On Monday, at our first Board of Directors meeting to kick off the preparations for the 2014 season, I was elected as your President for the coming year. It is a great honour to follow in the footsteps of Brett “piltdownman” Graham, Chris “the real” Deal and John “Monster” Knox in this position.

You may already know that I have been serving on the board as the Club Secretary since 2012, but many of you don’t know much about me beyond that. Some might recall seeing me looking sad in Denver or yelling and chanting at home and away games in support of our beloved Whitecaps. My soccer enthusiasm is rooted in my home town, Nagykanizsa, where I tagged along with my dad to Hungarian division 2 games and saw our team promoted to the highest level.

I moved to Canada in 2007 and started attending Whitecaps games in 2009 before “relocating” to the Southside and standing and chanting along in 2010. I officially joined the Southsiders at the end of 2010 to be one of the first “new era” members of our ever-growing group. I also snatched up the last “old school” membership scarf, which I still wear proudly game in and game out, home & away.

In so many ways the Southside is still the same as when I first stood on the bleachers behind the south goals – the camaraderie, the openness and welcoming nature of our club, the constant bickering on our forums, and of course the loud support for the Whitecaps.

On the other hand, the Southside is arguably very different. We no longer know everyone around us by name as our membership easily surpasses the population of a decent village. We have established ourselves as a remarkable, respectable supporters group in Canada and in Cascadia (marketing people would add !!BIGGEST!!) We have expanded beyond our “duties” in the stadium, and now run charity initiatives to better our community, have recreational soccer and curling teams, and thanks to a mishap at a Canucks game, we are also well known beyond the local soccer circles. We are “the supporters group” of Vancouver.

Next year we have some “fresh blood” as well as some seasoned veterans on the board of directors. They are there to make sure our group works well as an organization, and they work tirelessly on your behalf. Thanks to their efforts, you can help paint tifo, secure a better seat at BC Place to chant for the team and make our group louder, get tickets to away games to show your support in the wild west or east, help you connect and have a chance to chat and bond with fellow supporters at the pub or at a golf tournament, get Southsiders gear to wear, and so on.

I strongly believe that we can and will IMPROVE in 2014 on our own terms. We don’t – and shouldn’t – have to look around for examples, we all have it in ourselves to be stronger supporters for the Whitecaps. We have 15 years of proud history, and we are setting the bar for how supporters groups should be — so let’s set it high and then surpass it.

Let’s have a great year supporting our Whitecaps and have a lot of fun along the way with our fellow Southsiders!

Cheers, Peter

PS Don’t be a dick.

PPS Don’t spill my beer