On Nov. 19, 2007, seven strangers showed up to Piper’s Pub in the South Side after seeing a post made by Eddie Batcho on the message boards of bigsoccer.com, expressing a desire to start a supporters group for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds coming back after a year on hiatus.

The Steel Army, mostly through its Web site, has grown to more than 100 members, including some who have found the group online from as far away as England and South Africa, with more than 35 who regularly attend matches.

Chris Esposito of the Steel Army uses the word “passion” to describe a match experience.

“For me it’s all about letting all my love out for the team in 90 minutes by singing and chanting,” Esposito said. “The best part is when it looks like we’ve scored – because everything goes quiet until you see the [offside] flag isn’t up and the ball is in the net – and then the entire place just erupts.”

The first match for the Steel Army after the hiatus was in Cleveland. The group maintains the same rivalry that Steelers fans have with the Cleveland Browns but with the Cleveland City Stars.

“I hate Cleveland,” Ben Cole, a senior broadcasting major and Steel Army member, said. “I can’t stand the area or the team.

“I loved it when we went there, because we knew we were in for it, getting mess from their fans,” Cole said. “We did.”

“But we stood our ground and took it. We even gave some back to them. It’s all in good fun. We support different teams. We may not like each other, but there is some respect between us,” he said.

Freshman Matt Norcia, who is also on Point Park’s soccer team, is from the Cleveland area and supports the City Stars.

“I went to the game when the Steel Army went to the game, and it was a pretty cool experience – chanting back and forth – the rivalry is a lot of fun,” Norcia said.

The Steel Army’s support is appreciated by the front office of the team, and also by the players on the pitch.