the league and a feeling that the US international set up has been reluctant to stage matches in the region have all no doubt helped. Many fans also feel that the MLS were slow to pick up on the level of passion for football in the area, not awarding a franchise until the Seattle Sounders joined the big league in 2009. The association are quick to confirm their support for the Cascadia Cup Council’s position against the MLS but feel that the feeling of unity between fans of bitter rivals shows that the idea of Cascadia extends beyond interleague games
