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BEHIND THE STRIPES

Chris and Cassie Morgan

By Atlanta United FC

November 23^rd, 2019

The first thing you notice is the scarves.

“We had an extra room in our house, I thought ‘let’s hang up some scarves,’” says Cassie Morgan. “Then it turned into ‘let’s cover every inch of the room.'"

There are more than 200 of them when you walk into Cassie and Chris’s room dedicated to the Five Stripes, all hanging neatly in rows, with some special moments set aside for more prominent display. But a closer look shows the collection’s real depth, with countless trading cards, signed gear, photos, posters and pins laid neatly on display, like a miniature red, black and gold museum.

“A news station reached out to our fan Facebook page and asked if anyone had big collections, and several people mentioned us,” Cassie laughs. “We feel very loved but at the same time it’s like ‘how many people know we have this big collection?’”

The collection couldn’t have started any more “Day 1.”

“We were in the parking lot for the announcement of the expansion bid in 2014, so I’d like to think we were there from the ground floor,” Chris says. “We were in a supporters’ group before we even had a team. At the time I was dating Cassie and I told her we need to go downtown, meet me at this gravel parking lot.”

Whether they knew it at the time or not, the epic collection would start that day.

“We usually live frugally,” Chris says. “It was never a goal to collect scarves, it just kind of happened. After the reveal of the name, we bought pretty much one of everything the merch truck had. Then I went online and bought every one of the scarves I could find. Then you start trading and your collection grows and it just grows into a monster.”

Cassie, who was still a student at Georgia State at the time of the announcement, usually just tuned in for the World Cup every four years. But she says Atlanta United has opened her up to a whole new sport, and a whole new level of fandom.

“I don’t think I would have predicted back then that I’d have a whole room full of scarves,” she laughs. “I loved the sport, I loved watching it. But now I can tell you what number every player on our team wears, and I never really thought I would have that.”

Chris came in with a little more experience watching soccer as a fan of European leagues and the U.S. Men’s National Team. But for him, having something he could call his own was something he had never experienced before.

“For me it was a team that we could get in on the ground floor,” he says, “and be attached to something from the very beginning. We could help build the team. For me to be attached in that way from the start, and to watch it grow, means the world to me.

“I’ll never forget the first match,” he adds. “Going in with the march, not really knowing what we were doing or what we were walking into. You arrive at the stadium, and say, ‘woah.’ It was an emotional moment, because it felt like we had a part in building this.”

Cassie says she never expected to have a connection like this to a soccer team, and points to the special bond between the city and the team’s players and front office.

“It’s as simple as Darren [Eales] coming to visit the tailgate before every match, which must be exhausting, but we’re three seasons in and he’s still doing that. But I have a picture with him and it means a lot to me, that’s why he does it. The new Scarf of the Month pack, they didn’t have to do that but it says right there on the site ‘when the 17s speak, we listen.’ The team doesn’t have to do these things but they do it because it’s doing right by the fans, and that just makes us love the team that much more.”

Chris and Cassie smile and admit that they have at times disagreed over their scarf budget –– “don’t blame me, you created this monster,” Cassie laughs –– but they are quick to say that the size of your collection doesn’t dictate the size of your fandom.

“We have a lot of friends who have big collections, some even bigger, so we definitely don’t consider ourselves bigger fans because we have a lot of scarves,” Cassie says. “We have friends that have one scarf they’ve worn to every game, and their one kit, but they’re just as big of fans and follow along just as closely as we do. This is just one way we show our fandom.”

More than anything, Cassie and Chris say they’re thankful for a new community that has welcomed them with open arms, and for a tighter bond in their relationship that has grown as the team has, complete with an Atlanta United groom’s cake at their wedding.

“It’s a passion now,” she says. “It’s something we share together which makes it that much more special for us. And we just made a lot of friends through it. It brought us into a whole new group of people, and a whole new group of friends. And that’s priceless.”

And that’s not something you can hang on the wall.

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