For a post on my experience with the Islanders Foreign Legion supporters group visit: Foreign Legion website
As you’ll read there, we had an amazing time down in Cary, North Carolina. It really is a very unique situation in which the Islanders find themselves. As the only professional sports team in Puerto Rico playing in an international league as the USL – the Islanders are probably the only team in the league that has supporters in virtually every city they visit. Because they don’t represent simply a city (such as Portland, Austin,etc) but instead a whole nation (Puerto Rico), you have Puerto Ricans from everywhere across the US and Canada making trips to see the Islanders when they are in town. Add to that the new fans that have started to follow the team, particularly after last year’s Concacaf Champions League, and you have a very unique situation.
It’s a professional team with a national team feeling.
Because of this, I started -with the help of friends – the Islanders Foreign Legion. This supporters group was created with the idea of formally organizing Islanders fans and casual Puerto Rican fans into a full fledged away supporters group. Whenever the Islanders play on the road, we hope to have people either locally or who have traveled there – support our team.
The trip to North Carolina was the first such trip, and beyond being a success (around 60-70 Islanders fans present) it was a great experience for everyone involved.
The next such grouping will be for this week’s game in Miami (July 4th @ 8pm). I hope that this idea takes off and that if you’re an Islanders fan living outside of Puerto Rico, you’ll let us know and go support your team whenever they’re in town.
Again, I exhort you to check out the post on our trip to North Carolina, and also in general the Foreign Legion website.
