Fans cheeringNews on Boro from the Big Apple
FOOTBALL FAN FLYING FLAG FOR CLUB 3,500 MILES AWAY
A LOYAL Middlesbrough FC fan is keeping the club spirits high – even from 3,500 miles away.
Ellen Sowerby, 42, the founder of Boro North America, moved around a lot as a child and lived in Stockton for a time. That, and her long-time family loyalty to the club, is where her love affair with Middlesbrough FC started.
The passionate support for a local football club doesn’t just start and end with Teesside, it lives in the hearts of people across the globe – some 3,500 miles away.
In pubs, bars and even front rooms across the North American continent, a loyal group of fans gather to cheer on our team and live the highs and lows of British football, just like we do.
On flying the Boro flag in the States and Canada, Ellen said: “The supporters’ group was started about eight years ago in Toronto, Canada, and we were officially recognised by the club in 2015. We have around 300 members based all over the US, and in Canada, so it’s a good mix.”
Ellen now lives in Brooklyn, New York, working in TV production and film – but started her career at Boro TV, one of the first specific club television channels, which was launched in the 1990s. The Football Factory pub became a firm favourite of Ellen’s in New York, with meet-ups in cities across the vast continent.
She added: “A lot of our members are Teesside ex-pats or the children of expats. They either grew up watching Boro or they grew up supporting Boro because of their families.
“That’s maybe 85% of our membership – but we do have some random Americans and Canadians that have just caught the bug, and they love it.”
Ellen, who has a lifetime of ‘Typical Boro’ experiences behind her, recalls one unlikely member of their ragtag gang of Boro fans, saying: “There was one guy, Rob who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He came into one of our Zoom Happy Hours and he started with that American happiness and positivity. We soon beat that out of him.”
Pre-Covid, the supporters’ club would receive messages from tourists, who had wanted to meet up with fellow fans to watch Boro matches. The pandemic did, of course, slow down the ability for the different chapters of the group to meet in person over the past 18 months and instead, it was social media that brought everyone together with regular Zoom calls. The ‘Happy Hour’ parties saw heroes such Bernie Slaven, Franck Queudrue, and Neil Maddison all drop-in virtually – along with former manager Neil Warnock.