One by one, individuals clad in red trickled into J. Ryan’s Pub. At 7:30 a.m., it was far too early to drink any of the dozens of beers offered at the corner of East Water and Montgomery streets. Some grabbed a coffee, but all grabbed a seat. It was game time.

Their team was set to kick off a match that could alter the course of its season. Win and the title is still within reach — but lose, and it’s time to realign and aim for second place.

Arsenal Football Club’s local supporters, the Syracuse Gooners, were at the pub Saturday for their team’s match at Chelsea Football club. It’s a scene that takes place every time Arsenal hits the pitch for any of its matches in the English Premier League, which arguably hosts the world’s best soccer.

The Gooners take their name from Arsenal’s nickname, the Gunners. They’re one of three official New York state branches within Arsenal America, a network of more than 50 supporter clubs that spans across the United States. The Gooner bond is one that exists around the globe and right here in Syracuse.

The Syracuse chapter got its start in 2015 thanks to Arsenal fans Doug Farfaglia and Greg Waite. The two lifelong friends had taken a more serious interest in soccer and were searching for a go-to spot to watch their newly adopted team. After struggling to find a pub willing to consistently use its TVs on soccer, Farfaglia noticed online that J. Ryan’s was listed as a place where Arsenal fans could catch the Gunners.

But conversations with J. Ryan’s bartenders proved the contrary — they had never heard of such an idea. So Farfaglia eventually decided to give the pub’s owner a try. Upon getting in touch with him on Twitter, it became apparent the two shared a passion for the same team. Thus began the Syracuse Gooners. Just a few short months later, they achieved official Arsenal America status after meeting a series of requirements: having a logo, existing for long enough and drawing a sizable crowd.

“We got pretty lucky considering their name was on the Arsenal website, but they weren’t actually an Arsenal pub,” Farfaglia said with a laugh. “But now they are, so it’s all good.”

Becoming official was a big break for Farfaglia, considering how tough being a soccer fan in the States had been in the past. Though he grew up a fan of the more traditional American sports, he fell in love with soccer during his college years. He was tight with the guys on the soccer team at his alma mater, Daemen College.

In an age where soccer coverage was scarce, they would download highlight videos from the internet via sites like Napster. A certain team caught Farfaglia’s eye. Tremendous goals from Thierry Henry and masterful passing from Dennis Bergkamp quickly made an Arsenal fan out of him.

Now the game is much more accessible in the U.S. In 2015, NBC paid nearly $1 billion for the rights to air Premier League matches stateside through the 2021-2022 season. With access to the NBC Sports app, fans can watch any and all Premier League action. Farfaglia called the increased coverage a “godsend.”

This kind of convenience seems to have done only good things for the growth of the sport. And in the case of many Syracuse Gooners, it’s done great things for people.

Pat Ormsby developed an interest in soccer during the 2010 World Cup. When he realized most of the players that impressed him were Gunners, he latched onto Arsenal. After graduating from college and moving to Syracuse to work at an ad agency, he really didn’t know too many people. But Farfaglia’s wife also worked at the agency, and when she saw an Arsenal scarf in Ormsby’s workspace, she knew her husband had to meet the newest Gooner in town. And, boy, did Ormsby fit in.

“The guys at J. Ryan’s were really like my first friends out here, so it’s been nothing but a really great supportive community to get together,” he said.

Now more than a year into his time with the Gooners, Ormsby has been having a blast. There was that time last February when J. Ryan’s still opened up for them despite a snowstorm. And good thing it did — a video of the Gooners celebrating Arsenal’s last-second win over then-red hot, eventual League champions Leicester City made it onto NBC Sports.

Or when Goonerfest — a meeting between the Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo chapters — got canceled the morning of because the match switched to an early morning start at the last second, and 40 people still showed up anyway.

“It would have been nice to have the Rochester and Buffalo guys, but in a way we don’t need them,” Ormsby said. “We’re our own group now. It was kind of our coming of age.”

Being a graphic designer, Ormsby does a lot of the social and promotional work for the Syracuse Gooners. He makes match cards to promote the viewing parties on social media. It’s this reach that Farfaglia credits with really changing things for soccer in the U.S.

“With the blossoming of social media, you’re so connected you feel like even though they’re thousands and thousands of miles apart — an ocean away — you feel like they’re right next door because everything that happens to your favorite team is right there for you to experience,” he said.

Unfortunately for the Gooners, Arsenal didn’t fare too well on Saturday. Besides a garbage time goal, the team was outplayed on most fronts en route to a 3-1 loss. But for J. Ryan’s newcomers Matt Tomaszewsky and Jacob Marcus, both Syracuse University sophomores, the result won’t deter them from coming back.

Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

Neither are Arsenal lifers, but rather products of the soccer’s developing draw. Tomaszewsky, who is undeclared within the College of Arts and Sciences, began supporting Arsenal after taking an online quiz that told him which squad to root for.

Marcus, an advertising major, claimed Arsenal fandom after a trip to London presented him with a sort of ultimatum: support the Gunners or be forced to side with the rival club his younger brother did. Not a tough decision.

Now the two seem to be just as invested as anyone. They sported replica jerseys over the weekend. And once Arsenal got down by three goals, Tomaszewsky had seen enough.

“I took off my glasses because I didn’t want to watch this anymore,” he said.

These youthful fans aren’t the only category of Gooners in Syracuse, though. Kendrick Ross, a Camillus resident, has been an Arsenal fan since 1999. He often travels for work and has taken in matches with other groups of Gooners in places such as Tampa and Philadelphia, but in his two years since moving to the area has been impressed with the progressive nature of the Syracuse chapter, noting the blog that he, Farfaglia and other members contribute to.

As Gooners held their head in their hands at the sight of Chelsea goals, there was an uplifting, albeit tiny force inside the pub. Greyson Sanders, son of 20-year Gooner Glen and his wife Laura, wobbled through the premises without a care in the world. He was barely old enough to walk, and consequently not old enough to tell the difference between a Gooner and the one Tottenham Hotspur F.C. supporter on site. After an attempted high-five and a comical warning about the danger of other clubs, Glen quipped from the other side of the room with assurance that his son would stay loyal to the red and white.

“Don’t worry, he’s been inoculated,” dad said.

Young or not so young, diehard or newcomer, Farfaglia said he’s proud of the fact that the Syracuse branch at J. Ryan’s has a place for just about anyone.

They just might want to follow the motto stitched into one of the scarves hanging from the ceiling.

“Arsenal till I die.”

Published on February 5, 2017 at 11:46 pm

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