While the goal of sports is to win a championships, sports are so much more than that. As I was driving home from the game, I really wanted to share my thoughts on what this win meant to me. In wondering how I should do that, I eventually recalled that I’m technically the editor of this website. So I asked all of the WGaH contributors to share their thoughts with me, just so I could share mine.
Luke Opperman
The win last night was the dream culmination of the amazing work of everyone from Gary, Jay, the FO, players, fans, and technical staff. The win means everything, the exhale of relief was real, so much time and effort went in to this and you could feel it in the stadium. Personally, this win meant the future of this club will continue to burn brightly and bring opportunity to so many people in the metro and beyond. The result is idyllic and I’m not too proud to say that the tears I shed upon winning were amazingly cathartic. There’s a long road ahead for this club but the support from ownership, fans, and staff are there to see Omaha become a destination for young talent on the field and fans in the stand. To all the players who won’t return, once a Búho, always a Búho.
Jon Ryan
Words can’t really describe the feeling of your local club winning a championship. The accumulation of individual moments over the course of an entire season, even the tiniest of both highs and lows, leads to feeling every possible form of emotion immediately. But after having time to absorb it all, the most dominant emotion is pride. Pride for the players, technical staff, front office staff, and all of the supporters that lived and died with this team nonstop this season.
Ryan Legrande
When it was announced that a professional soccer team would be in Omaha, I immediately dreamed of a team that I could watch win a championship. At the time I thought it would take years to build to that. There is nothing quite like watching a club you’ve poured your energy, your time, and your emotions into win a championship. The fact that they got to do that at Werner Park and in such a convincing way was icing on the cake.
Rich Flemings
Being able to witness Union Omaha winning the title isn’t just about the superficial appearance of a sports team winning a title. After being a season-ticket holder since the beginning, the team has taken on a different level of meaning to me. It’s no longer a means for me to go out and watch live soccer. When you attend home matches on a consistent basis, go to watch parties when the team is on the road, hang out with wonderful people at tailgates week in and week out, that seed of emotional connection has already been planted. You no longer root for the brand of the club. You root for the players, who you share moments with after matches, at public appearances, and off-the-book outings with fans. You root for the club because of the amazing Front Office workers who are there to answer your questions, provide assistance when you least expect it, and to joke with whenever they aren’t busy racing around the stadium. The level of fandom elevates itself to something unfamiliar to a lot of people who follow pro sports in a different metropolitan area. Union Omaha isn’t shelling out millions of dollars on players who are looking to expand their individual media empire. The players on the team are established professionals who have bright futures. Watching young players grow and develop, especially under Jay Mims and Co., leads me to believe that Union Omaha has just as bright a future as each player does individually. Union Omaha doesn’t have multiple barriers, literally and figuratively, between itself and the fans. They want to embrace the fans, they want to welcome them into Werner Park, and they want to grow roots in the area for years to come. Omaha has seen sports teams come and go, but the way that Union Omaha has run their club so far, I have no doubt this club will be around for a long time. Rooting for Union Omaha isn’t just rooting for a team or a brand. It’s rooting for a community of which I’m proud to call myself a member. #OneMeansAll
Bryan Daily
Union Omaha are Champions of USL League One. It feels great to say. After a crazy pregame of watching Liverpool beat up on my brother’s favorite team; Arsenal; sitting right next to him none the less, we then moved our attention to the real game on our minds. The one that had been there since the inception of the team three years ago.
When it was announced that Omaha was going to be getting a professional soccer team it hit me at the perfect time in my fandom. I had been watching the Premier League for a year or two, had chosen a team and was still in the process of learning all the little intricoes of the beautiful game. I felt connected to the game through the Omaha Liverpool Supporters group. Being so far away from the team itself it gave me the feeling of being there without having to be there. They were so welcoming to a newcomer, and genuinely wanted to hear about me and my journey that led me to their supporters’ group. I am a part of the group and will continue to be for as long as I am able to.
