Sons of Ben to get their own stadium section on the Chester Waterfront

There's been little going on on the surface of MLS Philadelphia - but as you can tell from this update from the Philadelphia Daily News' John Smallwood...there's a lot going on underneath.

A couple weeks ago, MLS Philadelphia hired their first two executives - Dave Debusschere as Chief Financial Officer and Rob Smith as Director of Operations. Debusschere joins from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Smith is the longtime FC Delco director. FC Delco is one of the premier youth programs in the company and being a longtime coach of the game, Smith is a perfect choice for this job. If there is someway MLS Philly can incorporate FC Delco into their youth academy and development programs, we will already be caught up tremendously in terms of producing and fostering soccer talent.

Smallwood gave us a couple tidbits today...

- season ticket sales are above 4,500, over 23% of the desired capacity - 23 months before the home opener
- construction on the stadium will break ground in the fall - a mere 3-4 months away
- the SONS OF BEN will get their own special section and possibly entrance to the Chester Waterfront Stadium according to Dave Mosca, the senior VP of Corporate Partnerships
- the brand, logo, etc. will be unveiled by the end of the year

Next local paper on board, Courier Post chimes in

Don Benevento of the Courier Post interviews a lot of South Jersey high school coaches (including my old one, Joe Falana) with "Fans should get a kick out of MLS". Nothing too special, but it certainly shows that the word is spreading.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff Gammage talks about the origins of football's team anthems. Liverpool's 'You'll Never Walk Alone', West Ham United's 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles', and last but not least - and most importantly - the Sons of Ben's, possible Philly MLS anthem - Mummer Band backing and all - "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover".

Here's Sons of Ben singing at the MLS Philly 2010 Announcement.

"The Sons Also Rise"

A great piece on our new team and the spotlight is firmly on Bryan James and the Sons of Ben. Written by the always entertaining Steven Wells of Philadelphia Weekly.

Quick excerpt:

American soccer fan culture is as diverse as America itself. It cherry picks whatever the hell it wants from Europe, the Caribbean and Central and South America, and adds its own unique touches. Portland, for instance, just retired a real-life goddamn real chainsaw-wielding real Douglas fir-climbing real-life lumberjack mascot called Timber Jim.

How American is that?

With fans like these—fans like the Sons of Ben—who the hell needs David Beckham?

But don’t think American soccer fandom doesn’t know it’s got a way to go. At the England/U.S. game in Chicago in 2005, the hundreds of chanting, drumming and singing members of Sam’s Army were drowned out at one point by thousands of English men and women lustily singing (to the tune of the Welsh hymn “Bread of Heaven”) “Are you Scotland in disguise?” The dude next to me stopped drumming, pointed at the away fans with his drumstick, and said, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

Read it all here.