Establishing Orlando City UK in November 2015, it’s been amazing seeing so many other UK-based MLS accounts appear online ever since.
Doing an amazing job promoting Major League Soccer on British shores, we caught up with James Graham, the founder and creator of D.C. United fan club DC United Kingdom.
Tell us about DC United Kingdom. What were your motivations for setting the account up and how can people join?
It all started after my first visit to Audi Field. I managed to get out there in August 2018 after some time in Orlando, Florida. We were on a family holiday for two weeks and I thought I’d check to see if D.C. United were playing at home. We were playing Philadelphia Union and I thought, let’s do it. It was on my Dad’s birthday so it was a bit awkward asking him but he was fine with it.
We were staying in a gated community and the flight itself was around 8:30am in the morning. The guy we booked for the Uber to Orlando International Airport couldn’t get through the gates because the security guard wasn’t allowing it. We had to walk two-and-a-half miles from where we were staying to get a new taxi and we made it to the gate with seconds to spare. I had to sprint from the MCO monorail to get there.
In Washington I met up with the Screaming Eagles who are the main supporters group at D.C. United and that was fantastic. After that, I wanted to keep my support going and do my own thing. MLS UK Show inspired me to do my own podcast, its grown from there and seems to be doing pretty well. I’m going to keep it going and we’ll see what happens. My whole support of D.C. United started off with Jaime Moreno. He played for my English team Middlesbrough in 1995 and signed for D.C. United in the summer of 1996. That lured me to D.C. United and the fact they play football in the United States.
Since lockdown, you’ve interviewed a D.C. United legend in former player and current head coach Ben Olsen. How was that experience?
It all came about when the D.C. United Communications Director sent an email out to everybody who does fan content. Myself, Sarah Kallassy who runs Switch the Pitch, Between Clean Sheets and Black and Red United got together and had a happy hour where we chatted with some of D.C. United’s Chief Executives. Ben Olsen and Steve Birnbaum were there, and I sent an email after saying I would love to speak to Ben Olsen and have him on my show. They replied and went “yeah, alright”.
He is such a great guy and he actually played for Nottingham Forest in the UK. What I find about MLS is that it’s much more of a community-driven league. You see the Premier League and can you imagine being able to interview Arsène Wenger back in the day on a podcast? That’s never going to happen and for me to get the head coach of my favourite team onto my show was unreal.
You’ve been lucky enough to interview several D.C. United first team players and media personalities. Have you got a favourite interview?
I think the first one I ever did with Quincy Amarikwa. If you don’t know him, go and follow him on Instagram and Twitter. Unfortunately, he’s not with D.C. United at the moment but he’s been a cult hero at every club he’s been at. There was a particular point in the interview where we were coming off the back of a win against LA Galaxy and Quincy was taunting the players and he got up in the face of Zlatan Ibrahimović and I had to ask him, “what is it like to go up against Zlatan?” His answer was, “he’s bigger physically but I’m bigger mentally”.
I was like “have you seen Zlatan’s ego?” and I was like “fair play”. At the moment, that is still my most listened to podcast and it’s bigger than the Ben Olsen one which is getting close. The Quincy Amarikwa interview was fantastic.
What is the latest you’ve stayed up watching D.C. United in MLS?
I think it was a game against Houston Dynamo. That was brutal game. I remember thinking Vancouver Whitecaps was going to be a late one but that was actually shown earlier on in the day. For the Dynamo one, I think was up until about 3:30am to 04:00am in the morning. The only other one that came close was the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs game against Columbus Crew because I went! Penalties… and I had work the next day so I got about two-and-a-half to three hours of sleep. That was a tough day at work. The lack of sleep has been good training for having a baby!
Do you think there’s good access to watching D.C. United in the UK?
Definitely. MLS coverage in the UK started off properly back in 2015 on Sky Sports. The first game they showed was actually Orlando City SC versus New York City FC at the Citrus Bowl. I remember watching that game and I loved it. D.C. United had a few games on that season but when Wayne Rooney arrived, the effect that had on the coverage was just phenomenal.
Out of the 34 regular season games, I think there were just four that weren’t broadcast live. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much MLS coverage we get in the UK. We’ve got Premier Sports and FreeSports as well now. If your team isn’t being shown live on TV, you can head over to a betting site and watch the games on there which is great. This helped me watch those four D.C. United games that weren’t broadcast live.
Now Wayne Rooney is gone, which player is going to stand up to replace him?
It’s a difficult one because there’s no replacing Wayne Rooney. He is a one-of-a-kind player. It’s been strange because I thought D.C. United would’ve signed a direct replacement. When it came to the second game of the 2020 season against Inter Miami, we ended up having to sign a guy from our B team Loudoun United with just 13 hours to spare. It was just crazy so we ended up playing Erik Sorga.
He actually looked good and has a great first touch. In the Estonian league, he was scoring pretty much a goal a game. I know this doesn’t always translate because being a Middlesbrough fan, I remember Afonso Alves! We also signed Edison Flores but he was more of a replacement for Luciano Acosta who we also lost as well. We got Yamil Asad back and… Julian Gressel – what a signing! He is the assist king and there was a stat that no other player has as many assists as he has since he got drafted into MLS. It was crazy that Atlanta United weren’t willing to give him the wages that he was after. Very bizarre but I’m happy to have him at D.C. United. He’s already got his first assist in the first game of the season.
What is your favourite thing about D.C. United and what is your favourite memory?
My favourite thing is probably how quiet Washington is. You can just walk down the National Mall with the White House and the U.S. Capitol Building. As a tourist, you’d think there would be people all over the place but it’s crazy just how quiet it is. I could go on about loads of memories and I’ve only been there twice for a grand total of one week. There’s a little restaurant called Marty’s and the food in there… I’ve never had food like it! And then heading up to Audi Field for the first time was great.
The Screaming Eagles tailgate was absolutely fantastic and as a non-member, I paid $15 to get in and then it was all you could drink! Audi Field is just phenomenal and there’s not a bad seat in the house. I’ve been there twice and I’ve sat at opposite ends of the stadium. The first time I went, I sat by the player entrance and it was a brilliant atmosphere. The second time I went, I sat in the supporters’ section. Standing, it was proper rowdy and unfortunately, I didn’t experience a beer shower because it was a 0-0 draw! But the volume was electric and I get goosebumps thinking about it. It was just absolutely awesome.
What other MLS clubs do you rate for atmosphere? And what is your favourite stadium besides Audi Field?
Let’s start off with the worst atmosphere. New York Red Bulls… obviously, and they don’t play in New York City. It’s really quiet. I do want to visit Atlanta United’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium which looks phenomenal. I’d also love to go and visit Orlando City SC‘s Exploria Stadium. You see the smoke grenades and The Wall, and it was amazing in that U.S. Open Cup game against New York City FC where all the fans just ran from one end of the stadium to the other for the penalty shootout. I wouldn’t mind going to Seattle Sounders’ CenturyLink Field either – that looks awesome.
*THIS INTERVIEW WAS EXCLUSIVELY CONDUCTED BY ORLANDO CITY UK ON JUNE 11TH 2020*