It is a Wednesday in July and I drive roughly three hours to Birmingham, the capital of Alabama, to see a midweek game in the USL Championship, the second tier of professional soccer in the US, which is, however, miles away from Major League Soccer. The local team is Birmingham Legion FC, founded in 2017, which plays in the Protective Stadium, the brand new stadium of the football team of the University of Alabama Birmingham (AUB) — note, this is not thé University of Alabama team, which has won more national championships than any other school in the past decade, but technically only the third college football team in the state (after “Bama” and Auburn).
I arrive early, at least that is what I think, but when I get to the ticket office, I see on a small screen in the office that they started at 19.05, rather than 20.00 (as I had seen online). As I pay $25 for a ticket, Birmingham Legion FC scores a goal: 1-0.
The Protective Stadium opened last year and has a capacity of 47,100! It is too big for the Legion though. Even though there are long banners covering parts of the stands, the stadium looks empty with the roughly 1,500 people inside. A small group of about 50-100 home fans are behind one of the goals and drum and sing for much of the game.
There are lot of (young) women and quite a lot of non-whites (although, given demographics of Birmingham, whites are still heavily overrepresented). Moreover, when I walk to the other side, i.e. the expensive section, it is all white. Here, also, few people watch the game. They talk.
Ten minutes later, as I finally sit down with a cool bottle of water — it is hot, although with a pleasant breeze — Birmingham Legion gets a penalty after a clumsy challenge. The player scores comfortably and it’s 2-0.
In the 42nd minute, the hosts have an enormous chance, after a good attack, but the striker shoots from 7 meter straight at the goalkeeper. Two minutes later, after a long attack, they score easy when a player is totally free at 10 meter and can pick a corner: 3-0. This is also the half-time score.
Just two minutes into the second half a Legion striker runs at the goal and a defender gives him a very obvious and dumb push from behind: yet another penalty and a red card. The player scores and it is 4-0, game completely over.
Oddly enough, the next goal comes from the Canadian guests, after a sparse attack, scoring easily: 4-1. In fact, Loudon is now better, despite playing with 10 men, mainly because Birmingham can no longer be bothered. The fans are also even quieter now. Fair enough though, as the game is over, despite the guests getting better into the game.
A few minutes before the end of regular rime, A Legion player has a great dribble and is tripped in the box. The third penalty of the night, all clear and deserved, and it is 5-1. In the second minute of overtime, 5 hosts attack against 4 visitors, the player picks a corner, and it is 6-1. This is also the final score.
With such a high score and such great weather, this was obviously a nice evening. Moreover, while this is not a soccer-specific stadium, it could be a great ground for a (popular) MLS team one day. Now, it looks a bit sad, even though the small group of drummers and singers as well as the stadium’s great acoustics saves it a bit (if you close your eyes).
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