Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Oakland: It’s been a bruising decade for Oakland sports fans. Not that long ago, the city boasted three teams in the major American leagues: the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, the NFL’s Raiders and MLB’s Athletics.
One by one, they all turned their backs on their community as their owners chased newer facilities in bigger markets for better commercial returns.
The Warriors shifted across the bay to San Francisco in 2019; at least they’re still close by. The following year, the Raiders left for the riches of Las Vegas, severing their link to the city with which they had been synonymous for decades. And in 2024, the famous A’s – the baseball franchise from the film Moneyball – relocated to West Sacramento, and will move again to Vegas once their new ballpark is built.
“You’re going to make me cry,” said Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, the mayor of Alameda, as the topic of the area’s unprecedented sporting exodus is raised. Alameda is technically its own city, to the south of Oakland, and is home to the venues that the Warriors, Raiders and Athletics teams used to play at.
For a gritty, industrial city that has always lived in the shadows of its bigger, wealthier and more glamorous neighbours – and is constantly fighting what the locals say are outdated stereotypes about violent crime – losing three professional teams within five years had a brutal impact on Oakland’s civic self-esteem.
“As a team, you’re nothing without your fans,” Ashcraft said. “And when the fans lose hope in you – and you betray them – that really says something about the organisation.”
The recovery is ongoing, but the arrival of the Socceroos this week is genuinely helping to heal the scars.
While the World Cup draw in December assigned the Socceroos to the “western region” of North America, it was still up to them to select a hotel and training site from the list provided by FIFA. Their reconnaissance work identified two standouts, and the Socceroos landed both: the Claremont Resort, a country club dripping with American old money vibes just to the north in Berkeley, and the old training base which was left vacant by the Raiders, next to the Oakland airport in Alameda, away from any distractions.
It has since been taken over by the Oakland Roots, an ambitious, celebrity-backed minor-league soccer club. Being an ex-NFL facility, it has all the relevant bells and whistles, and has been decked out in green and gold to welcome the Socceroos – but there’s still traces of its former life everywhere, with plenty of Raiders logos yet to be taken down.
“In all the years that the Oakland Raiders had this facility, they were not a community-facing organisation,” Ashcraft said. “Understandably, they didn’t want you to see their practice, and their plays and all that. [But] they never hosted any community organisations or events. And then the Roots came in … it’s just like night and day.”
The Roots play in the USL Championship, the level below Major League Soccer, and were launched partly in reaction to the other teams leaving. Their slogan is “Know Your Roots”, and they describe themselves as a “purpose-driven sports organisation”; their ethos is about showing the loyalty to Oakland that the other teams never did. In one of the most ethnically diverse regions of the USA, they’ve been a hit, regularly pulling big crowds to the Oakland Coliseum, the old Raiders and Athletics stadium.
“It’s so sad that professional sports have left Oakland. It is such a great sports town,” said Lindsay Barenz, president of the Oakland Roots and Soul, their women’s division. “The fans here are incredible. They love their teams passionately. They just need teams that love them as much as they love the team – and we have been embraced so warmly.”
Eager to reap at least some of the benefits of being a World Cup host nation, the club was desperate to entertain a team – and delighted to learn the Socceroos had actually chosen them.
Like the Socceroos, Oakland has always punched above its weight in a cultural sense. It’s had a profound impact on American politics; the Black Panther Party was founded there in 1966. Hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur, although born in New York, came to prominence while living in Oakland, and there is a street named after him.
It’s also rated as the second-best food city in the US, as beloved mayor Barbara Lee proudly told the crowd on Wednesday (local time) in a ceremony to officially welcome coach Tony Popovic and his players before an open training session.
The Roots say about 4000 fans entered the ballot for a ticket to watch the Socceroos train, but the event had a capacity of 800. Many of the people lucky enough to get in turned up wearing Socceroos jerseys or other Australia-branded gear – and the vast majority weren’t expat Aussies or World Cup tourists, but Americans who have decided to adopt them as their team.
The Roots have even created a line of Aussie-themed merchandise, including t-shirts with the phrases “Oak Roos” and “Know Your Roos”, and they’re selling like hotcakes. Their home game on June 17 at the Coliseum will be “Australian-themed”, while local restaurants are also getting into the spirit with Aussie-inspired specials: Vegemite bagels, fries with chicken salt, and beers made with Australian hops.
“People in Oakland and Alameda and the East Bay are very loyal, and when you invest in the community, they want to return that love,” Barenz said.
“Being selected by the Socceroos, seeing the Socceroos, staying at hotels in our community, eating in our restaurants, giving back to our community – that builds loyalty, and they’re going to feel that love back from our community when it comes to supporting them in their games.”
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