Empire Supporters Club
First. Last. Forever.
From punk shows and Centaurs games to Section 101 and beyond. Three decades of standing, singing, and fighting for the game — through every heartbreak and every triumph.
The Empire Supporters Club didn't begin in a boardroom. It began in the grime and glory of New York's underground music scene — on the terraces of Downing Stadium, in the back rooms of punk venues, and in the minds of a few kids who believed soccer could belong to them. Founded in early 1995, before MLS even kicked its first ball, ESC has outlasted stadiums, owners, coaches, and a rebrand that tried to erase the team's identity. Through it all, we've stood in Section 101 — sometimes forty strong, sometimes four hundred — singing until our voices cracked.
This is the story of the oldest supporters club in Major League Soccer. It's not always pretty. It's never been easy. But it's ours.
Kevin McAllister and a crew of anti-racist skinheads, punks, and leftists form the core of what would become ESC at New York Centaurs (A-League) games at Downing Stadium. The group is rooted in the RASH (Red and Anarchist Skinheads) scene and borrows from UK supporter culture. The name "Empire Supporters Club" nods to New York as the Empire State — a claim to territory and identity that would define the group for decades.
MLS launches. ESC claims Section 101 at Giants Stadium. By Game 2, it's the ESC home. The cavernous football stadium swallows sound, but ESC makes noise anyway — drums, flags, and chants borrowed from English terraces, Italian curvas, and Argentine barras. First anti-fascist confrontation: neo-Nazis appear at a home game and are physically removed. The founding principle is clear.
"We wanted to make sure that if soccer was coming to New York, New Jersey, that supporters sections were not allowed to be taken over by far-right racist elements." — Greg Pason
ESC's songbook grows organically. Members translate chants from the UK, Italy, Argentina, and Spain. Tifo and banner culture develops — handmade signs painted in apartments, hung with rope and hope. The "You Suck Asshole" (YSA) chant reportedly originates here, later spreading to MLS-wide notoriety. The membership reflects New York itself: skinheads and Marines, Latino families and Polish hooligans, punk kids and northern soul dancers.
ESC predates MLS by nearly a year. When the league kicked off in April 1996, the Empire Supporters Club was already organized, had claimed territory in Section 101, and had a songbook ready to go.
For eight years at Giants Stadium, ESC watched the MetroStars stumble. Playoff appearances came and went like summer storms — brief, dramatic, and ultimately disappointing. The 1998 run to the MLS Cup Final ended in heartbreak. The 2000 and 2001 campaigns offered hope before collapsing. Through it all, ESC traveled: to Columbus, to New England, to DC — carrying banners and flags, turning away sections red.
The stadium itself was a challenge. Built for 80,000 football fans, Giants Stadium reduced supporter chants to echoes. ESC experimented with drums, capos, megaphones — anything to cut through the emptiness. When the team struggled to draw 10,000, ESC's core remained, sometimes out-singing the entire rest of the stadium combined.
In 2000, Roger Gaess photographed ESC members carrying a NYC Firm sign on a road trip to New England — a visual testament to the group's traveling culture and working-class roots. Those photos remain iconic in ESC lore.
"We stood in Section 101 when the upper deck was empty and the wind cut through. We stood when the team was down three goals at halftime. We stood because that's what supporters do." — ESC Member, 2005
The name "MetroStars" was mocked by rivals — "Metro-failures," "Metros-cars" — but ESC embraced it. The name represented something organic, something local, something that belonged to the fans rather than a corporate parent. When Red Bull purchased the team in 2006, many members left in protest. Those who stayed kept the MetroStars identity alive in chants, banners, and conversation.
ESC's founding in the anti-racist skinhead scene wasn't incidental — it was foundational. From day one, the group enforced a simple rule: bigotry has no place in Section 101. That commitment has been tested over the years — most publicly in 2023 — but it has never wavered.
In 2006, Red Bull GmbH purchased the MetroStars and rebranded them as the "New York Red Bulls." For many ESC members, it felt like an erasure. The name their grandparents might have heard on the radio — "MetroStars" — was replaced by an energy drink logo. Section 101 became a place of mourning and resistance simultaneously.
The saving grace came three years later. In 2009, Red Bull Arena opened in Harrison, New Jersey — a soccer-specific stadium designed with supporters in mind. ESC relocated to Section 101 behind the south goal, where the steep stands and roofed canopy amplified supporter noise like never before. For the first time, ESC's songs reached the pitch with the volume they deserved.
At Red Bull Arena, three supporters groups settled into a unified supporters' end: Garden State Supporters in the middle (later evolving into other forms), ESC in Section 101, and Viking Army in Section 102. Together, they became known as the "South Ward" — a collective identity stronger than any single group. Tailgate culture flourished in the parking lots of Harrison, replacing the bar pre-games of the Giants Stadium era.
