Seven months after we first covered the club, we've caught up with the fans and staff of FMFC to hear their first-season stories...
Amidst the suffocation of active support within Australia, it was difficult not to enquire about how all these groups not only come together on matchday, but how they actively celebrate eachother’s differences whilst bringing deafening noise and vibrant colour to matchdays at Forward’s home stadium, Breese Stevens Field.
Omar offers an explanation:
“I think everyone comes in as a community. At games there's barely any ‘La Barra here, Featherstone here, the Flock here, Mingo Ladies here’.
“We're there supporting the same team. We wanna be all together.”
Off the pitch, the three leaders work with the club and other supporter groups to hold fundraising events and engage in charity initiatives.
“Our [overall fundraising] goal was $10K. I think we already had $7K after the first month,” Kyle says, “The fact we were already that close to our goal was incredible. We still had [fundraisers for] G-Safe (LGBTQ+ charity), we had mental health, we had domestic abuse, we had literacy for children.”
Andrew and Kyle also credit Omar for initiating a partnership with the Madison Police Department to deliver soccer clinics for primary and secondary school-aged children.
“The fact we’ve been doing all those charities in a wide variety and area, and how much we've been able to fundraise, I think that's my highlight in that regard,” Kyle finishes.
On the field, Forward fans endured a rollercoaster of a season.
After mixed results throughout the opening six rounds, the team went on to lose their next four games, leaving them at the foot of the USL League One table by the end of Round 10.
An extraordinary turnaround in form saw them take 20 points of a possible 27 from their next nine fixtures, drawing twice and losing only once to Lansing Ignite.
This, ironically, was followed by an anxiety-inducing stumble, winning only one of their next five games, and needing a near-perfect points collection from their final four games in order to finish in the top four and qualify for playoffs.
Crucial wins over Richmond Kickers and league-leaders North Texas SC put them into a promising position, only needing one win from their final two fixtures.
Held to a draw against FC Tucson, the team had to do it the hard way, travelling to a Lansing Ignite team who hadn’t lost in almost three months.
The game’s only goal came in the 43rd minute when Forward’s Carter Manley was put through on the right wing, making space to send in a slightly-overhit cross which was cut back to J.C Banks, who slotted the ball into the back of the net, sending the sizeable contingent of travelling Forward fans into hysteria.
Through to the playoffs in their inaugural season, there would unfortunately be no further pages written in the first chapter of the Forward fairytale, forced to come up against a strong North Texas SC outfit away from home in the semi-final and going down two goals to nil.
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