Detroit City FC’s newly renovated Keyworth Stadium opened its doors to the type of crowd that fourth tier soccer has never seen in the United States. A beyond capacity crowd of 7,410 packed the 80 year old facility to watch Le Rouge battle AFC Ann Arbor to a 1-1 draw.
The first goal came just before the half time whistle when Alec Lasinski floated a header into the goal and sent the Northern Guard into a frenzy. Smoke and confetti filled the air as the supporters celebrated the first goal at the stadium they helped fund, and build, well after the teams had drifted off to the locker room for half time. Ann Arbor would score their goal on a penalty two minutes into the half that saw Brett Nason sent off. City would control much of the play despite being down a man, but neither team found a goal for the rest of the match.
Despite the draw, the night was more about the celebration of Detroit City FC’s rise from a little club with less than 1,000 fans per game in 2012 to crowd funding the renovation of an old stadium with twice the capacity of their old home and then filling it with a record crowd. It was the fans of the team enjoying the fruits of their labor. The match on the pitch, while entertaining, was secondary to the party in the supporters section.
Keyworth Stadium: Community Funded, Community Built
Keyworth Stadium has been the home for the soccer and football teams at Hamtramck High School since it opened in 1936. The venue has slowly fallen into disrepair and, in need of a larger place to play after they continuously filled Cass Tech High School, Detroit City FC came along to give Keyworth a much needed facelift and to use it as their home.
Detroit City has always been a club that has focused on community involvement. The new stadium was another way for the club to show its dedication to the community around them and allow the supporters to help out.
The club raised $741,250 in the largest community investment program the state of Michigan had ever seen. In the months leading up to Friday’s opening match, fans volunteered their help in restoring many of the structurally unsound portions of the stadium, painting bleachers, and preparing the field for the madness that came with the first match. And, while they pushed over capacity for their first game, there is still room to grow.
Although the first phase of construction was complete in time for Friday’s match, there are still whole sections of stands that aren’t structurally stable yet. Over the course of the rest of the year and into 2017, the club will get the rest of the east stand up to code. The completion of that project should push maximum seating capacity to around 10,000 fans. Plenty of supporter volunteers will happily join in to make that attendance figure a reality in the near future.
Friday night was the culmination of those efforts coming together and realizing what Detroit City has grown into and what it can become in the future. The same fans who packed the relatively small stadium were the one who helped build it. While the first salvo of celebration was last night, there are plenty more chances for Detroit City and its supporters to flex their muscles. They have six more NPSL home matches and a couple more friendlies in order to break in their new home.
The next home match will be the historic friendly against FC United of Manchester, a supporter owned club that has been making similar headlines across the pond. The fans that broke away from their support of Manchester United have a lot in common with the Northern Guard. They are passionate in their support of their club regardless of the level they play at. and both sets of fans have put in plenty of elbow grease to help their club become larger than ever anticipated. Kickoff is set for 3:00 on Saturday, May 28.
