For most soccer clubs, the season ends with some kind of festivity. Real Betis, famously, throw stuffed animals onto the pitch. Fans across England stay behind to sing. In Argentina, that pre-match asado might last just a little bit longer.
In Annapolis, Maryland, they throw water balloons at each other.
Before the final fixture of the season, Annapolis Blues fans showed up to toss burstable balloons at each other in the parking lot of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. Absurd? Perhaps. Silly? Almost definitely. But for the Blues, its tradition, the third season in a row of what has now become the annual water balloon fight to mark the final day of the USL League Two campaign.
The Blues are semi-professional. They play fourth division soccer in the United States at a field that doesn't belong to them. But they also boast attendance that eclipses some USL Championship sides. This is a tiny club that has the atmosphere, following and vibe of a massive one.
It is also deeply embedded in the community of Maryland's state capital, the humble side project turned main event of a number of vets of the area, who have headed back to something resembling their roots to flesh out the ultimate proof of concept of what lower league U.S. soccer can be at its very best.
"Annapolis happens to be a soccer savvy, really great community," owner Michael "Hitch" Hitchcock, told GOAL. "And I think when you take the right approach and you execute the playbook, if you will, great communities respond, and that's what we're seeing."