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The crimson doors of Wolff’s Biergarten stand tall on Syracuse’s Montgomery Street, and inside the bar, crowds wearing red cheer while they watch Premier League soccer over the bar counter. With the room’s brimming energy, you wouldn’t be crazy to think you’re in a soccer hub like England, Spain or Germany. It’s this passion that defines life for many Syracuse Gooners.

“We base the happiness of our week, the joy and happiness of our lives, around this club,” Austin Smith, the president of Syracuse Gooners, said. “You can argue whether that’s insanity or not.”

Arsenal — one of the Premier League’s marquee clubs — has a dedicated fan base in Syracuse called the Syracuse Gooners. Arsenal has been in the top division of English football since 1919 and has been consistently successful since then. After a weak season in 2021, where the club failed to qualify for European competition for the first time in 25 years, the club has fired back to success and the Syracuse Gooners with them.

“It also helped that Arsenal had a great couple of years,” Smith said. “That meant there was a ton of energy, and you have people like me who are new leadership wanting to engage a bunch of new Arsenal fans who are coming out.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they met at a bar called J. Ryan’s, which closed in 2018. The pandemic “threw a wrench” in the club’s attendance, but once things reopened, the club started to grow again. Now, the dedicated group meets to watch every Arsenal game at Wolff’s Biergarten.

J. Ryan’s was managed by an Arsenal fan and attended exclusively by Arsenal fans. At Wolff’s, fans of other clubs can watch their respective games, even when they’re pitted against Arsenal. It’s not a large venue, so rivals tend to be clustered side-by-side at watch parties.

“It’s a place for everyone,” Smith said. “It’s more fun when everybody’s kind of grouped together like that. It gets real tight in there and real intense.”

The banter between opposing fan bases is common at any soccer game, and it’s not any different at Wolff’s. Jessica Petitto, an Arsenal fan and Syracuse University College of Law librarian, often participates in it.

“I never start it, but I never back down from it either,” Petitto said. “You dish it out, you take it — it’s all cyclical.”

Though the teams are fierce rivals, and usually atop the league table, Liverpool and Arsenal fans were cordial toward each other on the Oct. 27 game. Banter was notable at critical junctures, with Liverpool fans hollering at Arsenal fans after Mohamed Salah’s game-tying 81 minute goal. But at the end of the game, fans from both teams embraced each other on the way out.

Cassie Roshu | Digital Managing Editor

Syracuse Gooners members Simon Biro, Andrew Braum and Vice President Zech Mientkiewicz (left to right). Biro and Braum are the newest members of the Gooners and make frequent appearances at the club’s weekly watch parties.

Phoebus Lazaridis, a Liverpool fan, watched the Liverpool-Arsenal match at Wolff’s and comes down from Watertown, New York, as often as he can. Lazaridis, who lived in Greece for 12 years, became a Liverpool fan because of the Pink Floyd song “Fearless,” which features Liverpool fans chanting their signature song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” The song impressed him, even though the members of Pink Floyd are Arsenal fans.

Though he has other Liverpool fans in central New York to watch games with, setting up a group to rival the Syracuse Gooners would be daunting. Life gets in the way, and it’s hard for Lazaridis to find other people committed enough to organize a club.

Another commuter, and an Arsenal fan, Zach Nelson, traveled from Lowell, Massachusetts, to watch the Liverpool-Arsenal match at Wolff’s. Nelson’s brother and girlfriend are Arsenal fans in Syracuse, and though there are soccer bars in Boston, Nelson said he prefers the atmosphere in Wolff’s.

In Boston, fans of rival teams aren’t welcome at Arsenal bars. But for Nelson, Wolff’s Biergaten’s friendly ambiance is part of its charm.

“Here, anyone can come in and have a group of people that enjoy the sport, and no one is getting upset with someone else for supporting a rival club,” Nelson said.

Sid Gelperin | Contributing Videographer

The Syracuse Gooners are a diverse bunch, Smith said. Fans hail from Ireland, various African countries and across the U.S. Smith, who is from San Francisco, said the group embodies what he saw traveling with his wife across Europe.

“Every city that you go to, there’s an Arsenal group if you need a built-in friend group or a place to go on a Saturday to socialize,” Smith said. “Find that group, and then you’re embedded in the Arsenal culture.”

Nelson traveled with his brother to Europe last year and saw several major matches, including Arsenal and Manchester City’s match on March 31. At City’s stadium, the two teams drew without scoring as the teams raced for the Premier League title, which Arsenal lost to City the last two cities.

The fan culture Nelson saw in Europe was markedly different and more egalitarian than the fan culture in the National Football League. The Premier League focuses on true fans rather than celebrities and wealthy fans, Nelson said, as tickets in English football are reasonably priced.

A challenge to watching Premier League soccer in the U.S. is the difference in time zone; Premier League games are played in the afternoon, but the British afternoon is the American morning. Still, Smith said the enthusiasm of the Gooners is present at the 7:30 a.m. games and the 12:30 p.m. games alike.

“If you’re here at 7:30 in the morning, you share that kind of passion and bond already,” Smith said. “You want to drink beer at 9 in the morning, like all these other weirdos, this is the place for you.”

Published on November 6, 2024 at 11:08 pm