Thread by @carlostpa10

Y’all want a thread about how I became a Rowdies fan?

You need some context first:
I began falling in love with the game as a baby, my grandpa had me watching the Prem and the Ecuadorian Serie A with him every time I’d go over (he’s a @barcelonaSC fan but he’s a good guy lol)

I became a real fan of a team 2007ish, my dad, being a @LDU_Oficial fan, had me watching them as they became the first (and still only) team from Ecuador to win la Copa Libertadores (2008), Copa Sudamericana (2009), and two Recopas

I was a casual fan, obviously, I was like 6...but I began to learn what being a supporter means through @muerteblanca...
Fast forward to 2014 and I hear about Orlando getting an MLS team and Kaká, and all I thought, “woah this is cool”

Now, at the time, a dumb 12 year old like me decided to go to a game in 2015 and (obviously) they lost (lol), but it was sorta cool to me, and I kept up with them for about a year...
(here comes the climax of the story)

Fast forward one more year later, and my soccer team’s coaches (my dad and Coach Mazza) took our team to a Rowdies preseason match vs @dcunited on February 13, 2016...and I felt something special

I saw a medium size group of guys (again, it was preseason) in the section above us, singing their hearts out, and that’s when I learned about @RalphsMob

I don’t know what it was, but I felt like I needed to come back, I felt so close to this club I’ve only heard of a couple times, and, well, I went to the season opener that year vs @IndyEleven

I became a part of that club that day, I became a part of these guys I’ve never met before on that day

I learned almost everything I know about supporting a club and what it means to be a supporter from @RalphsMob, and really, @_S_Cundiff took me under his wing in that first year, especially on my first away day to @JaxArmadaFC

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I came to fall in love with the beautiful thing that is the @TampaBayRowdies

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