St. Louligans/Mitch Morice
St. Louis Football Club’s supporters raised four times as much money for food banks as their Kentucky counterparts with special help from the team’s owners. (L to R) STLFC CFO Tom Strunk, Matt Brown, Bradley DeMunbrun, STLFC CEO Jim Kavanaugh.
It all started—as the best things in sports often do—with some light-hearted trash talk. And pizza.
When a delivery screw-up left St. Louis Football Club players with a paltry meal of cold pizza after their inaugural game in Louisville, Kentucky, general manager Jeremy Alumbaugh called out the city’s team for its lack of hospitality on the fan podcast This Is Silly! With the Louligans.
On the defensive, Louisville City Football Club fans responded to their rivals by “taking the high road” and launching a fundraiser to buy proper pizza for tailgaters when St. Louis and Louisville faced off again during the last game of the season.
But STLFC’s fans, the St. Louligans, don’t need no stinkin’ pizza money—not when the group has two tailgate planners who spend the season filling fans’ bellies with wings, hot dogs, chili, BBQ, nachos, and more. After all, the St. Louligans need the energy to chant, cheer, sing, bang drums, and otherwise root St. Louis’ newest professional sports team to victory.
See also: St. Louis’ Soccer Revival Starts With the Ladies
But the fundraiser got one fan thinking: What if the money went to buy food for people who really need it? Instead of fueling the duel that's now affectionately called “#PizzaGate,” what if soccer fans—so often maligned by the rest of American sports fandom for their boisterous shenanigans—turned their budding rivalry into meals for the needy?
“A lot of people need food more than us,” St. Louligan Bradley DeMunbrun tells SLM. “Honestly, we thought it would have been really great to raise $1,000,” which is how much the group raised last year for a fundraiser for Komen Race for the Cure. “Obviously, we underestimated how generous our members and friends are,” DeMunbrun says.
By the time that STLFC finished beating Louisville City FC 2–1 in the final game of the season, the St. Louligans had raised $13,310 for the St. Louis Area Food Bank, which can turn that donation into more than 53,000 meals for the hungry. St. Louis raised more than four times as much as Louisville fans, who brought in just over $3,200.
“A lot of people just see us at games, drinking beer and chanting or singing,” DeMunbrun says. “They may think that's all we do, but we're all members of the community. We have an opportunity to make a difference, and we'll keep trying to outdo ourselves, both at games and away from the field.”
The St. Louligans’ charitable campaign caught the attention of the STLFC front office. During the last week of the fundraiser, the team owners donated $5,000 to the cause.
“The fact that the team owners, sponsors, and the front office jumped on board means a lot to us,” DeMunbrun says. “They understand that by working together, we can make a positive impact on our community. In return, they’ve gotten a fan base that’s committed to this team, win or lose.”
DeMunbrun isn’t just talking in clichés. STLFC ended its inaugural season with an 8–11–9 record, but the fervor of the St. Louligans’ support never wavered.
“Obviously, we haven’t won as many games as we would have hoped,” DeMunbrun says. “But we’re extremely happy that the community has embraced this club.”
In a special video to the fans, STLFC players and officials thanked supporters who stuck with the team despite its slow start. “I want to thank the fans for their continued support this season; I know it hasn’t been the easiest,” STLFC player Bryan Gaul says in the video. “You guys are the best fans in the entire [league.]”
The St. Louligans spent STLFC’s first season raising enough money to buy tens of thousands of meals for people in need and proving they’re some of St. Louis’ most die-hard sports fans. But DeMunbrun couldn’t let the season end without reminding fans of one very important fact: “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which group raised more money,” he wrote on the fundraiser’s GoFundMe page. “We all did something very positive for our community. (But we did win if anybody wants to know.)”
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
