Gorilla FC
Team	Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional soccer club based in Seattle, Washington. The club competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Sounders FC was established in November 2007 as a MLS expansion team, making it the 15th team in...
Location	Section 120 at Qwest Field Qwest Field CenturyLink Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It serves as the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League and Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer...
Established	2009
Website	Official website

Gorilla FC (GFC) is an independent supporters' group

Supporters groups

Supporters groups or supporters clubs are independent fan clubs in association football, particularly in English speaking counties.Supporters groups in Europe are generally known as Ultras which derives from the Latin word deriving from ultrā, meaning beyond in English, with the implication that...

 for Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

's Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional soccer club based in Seattle, Washington. The club competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Sounders FC was established in November 2007 as a MLS expansion team, making it the 15th team in...

.

Organization

Gorilla FC was formed in 2009 to support Seattle Sounders FC. It is the reincarnation of the anti-globalization

Anti-globalization movement

The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalisation movement, is critical of the globalization of corporate capitalism. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or...

 activist group, Guerrilla FC. The group meets before home games at Fado Irish Pub & Restaurant in Seattle before marching with their gorilla mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

, Civ, to Qwest Field

Qwest Field

CenturyLink Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It serves as the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League and Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer...

. Members are in the south end of the stadium in section 120 with other vocal supporters' groups during the match. GFC supports the team with Tifo

Tifo

Tifo, originally the Italian word for the phenomenon of supporting a sport team, is mostly used as a name for any spectacular choreography displayed by supporters on the terraces of an arena or stadium in connection with a sport event, mostly a football match....

 displays before and during matches. For away games, the group travels in support of the Sounders and has held viewing parties at the many Soccer bars around Seattle which are posted on their site. It also has a recreational soccer team.

Activism and events

GFC is an antifa

Anti-fascism

Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...

 group that builds community in Seattle with a soccer influence. The organization was inspired by the liberal

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 supporter groups of German club St. Pauli

FC St. Pauli

Fußball-Club St. Pauli is a German sports club based in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg. The football section is part of a larger club that also has Rugby Fußball-Club St. Pauli is a German sports club based in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg. The football section is part of a larger club that...

. The group promotes equality, calling itself "anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic." GFC has organized protests and actions to combat/disrupt racist and Nazi events held in Seattle. GFC has helped to raise over $50,000 for charities. A cornerstone of the group is coordinating benefits for causes that are important to its members. These have been held for organizations such as El Comité Impulsor del Juicio a Goni, Free Burma Rangers, and Opportunitas Aequa. A benefit was held in 2009 for anti-domestic violence group Home Alive

Home Alive

Home Alive was a non-profit organization based in Seattle which promotes anti-violence. The organization offered self-defense classes and public education and awareness in order to reduce and prevent violence. The Home Alive group trained its own instructors. They held a range of courses including...

. In 2010, a fund-raiser with Steve Zakuani

Steve Zakuani

Steve Zakuani is a Congolese footballer who currently plays for Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer. Born in Zaire , Zakuani grew up in London before attending the University of Akron on a soccer scholarship...

 and James Riley

James Riley

James Riley is an American soccer player who currently plays for Chivas USA in Major League Soccer...

 of the Sounders to benefit Doctors Without Borders raised over $20,000. Gorilla FC was one of three supporter groups to join in Sounders FC in its partnership with Mercy Corps to raise funds for relief efforts after the 2010 Colombia floods.

James Riley, a former Sounders FC defender, and Gorilla FC organize a yearly youth tournament to benefit Renway Boys and Girls Club.

GFC has held other events such as a meet-and-greet at Fado with players Sebastien Le Toux

Sébastien Le Toux

Sébastien Le Toux is a French-American footballer who currently plays for the Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer.-Professional:Le Toux was part of the youth setup at Rennes, and briefly played for Lorient in Ligue 2, prior to moving to the United States.Le Toux unsuccessfully tried out for...

 and Taylor Graham

Taylor Graham

Taylor Graham is an American soccer player who last played for Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer.-Youth and College:...

 before the 2009 MLS Cup in Seattle. Gorilla FC also held a 2011 End of Year party with presenting the GFC player of the Year award to Kasey Keller. Trips to away matches have included those to Portland with other groups for Sounders' U.S. Open Cup

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is a knockout tournament in American soccer. The tournament is the oldest ongoing American soccer competition and is presently open to all United States Soccer Federation affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League...

 matches against the Timbers

Portland Timbers (USL)

Portland Timbers was an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 2001, the team played in various leagues at the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, including the USL First Division and the USSF Division 2 Professional League, until the end of...

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External links