The First of Many
The first Tailgate watch party was electrifying! See the full recap here.
The bar at Kildares Irish Pub in West Chester, PA was absolutely PACKED for the 2024 Euro Final between England and Spain on July 14, 2024. Despite a torrential downpour across much of the Northeast, soccer fans came out in droves to support their countries and enjoy the sweet sounds of the Main Line’s best, DJ Ascendance, for a groovy pregame set.
Spain’s Nico Williams scored in the 47’ to suck the life out of the primarily-English supporting crowd at Kilds, but the Three Lions would not be held scoreless for long. England’s Cole Palmer sent a low line drive into the bottom corner in the 73’ and the English fans in attendance erupted with excitement. As fans waited on bated breath for what seemed like another inevitable extra time session, Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal sent a crossing pass into the back of the net in the 86’ and ripped out the hearts of every English fan in the building. Chants of “OLE! OLE! OLE!” rang through the bar and despite a flurry of late headers from the English, Spain held on to win the final 2-1.
And although there were many hanging heads that left Kildares after the match, the atmosphere was fantastic with more than 200 fans in attendance and the app was well-received. So many people approached me and said, “I love what you’re doing to create a community for fans like us.” We raffled off a Christian Pulisic USMNT jersey, gave away a bunch of freebies like bottle openers, stickers, and hats, met a ton of English & Spanish football fans from far and wide, and shared the origin story of Tailgate: an app being built for out-of-market sports fans to find and connect with one another like never before. See my full story on the “About” page.
This is just the beginning for Tailgate and fans everywhere, though. Times like this are what it’s all about. Coming together with people like you even when you’re thousands of miles away from your home team. The shared excitement when the bar erupts with cheering fans or having others to share the misery when the result isn’t what you wanted. Being a fan is about belonging to your tribe and feeling that sense of community and this event was all of that and more.
Big shoutout to Kildares for hosting the event, to DJ Ascendance for laying down the tracks, to my friends who came out to support me, and to the fans who made the atmosphere so fun and lively. Already looking forward to putting another Tailgate event on the calendar to bring even more fans together!