It's been about a month since my last blog entry, but I wanted to wait until the dust settled in the PDL and NPSL playoffs before I reported this. Here is my report of the Baltimore Bohemians 2015 season.
First off, here's where we rank against other PDL teams. We are 3rd in average attendance of all teams that reported all of their home games. Among all teams, we are 22nd out of 64 officially in average attendance (though I question that claim). I think that playing at Bonvegna Field has done wonders for the club for this year, but the myriad of other lines on the field sort of ruined the fan experience for me. I understand that the club operates on a shoestring budget and the rent was probably dirt cheap, but the club has to take fan experience into account more going forward. I personally think the Bohs' Supporters deserve better than to stand behind 2 chain-linked fences in order to have their own section. On opening night, the Reading United coaches actually enjoyed their presence right behind their bench on the turf. I still don't know for certain why the supporters were relegated to the basketball court, but I could tell that it was not a club decision. They are somewhat to blame for this as well, because for the second game of the season, one person brought a smoke bomb and lit it off when the Bohs scored. To this day, I don't know who brought it, and I wasn't looking when it was lit.
Fan culture aside, the club's off-season stuff must be classed as nothing short of unprofessional. I get it; it's a volunteer staff, and the front office have other jobs that they do that make them money. I fully understand that. However, when fans go to opening night and you're going to send the team in a new kit and the fans want to purchase said kit and it's not available, that's on you. I still have not seen an explanation as to why it was not available (or I just haven't been looking hard enough). If an explanation was made, please link me, and I'll edit this part accordingly. The other major incident was whenpeople could not park on the side of Du Burns Arena that faced the field due to a competing event that was taking place nowhere near Bonvegna. From speaking to club officials at that game, I know that they were asured of parking at the arena, but they were not gien it. They should have kept calling and calling to ensure the parking spaces, not just accept a blind spot and no one else gets informed. Once again, communication is key, and the Bohs have not exactly communicated that well with us fans with the exception of trying to get butts in seats. Now, they have turned the corner in August with trying to offload tons of merchandise by marketing their postseason sale as a back-to-school sale, but where was that all season?
With all of the off-the-field stuff taken care of, let's talk about the on-field play. The Bohs did very poorly at home, only winning 1 home match in the entire season. It's a shame that all of the road trips are at least 3 hours away (except for DC United U-23s) so I could see this team for what it truly was: road warriors who didn't play as well at home. I think the players were poorly selected, and they did not play well at all at home. I especially was not a big fan of the defense and goalkeeping (it should be noted here that the captain was injured partway through the season, and sometimes some people had to play out of position to make up the numbers on defense). For a team that was plagued with injuries, I don't think the goalkeeping was up to snuff, and I don't think Billy Heavner can win you ballgames by himself. I think if Billy is to succeed in soccer, he needs a good defense to back him up, because he proved this season that he can't put the team on his back. Jordan Bekker must have done a whole lot at those road games to make the All-Conference Team of the Season because when he played at home, I didn't see anything truly special.
Going forward, here are my goals for the Baltimore Bohemians for next season:
1. Communication - Never underestimate the value of communication. Even if something last-minute happens right before a game, report it on the Facebook and Twitter accounts. Don't leave the fans in the dark as much as you did this season.
2. Address the Bonvegna situation - While Bonvegna was a hit for attendance, the fan experience was lacking. Either get the field to get rid of some of the lines so as not to detract from the soccer, or at least try to find another solution until you can build your own stadium.
3. Recruit better players - Baltimore is one of the biggest, most important cities in America, and the club can only recruit from UMBC and Loyola? I know that the players are there already for their college careers, but several teams had players from overseas clubs and much bigger colleges than those two are. Broaden the scope of recruitment, and more people may come.
So, that is my long-awaited review of the Baltimore Bohemians 2015 season, and hopefully I'll continue on for the 2016 season.
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