Andrea Pirlo has signed for New York City FC, and will join Lampard and Villa as the three designated players for the club.
[VIDEO] The Third Rail Experience
Check out the atmosphere, and some sweet goals, from the NYCFC games so far.
Opinion Piece: City Beats Needs Some Changes
By Third Rail Member Eric Barber
This is an opinion piece from a member and not all members of the Third Rail might agree with the following opinions.
The NYCFC website says that the band they have hired, City Beats, is there to help “enhance the fan’s match-day experience.” In more ways than one they are doing the opposite. Along with the other great supporters sections, we the Third Rail sing and chant throughout the game in the general admission bleacher sections 235-238. These sections are the home of the most passionate NYCFC fans, but in my mind we are being overshadowed.
When we cheer in the bleachers, we are singing as loud as we can and we even have a couple of drums, but the sound of the loud marching band instruments is something that we can not compete with. The acoustics of Yankee Stadium are already not great (that’s another story), and adding to the noise is horns and double the amount of drums we have in our sections that the club has designated to us.
Friends have told me that when they watch the games on TV, they can’t hear any chanting or fans. The only thing they hear is a marching band. That’s just TV. Members of our group who happen to sit in other sections of the stadium have said that City Beats makes a lot of noise and they can’t hear us.
We are the Third Rail. We are there to power our team on throughout every game. Not only do we want to let the opposing fans know that we have a presence, but we want to motivate our own players. This is not possible, however, with our noise being drowned out. Now I’m not saying that I dislike City Beats. They play some great songs, and they bring an upbeat musical presence. But the club’s front office has to make some changes for the band to work out and to make the supporters truly happy.
First, they should not be playing throughout the game. Soccer, unlike most other sports here in America, plays continuously for 45 minutes 2 separate times. At baseball or football or even basketball games, there are timeouts and inning and quarter breaks. City Beats would be great in situations like that, but soccer is not a sport that works like that. They are a good musical group for halftime and before and after the games, but when the players are on the pitch, that is not the time.
Second, City Beats does a lot of work before and after the game right outside the stadium. That works very well. People of all different ages think its cool to see them outside. That is something that maybe they can pre record and show on the jumbotron.
Third, in our supporter’s section we have some very talented drummers. There is even a group that plays cool music called the Templados. Possibly there could be collaboration between City Beats and the Templados. It would be great interaction between the club and its supporters. Possibly we could lead a chant for the whole stadium. We could work with the club on getting a leader or just straight up Templados drummers on the big screen and have the stadium do one of our signature chants. It could be almost like a Fireman Ed thing that the Jets had for awhile.
Look, I’m not trying to say that the club should disband City Beats. Just the concept needs improvement. They drown out most of our sound, they distract the TV viewer, and most importantly it is unpleasant for most people around the stadium. They are good in little doses, but that is it. Right now there is some disconnect between the club and the supporters on a number of different issues. The City Beats issue is one that is easily fixable. The mindset that I have is not set in stone. The ideas for improvement can change, but one things for sure, as long as the Third Rail is in the bleachers, doesn’t matter if there is City Beats or Not, win or lose we will always follow NYCFC.
NYCFC v Houston Dynamo
To say that the team has not played well of late is an understatement, but we, as supporters of NYCFC, will be there all the way -- win, lose or draw!
This Saturday at 7pm EDT, New York City FC take on Houston at Yankee Stadium in search of that elusive three points.
The Third Rail will be meeting up from 4pm onwards at Billy's and the Dugout behind Yankee Stadium.
Come join us for what will definitely be a lot of fun - and you never know...we might even get a win!
Real Salt Lake v NYCFC: Viewing Party
This Saturday, NYCFC look to build off the good momentum from last week as they travel to Real Salt Lake.
The Third Rail will be hosting a viewing party at Nevada Smith's from 9pm onwards. Here is the agenda
- 9pm: Membership meeting and Q&A
- 10pm: RSL v NYCFC
Let us know if you will be attending here
p.s. We will also have 50 Third Rail scarves on sale.
See you at Nevadas!
Best Moments from New York City v Seattle Sounders
Here is a collection of the best moments from the Third Rail section at NYCFC's game at home to Seattle Sounders.
