Timbers Army
Encyclopedia
| Timbers Army | |
| Motto | No Pity |
| Team | Portland Timbers Portland Timbers (MLS) The Portland Timbers are an American professional soccer club based in Portland, Oregon that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada.... |
| Location | Portland, Oregon Portland, Oregon Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States... |
| Established | 2001 |
| Website | TimbersArmy.org |
The Timbers Army 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...
of Portland Timbers
Portland Timbers (MLS)
The Portland Timbers are an American professional soccer club based in Portland, Oregon that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada....
, a football (soccer) club in 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...
—the top tier of the United States soccer pyramid. Its members are known for their loud, enthusiastic support and the raucous atmosphere they create at Timbers games. Centered in section 107 of Jeld-Wen Field in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, the Army has grown steadily over the years to encompass much of the north end of the stadium.
History
The Timbers Army was founded in 2001 as the Cascade Rangers, a reference to the Cascade RangeCascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
of mountains in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
region of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The group began with a group of eight people who decided to step up their support, and began congregating in section 107 (erroneously labeled on the stadium diagram to be behind the north goal) of PGE Park
PGE Park
Jeld-Wen Field is an outdoor sports stadium located in Portland, Oregon, United States that is used primarily for soccer and American football...
to create a European-style rooting section for the club, complete with drumming, flags, scarves, smoke bombs and constant chanting and cheering. By 2002, the group had changed its name to the Timbers Army in order to lose any perception of partiality toward Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
football club Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
and because the Timbers uniforms at the time resembled those of Rangers rival Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
.
As noted in a feature story on the front page of The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
s Sports section in 2004, the Army had grown from a small group of dedicated fans to approximately two hundred passionate supporters. By 2005, when the Army was the subject of a cover story by Willamette Week
Willamette Week
Willamette Week is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business and culture....
, its game day support was estimated at over one thousand.
In 2008, the group's lobbying was credited with helping to convince the Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
City Council to approve a deal to bring 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...
to Portland in 2011. The Timbers Army were named the fifth most influential Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
sports figure in 2010 by The Oregonian, two spots ahead of Timbers owner Merritt Paulson
Merritt Paulson
Henry Merritt Paulson III is the majority owner of Peregrine Sports, LLC which owns the Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer team based in Portland, Oregon.-Personal:...
. In the piece, sports columnist John Canzano
John Canzano
John Canzano is an American sports columnist, radio talk show host on Portland's 750 AM "The Game" and sports columnist at The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon. He hosts a daily radio show called The Bald Faced Truth.-Career:...
said of the Army:
- Drumming, chanting, scarf-wearing soccer supporters transformed overnight from a band of PGE Park rowdies to an effective and influential political organization. Their political clout ends up greasing the wheels on the effort to bring Major League Soccer to Portland.
The supporters group gained national exposure in 2009 when they were featured in a two-page photo spread in the July 13–20 issue of Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
which showed Army members celebrating after the Timbers scored against 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...
of MLS in the third round of the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
The 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 96th edition of the oldest competition in American soccer, running from June through early September.The tournament proper features teams from the top five levels of the American Soccer Pyramid...
.
Culture
The Timbers Army has a strong history and culture of vocal support. The Timbers Army have utilized chants from all over the world (ex. "Guinness Boys", "KorobeinikiKorobeiniki
"Korobeiniki" , also known as the Tetris song is a nineteenth-century Russian folk song that tells of an incident between a peddler and a girl "haggling" over a price, with the details only being said in metaphor...
"), as well as having drums and trumpets to add to the noise in addition to the inclusion of pogoing, scarf waving, and dancing to add to the effect of various chants. Timbers Army traditions are to sing the song "Portland Boys" immediately after kickoff, "Rose City 'Til I Die" when a goal is scored against the Timbers, "You Are My Sunshine" in the 80th minute, and "Can't Help Falling In Love" in the 85th minute. Various other chants are drawn from Russian, Greek, Latin American, and Arabian origins, speaking to the diversity of the section.
