(upbeat rhythmic music) (crowd chants) (Jorge speaks Spanish) (upbeat rhythmic music) - Hi, I'm Meg, executive producer at Nashville Public Television, and on this series, we talk about the little things that stood out to folks when they first moved to the region from another country.

Today, I'm here at a tailgate party for Nashville Soccer Club with La Brigada, and I'm specifically here with two of the key leadership team members of La Brigada, with husband and wife Abel and Gabby Acosta.

Abel is the president.

Gabby's the treasurer, and Gabby actually moved to the US from Mexico.

Abel's mother is Honduran and father's Puerto Rican, so they both have deep ties to Latin America.

And La Brigada, from what I understand, is the first Latin American supporter group for NSC.

- Yes.

- So what was the impetus to create this supporter group?

- So we've been here in Nashville for going on to 20 years actually this year.

And we've been supporting Nashville, SC, the Club, since 2017 or so.

When we originally started, we were basically with one of the other groups, and we felt that something was missing, that that representation, not just of one certain group, but- - [Meg] Sure.

- [Abel] More of what the diversity of what Nashville is and what soccer really is in our culture, you know, and especially Latin culture.

So, we knew that flavor was missing and we just wanted to bring it.

- From what I've seen, there's like a difference in football or soccer culture in the US and other countries.

Tell me about what you've noticed in terms of the different cultures and this experience about being a fan in the US versus other countries from what you've experienced, maybe seen from different games you've watched or even heard from different members of La Brigada.

Gabby, have you noticed anything?

- You notice a difference right away when you have a Mexican team coming over here to play.

- [Meg] Okay.

- You see the hype.

You see the fans getting more louder.

When we play, like for example, today, we're gonna play with Atlanta, you know, they're more like laid back, you know, more quiet, more like that.

(crowd chants) (Jorge speaks Spanish) (Meg speaks Spanish) (Jorge speaks Spanish) (Meg speaks Spanish) (Jorge speaks Spanish) (Meg speaks Spanish) (Jorge speaks Spanish) - I'm from Colombia.

I grew in Nashville.

I've been here since 2000.

Here's more come, everybody's welcome.

Even if, you know, fans from the other teams, they'll come.

We'll welcome them, too.

That's the huge difference.

In Colombia, oh my God.

Let's say you're from the other team and you wear blue and I'm wearing black and you come in here, oh my God.

It would be like a huge mess.

- Oh, it would be like a thing, huh?

- Yes.

They're really- - [Meg] Rivalry.

- [Julian] They're rival, yeah.

That's a huge difference here.

- [Meg] Do they have beer in the stadium in Colombia or?

- No, we were just talking about it.

I came to Wednesday's game and I had a friend from Colombia.

They were like, no, they're not allowed to have alcohol.

- And why is that?

- It's just the alcohol does this work, I guess.

- Okay.

- They don't want people to be rowdy, and- - You think people get too rowdy perhaps?

- [Julian] Yeah, yeah, they're really like into the sport, so.

- [Meg] Interesting difference.

- [Julian] Yeah, it is a huge difference.

Here, you know, we're still able to drink, I guess, until minutes 75 or so, but yeah, that's the huge difference.

- I'm from Mexico, grew up speaking Spanish, moved to the US when I was four.

Soccer has always been a part of me and a part of my culture.

Obviously, they take it more serious in Mexico.

- [Meg] They do.

- Right?

But I think as the sport grows, people are starting to get to that point here.

You know, in Mexico you definitely have die hard fans of the club.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- [Angel] And here in the US, it's still a little bit more casual.

- [Meg] Okay.

- But as it grows, you know, there's definitely some diehards here with La Brigada and the Roadies and some of the other groups that are part of it.

- Where you have other countries that this is the only sport that you play.

It's basically just like you live and die with your team, you know, the whole family lives and die with- - [Meg] Yeah.

- With the team.

It's something that's cultivated within the family.

It's ingrained.

- So, it's a little more relaxed maybe in the US for now.

- Here, yes.

It's still a little bit.

It's still a little bit.

- Okay.

- It's still a little tamed down.

- But you all are working on that.

I see a lot of animation.

- We're working on that, yeah.

We're working on that.

La Brigada, no matter what, the foundation of La Brigada de Oro is Hispanic.

It's Latinos, so that would never change.

But what we know for sure is that since 2020 until now, it has evolved more.

It has grown more.

It has become more of a mixture of people from different backgrounds.

And again, that is the picture that was always the purpose of La Brigada de Oro, to have people mix and greet each other and feel all welcome together, yeah.

- [Meg] Love that.

- [Abel] Building that bridge.

That was always the intention.

- [Meg] What's your favorite thing about La Brigada?

- [Angel] My favorite thing about La Brigada is just the Hispanic flavor that they bring to the atmosphere.

So, the fact that La Brigada is able to bring some of those, you know, tunes, some of those chants, some of that flavor- - [Meg] Yeah.

- I think it's awesome.

It just enhances the experience at the stadium.

You know, everyone loves the chants.

I think they might be, the Spanish chants might be some of the favorite ones at the stadium.

- Yeah.

- So people love it.

People love it.

(Jorge speaks Spanish) (Jorge continues speaking Spanish) (Jorge continues speaking Spanish) (Jorge continues speaking Spanish) - [Abel] La Brigada is just a big family, you know.

We welcome everyone.

- What is the most rewarding aspect of leading this supporter group to each of you?

- For me personally, the most rewarding aspect is knowing that we were able to bring so many people together.

A lot of us don't just spend time here for a game day, we do things outside of it.

- [Gabby] Yes.

- You know, outside of the stadium, outside of NSC, we hang out together.

Perfect example is just like yesterday and it's graduation season right now, graduation time.

So, we went to one of our members.

Her daughters graduated from high school yesterday, so we went, about 20 so of us from La Brigada, you know, and you know, spent time with her and supported her and congratulations to And we have another event tonight.

- Yes.

- So again, these are things that La Brigada de Oro has been able to bring so many people together.

- Yeah, and- - We're doing things outside of that.

- And you hear a lot of people coming to us, you know, hey, we appreciate what you guys doing because, you know, I was in a really dark time or I was feeling this way.

- Oh, we get that a lot.

- And you know, having all of you guys here with us and having all these people together, you guys are like our family, so- - [Abel] Yeah.

- We appreciate that, you know, like, that make us feel really good.

- [Abel] Yeah.

- Well, thank you all so much for just letting us come and experience La Brigada with you today.

- Oh, we thank you.

- [Gabby] Thank you.

- And thank you all for joining us for another episode of "The Little Things."

If you enjoyed this video, give us a thumbs up and subscribe to catch more in the series.

Until next time.

- Hasta luego.

- [Narrator] "Next Door Neighbors" is made possible by the support of the Nissan Foundation.

(upbeat music)