I got the opportunity to meet and talk with Raleigh Head Coach, John Dugan, about the Southern cup, a-league.com, the internet and it's impact on the teams and players of the A-League.
The 'Southern Cup' came to life from spirited discussions taking place at the USL Discussion Zone (usldiscussions.com). Fans started invading each others forums prior to upcoming matches against each other, and badgering and harassing each other to get the supporters juices flowing.
Coach Dugan is familiar with the USL Discussion Zone and the fan base behind the 'Southern Cup', stating "I actually looked in on that and some of the Charleston fans are hilarious with some of the things they write in there." It is true that the Charleston fans are among the most vocal and creative, but Atlanta and Raleigh have proven they are up to the challenge. "If I recall correctly, we're in 2nd place in the standings of the Southern Cup", Coach Dugan said.
On his teams opponents in the Southern Cup, Coach Dugan said, "Charleston is a team we play real well against. Atlanta we've had a little trouble with this year, but I think we're just as good, if not better than them, we just need to get a couple results."
We continued our discussion on his thoughts on the Southern Cup and the fan support that started it. "With web sites like a-league.com and even internetsoccer.com, you're amazed how many people actually follow the teams. I need to get on to see what happened in games over the weekend. Just to get the fans involved in something like that, they're able to look and see whose writing stuff, and the fun little jabbing back and forth is great for the game. And I guess the three of us, Charleston, Atlanta and us are close enough where we can do this."
On the fan site a-league.com, Coach Dugan said: "I have it bookmarked on my computer. I think to have a site that focuses on just our league, and to see the things like the chats with players and coaches is great. I go in and look at them. I think one of the best things is the match reports. We have a guy in Raleigh, Fred Medlin, and he does a great job. You know, if we're not playing well he lets us know, and when we are playing well, he lets us know that as well. For my guys to go on and see what a rating is for how they played in a game, that's something they never even dealt with. That's more of a european influence on the game, but it's great. There's so many different things you can get off that site, who a team played that I'm playing this weekend that played this last saturday. You can see who they started, who came in for them, so it's really informative. It's great."
"We first found out about it [a-league.com] at the beginning of the year. We would have games at home on Friday and then be away the next day, and we be in a bus early the next morning, and one of the guys would get on the computer in the morning and print off the match report, just to see what he [Fred Medlin] had to say. And all the guys follow it as well, it's not just me. They all know about it. One of my backup goalies, Alex Deegan, works for internetsoccer.com. He fills me in on what's going on, and I want to see things that happen out on the west coast, as one of my best friends is a coach out in San Diego. I want to see how they're doing. I get a call at 10 o'clock the next morning usually to find out how I did the night before. He usually sees the result and wants to know what happened. It's great to be able to get that kind of information. The internet and the whole computer age has helped everybody out.
What are your thoughts on how the internet is used to follow the A-League teams ? "I think mainly like I said, to be able to see what other teams have done. Say I play Hershey on saturday night, and I have a back-to-back on Friday night, and they [Hershey] play Friday night as well. I can see how they lined up, without being able to go to the game. I can see who started, who they subbed, who scored a goal. If I get a chance, I'll call the coach of the team they played and get a little more information, but the whole computer age has helped everybody. I think every player on my team has access to a computer. They definitely follow what's going on.
There's times when we came down after the Milwaukee games saturday morning and the guys brought their laptops with them. And they'll say, did you hear about the results last night ? And we'll wind up talking about that. There's tons of opportunities to get on and find out what's going on."
What more can fans do to grow the support of the A-League and their teams ? "When you look at a place like Raleigh, we have so many kids, we have one of the largest youth soccer clubs in the nation called Castle. And there's seven or eight other clubs besides them. We've got so may kids there. I think unfortunately, where we play hurts us, because we're kind of away from Raleigh. We are in the midst of trying to build a stadium to get more central.
One of the things I tell my guys is we've got to win games to get people to come watch us play. If we're a winning team, people are going to come and watch us play, regardless of where we are. Winning games has to do with sponsorships as well, being able to survive as a team. If we're a winning team with a winning attitude, then maybe we get that extra sponsorship that helps us out financially. I think some times my players struggle to see that, because as a player I struggled to see that. Now I'm on the administrative/coaching side, the business side, it's something you definitely have to look at."
"My message for the fans in Raleigh, is that you have to keep coming out and supporting us. The A-League is a good league for all the fans, and all the teams, especially the Atlantic division where my team plays. I'm amazed at the support that Charleston & Atlanta gets, and Richmond & Hampton Roads, and I think Raleigh is working to get towards that. Just keep going. The fact that we beat MLS teams last year, Rochester who beat 4 MLS teams last year, Charleston beat DC United last year. I think we're crazy to think there can be promotion & relegation now, but at some point down the road I think it's not too crazy. They're equal."
