A trip to the Philadelphia Union draws the “usual suspects!”, by Anna Martini

It was a brisk afternoon, full of good energy and that special German Hungarian camaraderie we all know and love. That’s how I would characterize the start of our soccer night social last week. We were an enthusiastic group of club members coming together to support the Philadelphia Union which doubled as a soccer fundraiser and tripled most importantly as a gathering of friends.

Soccer is one of those sports that pairs well with socializing, almost like wine and cheese you could say. You show up, “drink a beer” as the song goes, have some fries slathered in ketchup and sit or stand around with your friends while rooting for the home team. It’s great when the good guys win but you will have almost as good a time either way.

The evening got off to a good start with some light tailgating featuring adult beverages, pretzels, hot dogs and all the usual suspects.  As game time neared, we moseyed over to the stadium and barely had a chance to sit down before the Union scored the only goal they would need (albeit an own-goal but that is the way the soccer ball bounces sometimes). Even though our group didn’t all sit together we could still see each other, and it didn’t stop us from making visits to different seats or meeting up elsewhere.

“Hey, we got people over there, there and there, let’s go make a social call.”

Yeah, it was that kind of good.

The final score was 1-0 for the Philadelphia Union which was the icing on the cake after an all-around great evening.

One final thought: 

Our group consisted of all ages from young Kurt to my parents’ generation and many ages in between. I think I can safely say that every age group enjoyed the game and above all being together. Outings like this is one of the great benefits of a club like ours and it really is the glue that holds us together.

Thank you, Michelle, for organizing such a great evening. We all look forward to doing it again soon!

leave a comment