With the United Soccer League season on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Hartford Athletic and its fans are finding new ways to stay connected with each other digitally.
From esports to online workouts and Q-and-A’s, fans have multiple options to choose from.
“Having that pro team here and local, and creating that friendship and family is kind of what helps create and facilitate all these things that we’re doing through this situation where we’re staying isolated,” Lebanon resident Noel Raymond said.
In esports, a FIFA 20 league and a Rocket League tournament have been created for fans. Rocket League is a video game where players play soccer in virtual cars, while FIFA 20 is a traditional soccer game.
“We need something to keep us sane,” New Fairfield’s Myke Furhman said. “Some sense of normality. And then of course as sports fans, we just need a little bit of competition. So, it kind of checks off all those boxes for us.”
Supporters from all over the country have joined the eUSL, the league in FIFA 20. Players play as either USL Championship or League One teams — the Athletic is in the Championship while League One is a tier below.
The league, which features 93 players across both PlayStation and Xbox, was created by Louisville City FC fan Mike Baldwin.
“Those guys in Louisville, who basically started it all based on a tweet and getting good feedback, now it’s this huge thing,” Furhman said. “Everyone is getting involved throughout the league. All the supporters groups, all the clubs. So it’s really blown up into a huge thing.”
Furhman is one of four Athletic supporters playing in the league. Juan Palomo, Ivan Moragues and Arti Murtishi also represent the Athletic. Going forward, Hartford plans to host all of its supporters’ eUSL games on its Twitch page (a video game streaming website), HFDAthletic.
“It’s really cool,” Furhman said. “It’s been great for community-building. It’s been great for providing entertainment. I think that we’re going to see a lot more of it the longer these league suspensions go on.”
Even before the Athletic said it would begin streaming the games, other fans would watch Furhman’s games on his own Twitch channel — MykeFOO — and participate in the chat room.
“They have them live,” said Brody Raymond, Noel’s 13-year-old son. “We watch them and we would comment on them and cheer with them.”
Furhman compared his chat room to an actual Athletic match.
“In my games, they’re typing the lyrics to all of our Hartford Athletic songs and chants and everything like that,” Furhman said. “It’s been really fun to watch that.”
On March 25, the USL partnered with Rocket League to host a tournament featuring teams from the USL Championship and League One.
The tournament, which started March 31, is similar to the World Cup in format. Thirty-two teams comprise eight groups of four. After a round-robin group stage, the top two from each group will advance to an elimination bracket, which begins on Monday. Each team has also linked up with a charity where fans can donate. The Athletic’s charity is Foodshare.
Each team has one representative, with Hartford’s being Damon Gray. All games in the Rocket League are broadcast on ESPN3.
“We’re alone when we’re cheering, but we’re together when we’re cheering through text,” Noel Raymond said.
But fans aren’t the only ones participating. Athletic players such as Alex Davey, Tyreke Johnson and Arthur Rogers have also been streaming on Twitch during the quarantine.
“It’s been very entertaining and it’s been a great insight into watching our players,” Furhman said. “They’re great personalities.”
Besides esports, fans have been able to participate in other events to stay connected with the Athletic community.
“One of the things we strive and really engaged on is trying to link with our community,” Athletic coach Radhi Jaïdi said. “We want to hear them, we want to hear their voice. We want to listen to them, what they need at this time from us to keep them entertained and keep that connection.”
Team strength and fitness coach Lucas Kruel has been hosting online workouts on Instagram Live to keep players and fans active.
“We all log in and we follow his routine and talk there,” Raymond said.
The workouts are held Monday and Wednesdays at 6 p.m.
“It’s not easy by any means,” Furhman said. “It gives you a little extra appreciation for ‘Oh this is just a light workout for theses soccer players. I’m dead.’ ”
Question-and-answer sessions have also been a big hit on Instagram Live. Additionally, the club has replayed games from last year live on YouTube.
“They’ll re-host a game that was played let’s say last October, and we’ll all get a virtual watch party together and do that,” Raymond said. “That’s one of the ways we’re staying together and connected.”
These events keep the Hartford Athletic community together.
“Whether it’s esports or live workouts, any little thing we can do to keep the momentum going,” Windsor’s Andrew Janavey said. “The club had great support in its first year and we were all looking forward to continuing that as long as possible in that second season. It’s obviously been delayed, but whatever we can do to keep the momentum going we’re going to be there for.”
Even with all the activities available, fans are still caving the real thing however.
“What experience you get at a game, that will never be replaced,” Raymond said. “With friends, with players, with the coaches. The front office, everyone is awesome. That we’re still missing. We still feel that void. So yeah, we’re real eager to get back to it. Even though we’re doing all these things, we’re still eager to get back.”