The group engages in a number of charitable activities, including volunteering for the Portland-based nonprofit Friends of Trees and raising money for a trust fund established for Keiana Serrill, the granddaughter of Timber Jim
Timber Jim
Timber Jim was the mascot for the United Soccer Leagues Portland Timbers soccer team. A fan favorite from the earlier North American Soccer League Portland Timbers, he came back in 2001 to join the new Portland Timbers....
, the team's lumberjack
Lumberjack
A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
mascot. Timber Jim's daughter, Hannah, was killed in an automobile accident in 2004, and in her memory, the TA has made a tradition of singing "You Are My Sunshine
You Are My Sunshine
"You Are My Sunshine" is a popular song first recorded in 1939. It has been declared one of the state songs of Louisiana as a result of its association with former state governor and country music singer Jimmie Davis. The song is copyright 1940 Peer International Corporation, words and music by...
." Timber Jim retired in 2008, but the tradition is carried on by Jim's successor, "Timber Joey."
In 2010, the Timbers Army established 107 Independent Supporters Trust, or 107ist, in order to plan 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....
, bus trips to away matches, and charitable work.
Subgroups
The Timbers Army is composed of several different subgroups. These subgroups are unique in their own fashion and consist of many different personalities. However, all subgroups fall under the Timbers Army umbrella. Many of the subgroups produce their own special apparel and other items while the proceeds go directly back to Timbers Army causes. Unlike many teams in Major League SoccerMajor 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...
, the Timbers Army is the only recognized independent supporters group of the Portland Timbers, while many other clubs have several supporters groups. The subgroups of the Timbers Army rival the size of many other supporters groups in MLS.
Sectional
- 102nd Airborne Division
- 103rd Ballistic Unit
- 104th Charlie Company
- 105 Howitzers
- Fighting 106th
- Section 107 (unnamed for historical preservation, however sometimes referred to as "The Woodshed")
- 108th Easy Company
Geographical
- Echo Squadron (Eugene, OR)
- Capital City Company (Salem, OR)
- Northern Alliance (Vancouver, WA/SW Washington)
- Eastern Bloc (East County of Portland Area)
- East Coast Platoon (East Coast of USA)
Supporters Teams
The Timbers Army fields four affiliated supporters teams that play in the Greater Portland Soccer District, a Portland area adult soccer league. All teams play a Spring and Fall season as well as participating in the Clive Charles Memorial North End Cup. This tournament is a point based competition between all four teams with the winner going on to represent the Timbers Army against a Seattle SoundersSeattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders may refer to:*Seattle Sounders , a North American Soccer League team*Seattle Sounders , a USL First Division team*Seattle Sounders Women , a USL W-League team...
Emerald City Supporters
Emerald City Supporters
Emerald City Supporters is an independent supporters' group for Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders FC.-History and name:Emerald City Supporters was founded in 2005 by the supporters of the now defunct Seattle Sounders soccer team that played in the United Soccer Leagues First Division...
team in a supporters Cascadian Champions League. All players are required to be 107ist members, as well as each team performing service related to Timbers Army causes.
Timbers Army Affiliate Teams
- FC Portlandia (Division 2)
- TA FC (Division 4)
- North End United (Division 4)
- Rose City Athletic (Division 4)
Controversy
In late August 2005, The Oregonian ran an article that criticized the Army's use of profanity in their chants. In this instance, then-General Manager Jim Taylor stated that "People should not come to a sporting event or any event and have to listen to this kind of language.... There is no explaining away the actions of that group. It's unacceptable."Sports columnist for The Oregonian, John Canzano, received a copy of an email in May 2009 that had been sent to the Timbers front office from a family who had attended a Timbers match at PGE Park. The family, who likened the Timbers Army to hooligans
Football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
in the letter, were turned off by the Army's use of foul language and called the group "a bunch of angry white guys tanked up on liquor." An email exchange between the family and Timbers owner Merritt Paulson followed, which Canzano published in his column. Paulson defended the Army saying "the Timbers Army is far from being made up of hooligans and MLS soccer teams would be ecstatic to have a supporters groups like the TA which provides an authentic soccer ambience second to none in the US." Paulson closed by stating his desire to clean up the use of profanity in the Army and suggested "if you are at any way offended by the TA, then do not sit near them."