St. Louis CITY SC coach Bradley Carnell has a lot at stake March 4 when his team takes on Charlotte FC. It’s CITY’s first home game of their inaugural Major League Soccer season. He faces a rising tide of expectations in a town steeped in soccer history and lore.
Brad DeMunbrun is feeling the pressure too, but in a decidedly different way. He wants to bring the fun and the silly to the match. And that, in and of itself, is a highly competitive game.
Fans at baseball, football, and hockey games normally sit during a game, only standing at important moments. Soccer fans stand throughout a match. SGs [Soccer Groups] ensure that fans at CITYPARK will be chanting, jumping, playing instruments, and waving flags. The atmosphere they create will be electric.
DeMunbrun is a founding member of The Saint Louligans, one of many soccer supporter groups, known as SGs, that have surfaced in the region over the last decade and bring organized chaos to matches.
“We’re here to be silly and have a good time,” DeMunbrun says. “Everyone is welcome, and you don’t have to be afraid to bring the kids around.” That said, he is not talking about anything like fans have experienced before at Busch Stadium for the Cardinals, Enterprise Center for the Blues, or Faurot Field for the Missouri Tigers.
Fans at baseball, football, and hockey games normally sit during a game, only standing at important moments. Soccer fans stand throughout a match. SGs ensure that fans at CITYPARK will be chanting, jumping, playing instruments, and waving flags. The atmosphere they create will be electric. One thing they have in common with fans at other sports: Whatever mayhem they create, will likely affect the outcome of a match. Home field advantage. SGs are the “heartbeat of a soccer match,” DeMunbrun says.
A Surprising Kind Of Uprising
The Louligans are arguably CITY’s most popular SG, founded in 2010 by DeMunbrun and his buddies.
The fun at CITY matches will start a few hours before kickoff with a tailgate at Schlafly Tap Room. From there, thousands of Louligans will chant as they march into the stadium together.. “Hopefully, other fans will join us for our march to the match,” DeMunbrun said.
Fans at CITY matches can expect to hear lots of chanting throughout the evening. DeMunbrun said fans will also see “tifos, banners, and flags. We’ll have other surprises as the season goes along.”
DeMunbrun works full-time in customer service, but devotes an enormous number of hours to The Louligans, managing its social media, hosting podcasts, and enhancing the brand. As the season kicks off, DeMunbrun said, “we’ll need more volunteers. So we’re hopeful that with more people joining, they’ll want to get involved and give back a little bit. This is a labor of love.”
The membership fee to become a Louligan is NADA. Anyone can be a Louligan if they follow three rules: SHOW UP, MAKE NOISE, and HAVE FUN.
The Louligans do encourage donations to their Charity Du Jour campaigns. The organization has raised more than $250,000 for charity since 2014, benefiting the St. Louis Area Food Bank and the St. Louis Crisis Nursery, among others.
The Louligans have inspired spinoffs.
Sam Wise, St. Louis born and raised, is a lifelong soccer fan. Wise enjoyed the marching and silliness of the Louligans, but loved the chanting and musical part of the party the most. He met like-minded individuals, and together, they founded Fleur de Noise (FdN).
Wise said FdN’s goal on matchdays is to “get everyone in unison.” Through the use of various instruments, especially drums, FdN will lead chants in the supporter’s section. A full list of chants for the season can be found here. But here’s one to try and sing:
Meet Me In St. Louie
Meet me in St. Louie, Louie
Meet me at the PARK,
like the boys of 1950
we’re sure to leave our mark
It’s in our blood it’s in our history
As we cheer CITY on to victory!
So won’t you meet me in St. Louie, Louie,
Meet me at the Park!
That reference to 1950 harkens to the day when the U.S. team beat the English in a World Cup match that shocked the world. More contemporary tunes are invoked as well. Look for fresh lyrics accompanying the Beastie Boys’ Girls.
A common theme amongst all SGs is their commitment to creating a welcoming environment for everyone. “It’s more about community than it is about soccer,” Wise said.
No Child Left Behind
SG activities can be child friendly as well. Gina and Marc Winkler make sure of that. Both are Louligans and obsessed with SG culture. When their daughter, Zoey, was born in 2020, the Winklers’ involvement with SG activities was in doubt. After all, how could the pair have fun while caring for their young daughter?
Rather than end their days of silliness as Louligans, the Winklers created an SG of their own: No Nap City Ultras. No Nap’s name is an homage to Zoey’s refusal to take naps as a baby. Accordingly, Zoey is listed as a “founder.”
No Nap will be set up at Union Station under a red tent near the Carousel and Fish pond. Kids can look forward to exploring the aquarium, enjoying the soda fountain, and riding the Ferris wheel.
“We plan to march all the way down 20th, up to Olive, to meet up with the rest of the SGs so (the kids) can have their big march as well,” said Marc Winkler. “We’re just there for the entire game day experience and making sure (the kids) have the most fun they can possibly have.”
Winkler has a promise for anyone unsure about coming to a CITY match. “I guarantee you if you come to a match, people will introduce themselves, and if you come back to the next match, they will remember you. It’s just one big family. All the SGs, it’s all we do. We want to make sure everybody is having the best time.”
Anticipation and excitement for professional soccer is building in St. Louis. The United States will host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2026. MLS is progressively building its reputation on the international stage. CITY will allow St. Louis to play a major part in the continued growth of soccer throughout the country.
CITY season tickets have officially sold out. But single match tickets became available to the general public on Feb. 2.
“We want (CITYPARK) to be a place where you feel welcome,” Wise said. “The politics, the drama, put that all aside. For 90 minutes, you’re in here with us. We’re cheering on this team, we’re making noise, and it’s going to be a good time.”
Julian Trejo, a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis, is a native of Arkansas, and a former goalkeeper for several state championship teams. His work is supported by the River City Journalism Fund.