Have you ever seen a Mackem in… North America? | OneFootball

John Porter, a regular reader on The Mag, asked me a question on the comments section the other day, that made me really think. “How are the Mackems in Minnesota (not Milan obviously)?” And that caused me to have a long, hard think.

I’m in my sixth decade now and for almost 40 years I have traveled throughout the world and every corner of the USA and Canada. In that time, you’d think I’d have come across some Black Cats, right?

Well, not exactly. In fact, it’s only happened once in all those years and all those places. So, I decided to do a little digging.

What I found surprised me… but then again it didn’t.

I searched the web using “Sunderland USA Supporters groups” and the first page that came up was “Sunderland Association Football Club – North American Supporter’s Group ( SAFC NASA)”.

The second listing was their Facebook page.

There was no third listing that came up in my search.

I am surprised that anyone from Sunderland claims theirs is a BIG club. What doesn’t surprise me is that they are not.

SAFC NASA charges $5/person to be a member – I don’t think this qualifies as a big revenue generator for this BIG club. The membership has the club assist in getting tickets to their home matches (as if assistance was needed!), regular gatherings of supporters, and “members only” merchandise. Perhaps they also get entry to the Nissan plant where Mackems gather instead of in their stadium?

The SAFC NASA group started in 2014 according to their website. Being that North America is quite large in population and area, one should assume that it was ample time to build up their membership. So, being a curious sort, I dug even deeper. There is a Leadership Committee, a page on club history and even a virtual “Trophy Cabinet”. Let’s summarise: A club sponsored fan group representing all of North America and around since 2014. This seems legitimate.

Then I went to the Facebook page; “Sunderland AFC – North American Supporters Association NASA”. This started even a year before the official club sponsored webpage – 2013. Ten years of content! I was duly impressed, especially when I saw 2,500 people that like the page. Again, let’s summarise: 2,500 people “liked” the Facebook page that has been in operation since 2013, in all of North America. They’ve had five posts the last two weeks too… it is an active site.

People who live in Wisconsin are called Badgers so I decided to keep digging.

The Facebook site posts seem to be posted by the organisation and not the individual members. Now, I am not an expert, but it seems to me that active members would want to participate and be heard. I did see a “Happy Birthday to supporter…” a post from last week.

There was also a fan event in Niagara Falls from Nov. 4th with 9 (nine) attendees. Ouch.

And the NEXT post is for a event gathering on December, 2023 in Toronto. Two are attending with one “interested”.

Let’s go back to John’s original question: “How are the Mackems in Minnesota?”

Then, let’s go back to my answer that I’ve only met / seen one in the last 40 years of extensive travel, as there is a correlation.

Answer: The BIG club, Sunderland A.F.C. is, in fact, not a very big club at all, with minimal support in the USA and Canada with a combined population of about 380,000,000. It’s no wonder I have not come across any… they simply statistically do not exist!

Oh, and just in case you are wondering, Toon Army USA has every major city in North America with an NUFC supporters group and meet for each match with full pubs everywhere supporting our club.

Whoops, I did mention I came across one Mackem and I should explain.

She worked the desk of a rental car office within Milwaukee airport. She refused to serve me (in jest) as I was wearing a NUFC beanie cap. It was 2013 and I saw her frequently as I was doing a project with a firm located there. And, as I recall, we finished one place above her club! I do have to say, she was a lovely lass and we had lots of friendly banter.

I’ve never been to Sunderland personally, as there is no reason to, but if she was indicative of the people there – it’s not all bad. Just mostly.

And comments on here and the shenanigans they pulled during the relegation battle does make me hate most of them.

Regardless I’m always happy to throw digs at them and gin up a response. That’s what sports are for and just another way I support the real BIG club of north east England: Newcastle United.