4 minute read
Blue Note
Blue Note
KC BLUE CREW IS THE FAN-POWERED HEARTBEAT OF THE CURRENT
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By Emma Hilboldt
It’s a warm evening in early June, and the crowd at Children’s Mercy Park is charged. KC Current is set to play North Carolina Courage, and the stadium is decked out for Pride Night. While the stadium as a whole is roaring with adoring fans, there is no place like the supporter section on the north side of the field. For someone who has never been to a Current game before, this entire section is a site to behold. A sea of teal with the occasional burst of rainbow.
KC Blue Crew is a staple in the supporter section at KC Current matches. You’ll typically hear them before you see them, taking up the front rows of the area with their chants and motivating beats. The crew has been steadily growing since it was started in 2012. At its beginning, the group was created to support FC Kansas City, the previous Kansas City professional women’s soccer club.
It’s hard to miss the leaders of the section. Posted up in the first few rows is a drum line with a capo on a pedestal holding a megaphone. The Blue Crew initiates crowd participation, and everyone soon catches on. Popular chants include the “KC Baby!” and “Shots! Shots! Shots!” as well as some occasional heckling of the other team’s goalie— the kind that would only get under the skin of the most resigned.
“Murphy, you look like you leave trash in your friend’s car,” a member shouts.
Pretty brutal if you ask us. They aren’t beyond kind gestures, though, offering earplugs to the Pitch staff crouched in front of them. But who would want to muffle this fun?
After FC Kansas City folded in 2017, the Blue Crew remained to support other clubs in the city and across the country. Danielle Russell, a member of the leadership board and communications director for the crew, spoke about what the crew means to the team and the community.
“We’re there to cheer, have fun, support the team, and also support the community during the match and outside of the match,” says Russell.
The Blue Crew takes part in different fundraisers throughout the community every year so that their impact can reach outside of the stadium.
“In our member discord, we will push different initiatives or maybe go out and work to do cleanups and stuff like that in the community,” says Russell.
Brooke Soptic is the capo for the drums, standing atop a small platform next to the crew with a megaphone and shirt with a pride flag painted on the back of it. The communication between her and the drum line is dialed in—a quick shout of a chant and the drums know exactly what Soptic wants. Different from a uniform band, it seems like a group of friends who just really enjoy cheering on their favorite team.
Photo by Brooke Tramel
A lot is happening with the Current in the coming year, with their new stadium set to be open for the next regular season. KC is making professional sports history once again with what will be the first stadium built solely for a women’s professional team and is planned to be one of the practice fields for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This means a lot not only for the team but for the Blue Crew. Russell spoke about what these changes mean for the members and how they will affect the future of the crew.
“Our group is six times bigger than it was when we first started, and we definitely see that continuing as time goes on,” says Russell. “As the Current grows with the new stadium, we’re excited to see people join the group and interact with people who they may never have interacted with otherwise.”
People who see the Blue Crew at matches witness them having the time of their lives. They hear the drum beats and the original chants and think, “That’s where I want to be.” At Pride Night, the drumline revealed the rendering for the supporter section at the new Current stadium, confirming that the Blue Crew will remain the heart of Current supporters in the coming years.
