Burke: I moved from England to cover MLS. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

Sour patch kids as halftime snacks, ‘courtside’ seats at football games, yellow card ‘warnings’ from stadium announcers.

I grew up in the West Midlands, England’s second most populous county after Greater London. The region has recently produced England internationals Callum Wilson, James Madison, Jack Grealish and Jude Bellingham through its academies in Coventry City, Aston Villa and Birmingham City. We previously covered West Bromwich Albion. athleticis a club with 145 years of history and tradition, with a stadium just a 15-minute walk from my grandparents’ house. With five clubs in England’s top two divisions within 30 miles of him, it’s hard to ignore football in the region.

Before moving to Los Angeles to cover MLS, my knowledge of the league was limited. With FIFA Ultimate Team and its ‘Team of the Week’ feature being the best way to track their success, it was refreshing to see how Premier League icons fared in their later years. Based solely on virtual ratings, Robbie Keane and Clint Dempsey were smashing hits in the MLS. Steven Gerrard and Andrea Pirlo were not. Despite the interest of Europe’s big clubs, the opportunity to cover the league that attracted 23-year-old Riqui Puig and helped develop World Cup winner Thiago Armada was too intriguing to turn down. I was.

Pretty much the same thing happens on the pitch. As in the Premier League, set-piece mix-ups account for the majority of early-season goals in MLS. In the first match I was directly involved in, Giorgio his Chiellini benefited from just this type of mix-up to become the oldest player to score his first goal in MLS. Some of the referee decisions I’ve seen have been suboptimal, but that’s okay. It might even be better to referee in England’s professional pyramids.

There are certainly differences, but what matters most is how football is experienced here: football as a growing being.

In England, football is an organization. As fans of the FX sports documentary Welcome to Wrexham will know, the symbiosis of the club and its community is etched into the myth of his 100-year battle for trophies, promotion and relegation. Wrexham’s rivals for promotion to League Two, Notts County, claim to be the oldest professional his club in the world. They founded the Football League in 1888, where he spent 131 years in the EFL, inspiring continental giants Juventus to wear black and white stripes. City, which belongs to the fifth division of English football and is home to Premier League side Nottingham Forest, has always been the home of his supporters, despite the fact that he is less than 1.6 km (1 mile) from the ground. Over 7,000 people.

Fans of these clubs want to hear stories of great players and teams from the past and one day see their club lift trophies or get promoted, but they don’t expect it. The MLS, and American sports leagues in general, operate quite differently. In theory, the league is more balanced, creating an environment where Austin FC can finish his year in his 24th place and fight for the title the following year, which is a miracle. not considered. The concept of going into a season without a firm set of expectations as to which teams will compete for silverware is alien to anyone in an established football nation, where a select number of teams compete for the top trophy each season.

Still, the British club’s entrenchment in the community means that a core fan base will always remain. Here, the bonds between clubs, communities and fan bases are in a relatively nascent stage. Usually in markets like Atlanta and Seattle where MLS was never established, clubs had deep and meaningful bonds with their fanbases. In other regions, including many of MLS’ original markets, it’s been more hit or miss.In that regard, watching LAFC vs Portland in my first game was an interesting case study of two clubs that have built dedicated support in a country where football is not woven into the fabric of their culture. . – Old clubs from Europe and South America.

A group of independent supporters, LAFC’s 3252 filled the North Stand, singing from kickoff to the final whistle. Flavored by La Bombonera of Buenos Aires’ Boca Juniors and Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, they are one of the “ultra” groups with the highest membership in his MLS, transcending the boundaries of gender, race and sexuality. outwardly promoting inclusivity. Their inclusion model and conscious implementation of values ​​eroded away from the many terraces in England where male football enthusiasts who were neither white nor male could participate. feel exiled From directly following the country’s biggest and most popular sport. There are also mobility issues. The 826-mile journey from Portland to Los Angeles, which makes him exactly 400 miles longer than the length of mainland England as a crow flies, dissuades a section of Timbers supporters who enthusiastically supported the team. It wasn’t enough to let and the good spirits typically found in association with the Women’s Across the Pond game.

Promoting inclusion naturally creates a more diverse fan base. From club staff and journalists to supporters in the stands, the number of women at her BMO Stadium on Saturday made a positive impression on me. I think anyone who has been primarily exposed to English football up until now has. Clearly, by promoting football as a safe place for people of all backgrounds (there was also a big LGBTQI+ flag next to tifo, who won the North Stand title), all supporters were An environment was created that made me feel welcome. Allowing supporters to express their true selves without judgment creates a unique atmosphere that must continue as football’s inevitable rise in popularity in the United States.

But while LAFC’s North Stand takes its inspiration from the more established soccer nations, the shows surrounding the sport remain unmistakably American. From his pre-game MLS Cup celebration (where LAFC players were presented with his championship ring to commemorate the achievement), the franchise his owner lifted the trophy in front of the player and hung from the rafters. No pre-match spectacle was possible, until the ridiculous tradition of holding up banners. It is done in every other country in the world.

Still, there were moments my football purists couldn’t forgive.

Sure, it was fun to see LA Rams star Aaron Donald in attendance. As a tourist, actor and LAFC minority owner Will He must have been thrilled to see Ferrell nibbling on popcorn. while the game is still playing? seriously? Possibility to sit close to the superstars in ‘courtside’ seats – gorgeous seats next to the pitch available at higher prices – something that shouldn’t exist in England – LAFC consistently draws capacity crowds is part of the reason why we record and dance celebrities… Prioritizing the jumbotron over the action on the field takes some getting used to.

But my experience as a member of the media has been great. While I tried to ignore the whispers from my colleague across the pond that the game was over, I scanned her QR code with my smartphone to access the first-half stats dossier while eating cake at halftime. digested.

Depending on the team, Premier League reporters may not have media access to players after a match, or may need to decide between players and coaches. Here, Chiellini and goalscorer Kwadu his Opoku were introduced to the media prior to a post-match interview with his coach Steve his Cerundro. This comes just 24 hours after LAFC and his NWSL’s Angel City recognized ownership of the likes of Mia Hamm, Magic Johnson, Julie Erman and Bennett Rosenthal at the BMO Stadium renaming ceremony. By contrast, I had his two off-the-record meetings with his CEO in West Brom during his eight months. This was twice more for him than most of his colleagues working at their respective clubs in the UK. It turns out he had to travel 5,000 miles from home to feel his true worth as a journalist.

MLS is excited about what’s to come. Barnsley, Huddersfield Town, Wigan Athletic: I love you and miss you. But you never treated me like this.

(Photo: Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports)