Photo by Trevor Ruszkowski
THERE IS CHANTING, a leader in front, and an active brass band.
No, I’m not at a festival or church service of any kind, just an Indy Eleven match against Hartford Athletic. It’s a Wednesday game, so the tailgate gathering that started across the street two hours before kickoff only involved a dozen or so of the Brickyard Battalion’s most committed members who nibbled on wings and club sandwiches while sipping IPAs and Hard Mountain Dew.
When Eleven rival Louisville FC is in town, supporters are also invited to the tailgate, but the same doesn’t hold for teams from Connecticut.
While the BB’s bleachers at Michael Carroll Stadium (“The Mike”) weren’t exactly full, there were plenty of people who showed up after skipping the free dinner, and no one seemed fazed when rain started pelting down early in the first half.
Offense comes early and often in a game that finishes in a 4-4 draw—the Boys in Blue’s fifth tie in the nine games that count toward USL Championship standings—which means there is plenty of red and blue smoke mixing with the rain (and floating into my face) behind the field’s west goal.
The singing never stops, and even the group’s president, Mike Slocum, takes a turn in front during the game’s final minutes when Jamaican forward Romario Williams shows that he is finding his way back to game form after a recent injury by putting in his second goal of the game to avoid a loss for the Eleven.
The BYB is a membership-based group of supporters for the team—Slocum slips a couple of times during our conversation and calls them “hooligans”—that pre-dated the Eleven. Slocum isn’t sure of the exact number of active BYB members, but he guesses about 150.
“We’re not afraid to get in an opposing player’s head,” Slocum admits. “Especially with an opposing keeper when we have them for 45 minutes. We do everything we can. How close can you get to a line of appropriate behavior? We dance that line. When we’ve got them upset and yelling at us, that means we’re in their head.”
Slocum is also quick to acknowledge that the term “hooligan” in relationship to fandom doesn’t have a great reputation in European soccer, and while BYB members may have occasional dialogue with the other team, it’s hardly the essence of the experience or the purpose of the group.
The BYB started in 2011 (the team debuted in 2014) and, according to Slocum, would have watch parties at places like Union Jack Pub in Broad Ripple for big soccer matches while hoping to play a part in bringing professional soccer to Indianapolis.
Slocum, who grew up in Northern Indiana but has been an Indianapolis resident for the past 15 years, is in his first year as president of the BYB after spending a year as the group’s treasurer. He officiates soccer outside of his day job right across the street from The Mike, where he serves Indiana University Indianapolis students as a Director of Career Development.
Wednesday games aside, Slocum talks about “Soccer Saturdays” that, for him, often start with a morning West Ham United F.C. game and end with Indy Eleven. He says his involvement in BYB has expanded his friendship circle, and his voice grows solemn as he mentions a member who recently died.
There’s also an element in the group—it’s spelled out in their written mission—of monthly community events and activism that have them regularly interacting with Indy Eleven teams (they’ve embraced the Indy Eleven Women’s team as well, all the way up at Grand Park) and residents of the city at large.
In this respect, Slocum recalls a recent volunteering visit to Second Helpings, mentions the tailgating ritual of collecting soda and beer tabs for Ronald McDonald House Charities, and says the BYB will have an active presence at Indianapolis Pride events this month.
For others in the BYB, it’s an avenue for the pursuit of a creative hobby. Elizabeth Griffin is a former college field hockey player who picked her trombone back up after 20 years of not playing it because her son was taking an interest in the Eleven, and if she was going to be at the games, she wanted to be in the BYB.
Meanwhile, Brett Mullenix is a former college American football player who writes about soccer for a Substack called Beyond the 90′ and posts photos on Instagram of various soccer team “kits” (uniforms).
“Soccer feels a bit more grassroots-y,” he explains about why the Eleven captured his fandom a bit more than some other local teams.
It’s a sentiment that John Rice—a former college basketball player who is affectionately referred to as “Mountain” by other BYBers because of his height—also seems to share. Rice is one of the hosts of a four-year Indy Eleven podcast called Cue The Smoke! He married a former soccer player, but what attracted him to the BYB is what he called “that student section mentality.”
“Playing in high school,” he says, “I loved the student section, but obviously as a player, I couldn’t be in the student section. Now as an adult, I get to be in that section.”
The multidimensional enthusiasm that radiates from the Brickyard Battalion at Indy Eleven soccer games has certainly gotten the attention of the team itself, as they have developed their ritual of coming over to the BYB after games to thank their supporters, no matter what the game’s outcome was.
“They’ve supported us,” English midfielder Jack Blake observes, “through the bad times, good times, through the unbeaten run we went on last year and right now when we’re not getting results. We’re thankful for [them].”
