Guest Post: Leagues of their own

By: Bob Kellett | May 9th, 2008

David Falk is the webmaster of www.GOALSeattle.com. He has followed the Sounders and the Seattle soccer scene since 1974. He was instrumental in starting the Cascadia Cup competition and had lobbied for the NBA Sonics to change their Yellow & Green (ick!) color scheme. He’s recently realized that will soon no longer be an issue. His thoughts on the Timbers and Sounders rivalry ahead of Saturday’s clash in Seattle are below. My take on the Northwest Derby can be found here.

Sounders and Timbers fans are looking at 2008 through very different lenses. So are the clubs themselves.

While the Timbers look to continue their hot start with a second win in Seattle this Saturday night, the Sounders are hoping for some home magic to turn around the performance and result from their 2-0 loss in the Rose City in late April.

It goes far beyond one match, though, this seeing things differently.

When I attended Seattle Sounders 2008 Media Day on Wednesday the ’signs’ were everywhere around Qwest Field. Not one of them contained the classic Sounders wave logo used on and off since 1974. Nope, the new crest of Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer had claimed space with none left for the current team.

2009 will mark the end, or perhaps just a league pause, in the Seattle-Portland derby. Up to division one will go the Sounders, and staying in division two will be the Timbers. No one knows if the rivals will ever play a league contest again.

Seattle’s rise to the higher league has been met in Seattle with dazzling ticket sales. While the USL-1 Sounders are met with apathy the MLS FC have 15,000 season ticket deposits almost a year before kick-off, with talk of selling out all 24,000 lower bowl seats for each match they’ll play in 2009.

Portland is on the MLS trail, as are the Vancouver Whitecaps. Rest assured that Seattle is not only watching, but hoping for a Cascadian revival in Major League Soccer.

When you can get a guy like Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer to set aside years of combative nature and speak hopefully of the Timbers joining MLS one day, then, well, you begin to see a less-heralded side to this derby. In the end there are fans, players and team officials on both sides that are feeling a bit glum about what will be lost after 2008.

Seattle Sounders FC will enter Major League Soccer with lots of tradition behind them, and exactly zero geographical rivals. For many in the Emerald City this obviously isn’t a problem (see above ticket sales). For others 2008 carries with it a lingering sense of loss. Road trips to Portland (and Vancouver) are now precious memories and precious few on the calendar.

It’s hard to say this, but May 10, 2008 could be the last-ever league match between Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers in Seattle. Unless, that is, Brian Schmetzer has his way.

The drama of 2008 will grow as the Timbers hope to exact the last say on the derby. Can they rip the Cascadia Cup out of Seattle’s grasp? Will the two clubs meet once again in the US Open Cup or perhaps the USL-1 Playoffs?

Last season we almost had a Seattle-Portland league final. Seattle’s semifinal penalty kick advancement over Puerto Rico was not quite matched by Portland, who fell at home to Atlanta in PK’s. Seattle went on to claim a fourth league championship. Portland Timbers fans undoubtedly are hoping for a reversal of that outcome this season.

We all have to wonder what 2008 and beyond holds in store, and how long the results of this year’s derby will have to ‘make do’ when it comes to bragging rights in the years ahead.

Photo 1: Sounders v. Timbers at Qwest in 2007. (Jenni Conner)
Photo 2: Sebastien Le Toux: Sounder now, FC in 2009. (David Falk)