Texas’ passion for high school football is the stuff of legend. Fall Friday nights are a time of community and celebration for schools across the state, and A&M Consolidated is no exception.

But Tigerland Stadium has played host to a different sort of devotion this Spring. “The Lads” of Consol soccer have developed a fiercely loyal group of supporters that in some cases rivals the intensity of the other type of football. 

Shirtless dudes in body paint and jorts? Check. Noisemakers and vuvuzelas? Check. A literal marching drum? Check. Chants, jeers, and all other sorts of shenanigans? Check. “The Jungle” had it all this year.

Senior Ryan Lee is one of the louder members of the Tiger student section. Lee and his fellow fans’ chants can be heard from all corners of the pitch. 

Before this season, Lee was never much of a soccer fan. But after attending a single early-season match, he was hooked.

“I had a great time,” Lee said. “ I was like ‘I got to get all my boys to come. This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.’”

And came they did. Senior midfielder Bryce Marianno says fan support was a major factor in the Tigers’ success this season.

“It means a lot,” Marianno said. “Whenever you put in a strong challenge, and you hear the roar of the fans, you hear the crowd just lighting up, it makes you make that one more run, that one more sprint. It makes you [put in] just that little bit more of an effort. In the long run, that really helps us.”

Kristen Bowman has been a key part of this year’s fan experience. Her position as both a team parent and a member of the faculty has made her uniquely suited to connect the community’s ideas to the people who could get them done.

“The desire to support the Lads as a whole has always been there,” Bowman said. “But being able to find how we can make that happen is hard when you’re not on campus or don’t understand how our school works. They needed a place to throw their ideas out.”

Those ideas have resulted in a few new additions to the Tiger program: halftime games and trivia (the latter idea being borrowed from the baseball team), giveaways, posters, and more have all served as ways to increase student support for the Lads. 

“I knew the more we got that [information] out there, the more return we’d get on it,” Bowman said. “Whether it was printed flyers, digital flyers, verbal announcements, or anything else, we’d see more people attending games.”

The return, as Bowman puts it, has shown up in spades. 

The student section has adopted and developed several chants of their own. Highlights include classics such as “you can’t do that” to “start the buses” and “Olé, Olé, Olé,” as well as their own inventions, including a yell celebrating student manager Samuel Hong. But Lee’s favorite to use (and overuse) is the signature “siu” celebration of Portuguese footballer Christiano Ronaldo.

“We do it way out of context,” Lee said. “We don’t actually know soccer. It’s the one thing we do know so we all way overuse it.”

While the student section has certainly been passionate, the parents have also been spirited. They’ve got their own share of banners and merrymakers – including one parent that 3D prints their own customized noisemaker.

“It’s incredible when you see somebody show up for your kid,” Bowman said. “And when one of our players makes a goal, or makes an incredible pass, or an amazing assist, we’re all cheering them on, even though it’s not our kid.”

Lee says that the experience is underrated, regardless of the antics of the crowd.

“Soccer gets a bad rap,” Lee said. “[People say] it’s boring, but it’s constant action. It’s genuinely entertaining to watch, even without me being an idiot the entire time.”

And few students that have given the sport a try this season have come to regret it.

“There’s plenty of people in my classes who’ve been like, ‘Oh, I’ve never been to a soccer game.’” Marianno said. “And I’m like, ‘Come out and see if you like it.’ I’ve never heard someone say they didn’t like it. Almost everyone has said, ‘It was so fun, I’ll be there next week.’ It never hurts to try something new.”

Photos by Ian Curtis.