German Fan Shares His St Louis CITY SC Experience
by Jason Goodbody
It's all about cultural exchange, vlogger/YouTuber Sascha Fox told me. And it is true, there is a natural fascination about how others experience the world and how others perceive us. This fuels the travel industry, ethnic food, and YouTube reaction videos. Our fair city welcomes around 23 million visitors a year from across the United States and around the world. So it should come as no surprise that the most recent attraction at CITYPARK is also playing a part in delighting global travelers as well. We are forced to pause and proclaim "But enough about how WE feel about our new soccer team, tell us how YOU feel about our new soccer team".
Sascha has made St Louis and its new club a stopping point on his journey across the United States. I had the pleasure of asking him some questions as he prepared for his piece on our beloved Boys in Red, CITYPARK and St Louis.
City SC Report: Tell us what your YouTube channel is about and how you got into this??
Sascha Fox: Well, first of all, I always had kind of a passion for media back in Germany. I always had a camera in my hand and I was always filming something.
I started this YouTube channel with pretty much urban exploration, just any kind of abandoned properties.
I was in Atlanta and someone said, hey, do you want to go to a match? And I'm like, "Yeah, why not?"….and why not take the GoPro?
(Sascha is referring to his capturing his first MLS experience at the match between Atlanta United and New England in May; link below)
City SC Report: Tell us a little bit about your perspective on football in Europe
Sascha Fox: Football was one of my big passions— I always had season tickets in Stuttgart and had a season ticket for Celtic Football Club when I lived in Scotland.
And at some point, I completely dropped out of football. I just got bored of European football always having the same winners. It's all about money in Europe and it just gets boring.
City SC Report: You had shared with me that you see this as a type of cultural exchange. Tell us a little about that.
Sascha Fox: I'm 41 now and I remember… [in Germany] watching the NBA, you know, the good old days with Shaq with Charles Barkley. Not so much the Bulls (LOL) And now everyone's into American football.
So, I mean, Europe, and I can mostly speak for Germany, we've always been consuming watching American sports.
And now it's kind of a cool thing to see that you guys pick up on one of our sports … [and] now you've got terms like soccer moms.
So it's really fun for me to see that we are not only taking stuff from the States, but the States can also pick up on some of our stuff.
And then with guys like Lionel Messi and even back then [Zlatan] Ibrahimović and [David] Beckham being signed [each with LA Galaxy]. Beckham's done a great thing now [with Inter Miami CF].
So I guess America can make the sport better, honestly, because with the salary cap, that's some stuff that should be introduced in Europe, because European football is (expletive) broken. Pardon my French.
City SC Report: Can you give us your thoughts on the American brand of soccer and what you've seen so far?
Sascha Fox: I mentioned that in the Atlanta United video. The positivity. Like there is no hatred towards the other team. (Editor's note: Just give us time)
Soccer—and it pains me to say that— football in the US, you have your own American system with the playoffs and money caps and all this kind of stuff.
So I think it's a refreshing thing …. to see that things can be done differently.
So yeah, I'm really positively surprised about all this.
City SC Report: Sascha, can you share with us how your visit to St Louis went and your experience at the game?
Sascha Fox: It was a nice positive experience. I was amazed how well everything is running at this club that is playing its inaugural season and just a couple of months old in terms of playing history
The whole experience around the Stadium makes for a really great day out with enough to be done before and after the match.
On the fan support: [It is] incredible after only doing this for a couple of months… I have counted at least three different supporters clubs; the STL Santos, the St Louligans, and I think the Fleur de Noise, I think…something French. The title to my video says it all… there is no way in hell that this club is only 8 months old.
And really really inventive with the pop songs; "Twist and Shout" and something that was based on I'm pretty sure it was Britney Spears, "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and the "Santa Klauss". I really like the variety of chants because everyone typically sings the same songs. That was really refreshing to see rather than repeating what all the other MLS clubs do.
On the rivalry with Sporting Kansas City: And I go into this subject in my derby video. Usually a rivalry forms over several years and even decades and usually there are screwups in the beginning. I can't see that here.
All this you can see in the videos.
City SC Report: Yes of course. We will check it out. Thank you for sharing this with us. Viel Glück and safe travels.
Sascha Fox: It was a truly positive experience in every sense. Thank you.
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Sascha's experience at CITYPARK, his interaction with the fans, and the game between St Louis CITY SC and FC Dallas on Aug 30, 2023 can be seen here.
And the Yet To Be Named Derby with Sporting Kansas City overview can be seen here .