As someone that always only watched Nebraska athletics, I did not really have a powerful sense of pride about the city. Matter of fact, I had a strong dislike of the city itself. My father, Grandfather, and future Father-in-law all worked for the city of Elkhorn before the annexation. We did not know if any of them would have jobs if the annexation went through. And the way the city went about it left a bad taste in the mouth of everyone who lived and worked in Elkhorn. But everything worked out in the end, with my father and to be father-in-law getting jobs with the city of Omaha and my grandfather retiring finally. That and with the city putting in the work to make sure Elkhorn had the same quality of care for the roads and public works it made me take pride in the city, but I was still no fan of the athletic teams in the city. That was until Union Omaha came about.
I remember being so excited when I heard about the team. Wanting to know more about them immediately and wanting to know how to be a supporter. I got all the emails and sent my input into the club in the naming of the club and the crest design. I bought my season ticket day one, was ready to be involved day one. I was devastated to learn that the crest unveil was taking place during a time that I could not attend. So, I fired up the livestream, when I saw the black tarp drop down, I was in awe. It was perfect, everything from the colors to the crest itself was perfect. You could see that the people involved really knew the city and how to incorporate everything into it. We were building something incredible.
The people I’ve talked to, the events I’ve attended, the games we won, and the games we lost have given me a sense of pride in a city I did not consider my home city, even though I grew up in a suburb of the city itself. Union Omaha has changed that for me. Parliament has changed that for me. I am and will be forever grateful for this club and this supporters group. I may not always be around for the events the amazing supporters groups throw, I am a family-oriented person first, but I am always there in spirit. Thank you to everyone involved with this club. From the Owner of the club all the way down the the first time fan attending the match, I appreciate you, more than words can express. Thank you Union Omaha.
Ben Turner
When I left the game, I was focused on how satisfying this was to celebrate with my friends. How satisfying it was to hug the people that I’ve been on this journey with. After hanging out at Switch with Parliament and the team for a few hours, I realized it was more than just the relationships with my friends that meant so much.
The beauty of soccer at this level is that the players are so accessible to us as fans. If you want to, you can build a relationship with them. Riding home from the celebration it struck me just how ridiculous, amazing, and satisfying it was to have just one player, let alone multiple players, from my favorite soccer team know my name.
Speaking of conversations, I ended up talking to a player at the end of the night who thanked me for still supporting the team after everything that happened with my job last year. I sort of laughed it off and gave my standard answer: “I was never going to let anything stand between me and the pro soccer team in my hometown.” It wasn’t until the next day that I realized just how much hearing this person say that, to me, meant to me and just how badly I needed to hear that. It was like something inside me that had broken when I was laid off and has been taking its sweet time to heal had finally knit itself back together.
Besides my professional journey Winning the USL1 Cup (does it even have a name?) brought so much closure to the journey as a fan that I’ve been on since May 1st, 2019, when the team was announced. I was just one guy wishing he could watch pro soccer in his adopted hometown. But I’ve been swept along by the excitement and on the way I’ve joined in fellowship with so many people who mean so much to me now. Winning the final, doing the double, it brings an incredibly satisfying end to this phase of the journey for all of us.
I’m going to savor this for myself, but watching those I’ve come to care about deeply: the players, the fans, and the staff savor it as well makes it just that much sweeter. We can’t know what the future will hold, but what ever it does hold, these are our moments and memories to cherish and like the star above the crest, we never have to give them back.
Riley Martin
Who Gives A Hoot? 
A wonderful piece. Your collective passion is apparent. Your media team has been a strong voice for Union Omaha and soccer in the metro. You have had a hand in connecting the community through the isolation of the pandemic… No mean feat. You have kept the soccer scene going when there were no home games. The diversity if viewpoints and quality of your writing and speaking truly show the many facets of the game. You may congratulate yourselves on being an important part of the “one means all” spirit of Union Omaha. Well done.
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