La Barra Brava is an independent supporters' group for Major League Soccer's

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. La Barra Brava are often called the craziest fans in MLS for their antics.

History

It was founded in 1995 by

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

fans in the Washington, D.C. area, mostly Bolivian immigrants in support of original United players

Marco Etcheverry Marco Antonio Etcheverry Vargas (born 26 September 1970) is a Bolivian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. A creative playmaker, he is considered one of the greatest Bolivian players of all time. Etcheverry played for D.C. ...

and Jaime Moreno. Since then, the group has expanded and all have been welcomed, while the group has remained closely identified with its South American roots. Members currently stand and sing in

Audi Field Audi Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Buzzard Point in Washington, D.C. It is the home stadium for both of Washington, DC’s professional soccer teams, D.C. United in Major League Soccer and Washington Spirit in the National Women’s ...

. La Barra was founded by Oscar Zambrana and is led by Oscar and a group of "Elders". Barra Brava FC Fall 2010

La Barra Brava runs several events and programs for members and all United fans throughout the year. They sponsor away-game viewing parties, road trips to away matches and popular charity raffles that have raised thousands of dollars. They also maintain relationships with fan organizations worldwide, particularly with the Nottingham Forest Supporters Southwest/M5 Branch. La Barra Brava publishes at least 3 articles on United and soccer per week on their website. The organization also oversees Barra Brava FC, which fields several teams in the competitive Washington International Soccer League. Within MLS, the Barra is known for its drumming, including the famous "Drum Circles" at halftime and after home matches. In 2005, La Barra Brava received extensive media coverage when suspended United playmaker

Christian Gomez Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...

joined the Barra at road game in NJ and played a bass drum during the second half to support his teammates. In 2006 the Barras expanded their events beyond the MLS season attending several of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

home games at the Verizon Center. However, their presence at the arena was met with mixed reviews from

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

fans.

Media coverage

Numerous references have been made by the media regarding La Barra Brava. On several occasions, when games at RFK are shown on national television via

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

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, announcers will mention how La Barra Brava contribute to United's impressive home record.

Tony Kornheiser Anthony Irwin Kornheiser (; born July 13, 1948) is an American television sports talk show host and former sportswriter and columnist. Kornheiser is best known for his endeavors in three forms of media: as a writer for ''The Washington Post'' fro ...

has also used La Barra Brava as his stereotypical example of what he thinks typical D.C. United fans are like.

Tifo gallery

File:Dcunited-oslen-tifo.jpg, A

tifo Tifo () is the phenomenon whereby tifosi of a sports team makes a visual display of any choreographed flag, sign or banner in the stands of a stadium, mostly as part of an association football match. Tifos are most commonly seen in important m ...

supporting head coach

Ben Olsen Benjamin Robert Olsen (born May 3, 1977) is an American sports executive, soccer coach, and former professional player who was formerly the president of Washington Spirit, a professional women's soccer club in the National Women's Soccer Leagu ...

during a match against the

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

File:Dcunited-paul-tifo.jpg, A

referencing the 2011 film

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

during a match against the

L.A. Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

References

External links

Barra Brava

TheBarraBravaFC videos
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barra Brava Major League Soccer fan clubs D.C. United Ultras groups Hispanic and Latino American culture in Washington, D.C. 1995 establishments in Washington, D.C.