Photographer Douglas Zimmerman documented the South Ward in 2011, capturing images of flag-waving, smoke, and raw emotion that remain some of the most vivid visual records of ESC's matchday experience. His photos show what words struggle to convey: the intensity, the community, and the unapologetic passion of supporters who have waited years for a team to match their devotion.
The 2010 season gave ESC something they'd rarely experienced: unqualified joy. After finishing dead last in 2009, the Red Bulls — led by the arrival of Thierry Henry and Rafa Márquez — surged to the top of the Eastern Conference. The transformation felt like vindication. ESC's songs, which had echoed through empty upper decks for years, now soundtracked a genuine contender.
Henry's arrival was transformative not just for the team but for the supporters. A global icon choosing to play in Harrison, New Jersey, gave ESC a legitimacy they'd long deserved. When Henry scored, the South Ward erupted in a way that made the stadium shake. For the first time, the team on the field matched the passion in the stands.
In 2013, the New York Red Bulls won the Supporters' Shield — the trophy awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in MLS. For ESC, it was validation of nearly two decades of dedication. Head coach Mike Petke, a local product and former player, became a symbol of everything the supporters had fought for: authenticity, passion, and a connection to place.
ESC granted Petke lifetime membership — the only person ever to receive it. When the team celebrated the Shield at Red Bull Arena, Petke walked to Section 101 and raised it with the fans. It was a moment of perfect symmetry: the local kid who grew up watching the MetroStars, lifting silverware with the supporters who'd been there since the beginning.
"Mike Petke is the only person to have a lifetime membership with the ESC, and is welcome to join us anywhere at any time. He will be welcomed as a hero, as he should be." — ESC Statement, 2015
In 2014, the club unveiled "As Long As We're Breathing" banners honoring the MetroStars past — a concession to decades of supporter advocacy. The South Ward produced a massive tifo reading "Our Hearts Bleed Red For Our Home," a statement of rootedness in a league defined by transience. Tifo culture, led by members like Dino Neral, reached new heights of creativity and scale.
But the same year brought pain. The firing of Mike Petke in January 2015 — replaced by Ali Curtis and Jesse Marsch — triggered one of ESC's most forceful statements ever. Supporters didn't just disagree with the decision; they felt betrayed by it. Petke represented something the corporate structure couldn't replicate: genuine connection to the community.
In 2015, New York City FC joined MLS, creating the Hudson River Derby. For ESC, the rivalry was immediate and visceral. NYCFC represented everything ESC opposed: a team playing in a baseball stadium, owned by foreign oil money, with fans who'd never suffered through a losing season. The contrast between ESC's three decades of loyalty and NYCFC's manufactured identity was stark.
The supporter battles became legendary. ESC and the South Ward produced tifos that won national recognition — including a "Man City Lite" banner mocking NYCFC's ownership, and a Sopranos-themed display that captured the cultural gulf between the two fanbases. When the Red Bulls defeated NYCFC on the field, the South Ward's celebrations were as much about supporter pride as team victory.
The late 2010s and early 2020s brought more playoff disappointments — the 2018 Supporters' Shield campaign ending in postseason collapse, the 2023 Leagues Cup run offering hope before familiar heartbreak. Through coaching changes, player turnover, and a global pandemic that emptied stadiums, ESC remained. When MLS returned to play in 2020, ESC adapted: socially distanced tailgates, masked chants, and a commitment to showing up even when the world made it difficult.
In April 2023, a Dante Vanzeir racial slur incident triggered a joint ESC/Viking Army walkout after the national anthem. The message was unequivocal: "We have stood by our club through good seasons and bad, a rebrand, and a pandemic. We will not stand by as long as racism is tolerated." Demands included the removal of Vanzeir and manager Gerhard Struber; donations were redirected to Black Players for Change.
The walkout wasn't an attack on the club — it was an act of love. ESC has always believed that supporting a team means holding it accountable, pushing it to be better, refusing to accept the easy path of silence. The statement made national news and sparked conversations across MLS about supporter responsibility.
"We have stood by our club through good seasons and bad, a rebrand, and a pandemic. We will not stand by as long as racism is tolerated." — ESC Joint Statement, April 2023
As of 2025, ESC remains the oldest supporters group in MLS. Thirty years after its founding, the club still sings in Section 101 at Sports Illustrated Stadium (formerly Red Bull Arena). The membership has evolved — new faces alongside veterans who remember Centaurs games — but the ethos remains. Online presence spans the official website, Instagram, Bluesky, and MemberPlanet, connecting a diaspora of Metro/Red Bull supporters who may have moved away but never stopped caring.
The trophy cabinet still lacks an MLS Cup. The wait continues. But as ESC has proven time and again, the measure of a supporters group isn't silverware — it's showing up. Rain or shine. Win or lose. First. Last. Forever.