Photos taken Ryan Leone. www.ryanleonephoto.com
@Ryanjleone on Instagram
The Hudson Derby: Tickets Available
UPDATE: All away section tickets are sold out. Contact RBNY by phone to check if they have other tickets available and ask to sit near our section.
May 10th marks the date for the first New York derby (aka Hudson Derby).
We have close to a 1000 tickets already sold for the away section with over 300 still available - and they are selling fast!
Join the Third Rail on this historic derby day and get your (cheap) tickets now.
HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS
Tickets are $20 dollars each and there is a service charge of $1.75 per ticket. You might notice they come up as $30 but when you enter your code and check out the ticket price comes down to $20.
Click the link below and create an account (this is separate from your NYCFC TicketMaster account) and enter the code THIRDRAIL to unlock the price and the section.
Let's fill them up! Tell everyone you know! You do not need to be a TR member to get in on this!!
Seattle Sounders at Home
It's been a rough few weeks for New York City FC, but despite the results the supporters community keeps on getting stronger and stronger.
This week, we take on Seattle and the team needs all the support they can get.
The Third Rail will, as always, be at Billy's bar from 4pm onwards. Join us!
If you have not got a ticket yet, make sure to do so here.
Also, for the game, we have a new Chants and Songs PDF for you to download.
Ross Cranwell is the Director of Marketing. An Irish native, Ross has been living in NYC for over a year now and works in marketing for a tech company. Ross loves NYCFC, Serie A and plays pickup. Reach out to him on twitter to chat!
Chicago Fire Viewing Party
NYCFC go in search of a much needed win against Chicago and the Third Rail will be at Nevada Smith's to cheer them on.
Here are the details:
- 7pm: Third Rail Membership Meeting
- 8pm: NYCFC v Chicago Fire
- 9pm-1am: Players Lounge Launch Party
Our membership meeting will take place at 7pm, but feel free to arrive any time before that to get a seat and to grab a few drinks.
Also, the Players Lounge is offering all 2015 Third Rail members a special offer extending open bar two hours. The offer is $30 from 7pm-1am. Please visit this link for more details.
As always, Third Rail members receive 10% off all drinks at Nevada Smiths and merchandise will be available for purchase.
For any questions, post them in the comments below.
#hailtherail
Posted by Ross Cranwell
Ross Cranwell is the Director of Marketing. An Irish native, Ross has been living in NYC for over a year now and works in marketing for a tech company. Ross loves NYCFC, Serie A and plays pickup. Reach out to him on twitter to chat!
Match Report: New York City Suffered Their Second Loss at the Hands of Philadelphia Union
The spectators at PPL Park were treated to beautiful weather and exciting soccer this past Sunday. Unfortunately, for NYCFC fans the result left something to be desired.
Philadelphia Union managed to find the back of the net in stoppage time to secure a 2-1 victory over NYCFC.
The Union’s Sebastien Le Toux managed to beat a tackle and get a few clean touches in the penalty area before passing the ball across the mouth of the goal. Eric Ayuk received the pass and took the shot but it deflected off the Union’s Zach Pfeffer before crossing the goal line in the 27th minute. It appeared that an equalizer would come a minute later when Adam Nemec finished a pass from David Villa but the ball was ruled out of bounds prior to the pass. With the exception of a few solid plays it was another case of poor first half performance from NYCFC.
NYCFC came out fighting in the second half. The team was clearly pressing harder and more efficiently. Unlike the first half, the midfield controlled the possession and turned it into meaningful attacks. David Villa displayed another one of his fantastic back heels off a pass from Mix Diskerud to start a sequence of passes that ended with him scoring in the 55th minute. Khiry Shelton, Adam Nemec and Josh Willams all had beautiful one touch passes to set up Villa close to the goal.
A draw felt inevitable as the match was coming to a close. The Union’s Vincent Nogueira apparently missed the draw memo and scored off a Josh Saunders punched ball in the 92nd minute.
With a poor first half performance from NYCFC a win would have been great but a draw would have felt acceptable. A loss, given the teams first half struggles in the past matches feels pretty rough. Hopefully, the team can nip their first half blues in the bud before it becomes a recurring issue.
NYCFC will have a chance to avenge the loss this Thursday at 7pm when they face the Union again at home.
As always, go NYCFC and Hail The Rail!