For large swathes of a recent game between Club America and Tigres UANL in Mexico´s famous 110,000-capacity Estadio Azteca, one song could be heard from the stands.

by Maricela Hinojosa

“We´ll support you at home and away, in good times and bad times," went the song. "We´ve been relegated, we´ve lost two finals, people don´t understand, we´re incomparable.”

The cry came from the 10,000-12,000 Tigres fans that had made the 10-hour plus journey from the northern city of Monterrey, an “invasion” has become an increasingly visible presence in Mexican soccer.

Ever since 2005, when over 1,000 went to the Estadio Azteca, Tigres have taken increasing numbers of fans to away games, something not regularly seen this side of the Atlantic.

The sheer size of most American countries is prohibitive, and, especially in Latin America, the cost can be off-putting.

But Tigres fans are bucking the trend and organizing mass trips that have left Mexican soccer standing up and taking notice. The phenomenon really took off in 2011, when the team, under coach Ricardo Ferretti, blended experience and youth into a squad that looked like potential champions. In December they would become champions of Mexico for the first time in 29 years.

Against Chivas last March, Tigres took 90 buses and some 8,000 fans from Monterrey to the city of Guadalajara. That´s about a 10-hour drive. Then there was another 4,000 for last November´s game against Puebla, 8,000 for the playoff game at Pachuca at the end of last year and 4,000 more last weekend for a relatively low key game against San Luis.

“It´s an atypical fan group, different than in South America” Luis Ramos, director of “La Horda,” a documentary about Tigres fans, told Soccer365.com. “Violence isn´t the principal reason, it´s the support and accompanying the team.”

Try and get a ticket for a game at the Estadio Universitario and you will probably be disappointed. It is an almost impossible task.

The club´s head of press, Alejandro Garza told Soccer365.com that it sells 36,000 seats of the 43,000 stadium as season tickets before the season has even started and that while it offers 90 tickets in the “Tigre Charter” plane that takes the team to away games, it is the fans that organize the mass trips.

“The majority are young people, but the diversity catches your attention,” said Gonzalo Sagastegui, editor of fan site SoloTigres.com. “A large amount of the buses are for families. It´s very common to meet entire families, sons, daughters, older people and couples of all ages. I think that is what has defined the fan-base recently.”

The cost of a trip to Mexico City is between 40 and 80 dollars for the bus ride, plus the cost of a ticket, food and drinks. Whichever way you look at it, it is a large outlay in tough economic times in Mexico.

“From the day the fixtures are released, people note down the dates and try to save in order to go,” said Sagastegui. “I´ve seen people selling clothes and accessories to make the trip.”

It is worth pointing out that Tigres is not traditionally one of Mexico´s biggest clubs and its support base is very much centralized in the city of Monterrey and the state of Nuevo Leon.

Although teams like Chivas, Pumas, Cruz Azul and America attract a lot of fans when they play on the road, the vast majority come from where they are playing, as the aforementioned teams have supporters all over Mexico.

So why Tigres?

Could it be that the city of Monterrey, the business and industrial capital of Mexico, with its above-average income, gives people a little extra disposable income to spend on soccer?

After all, Tigres´ city-rival Monterrey gets 35,000 sellouts in its stadium every home game too.

According to Monterrey-based writer and journalist Luciano Campos, the economic situation isn´t the main reason behind Tigres fans travel commitments.

Campos believe the success of a long term strategy of marketing the club in the right way is reaping rewards.

Campos points to the role of Sinergia Deportiva, which acquired the running of the team from 1996, when it was in the second division.

“They revolutionized the marketing of the team, something that I don´t think existed in football anywhere in the country,” said Campos. “They started campaigns and they sowed the identity of Tigres.”

The strategy began by bringing in box office names like Jorge Campos, Luis Hernandez, Ramon Ramirez and Bulgarian Emil Kostadinov, which excited people but didn´t lead to the illusive third championship.

Finally, last year, a balance between big names like Lucas Lobos and Carlos Salcido meshed with younger talents like Jorge Torres Nilo and Hugo Ayala to give Tigres the Apertura 2011 title.

After years of suffering, Tigres fans seem to be taking advantage of the success.

But there is another element to the swathes of fans Tigres are taking all over Mexico, according to Ramos.

He believes the relationship between the traditionally more hardcore, and generally rowdy porra – the “Libres y Lokos” – and the average fan has been key to providing harmony between the various sections of support.

“During 2010 and 2011, the fans and the porra (hardcore fan group) got together for the common good, as in 2010 there was a battle in the stands between fans,” explained Ramos. “Today one of the slogans of the Libres y Lokos is “We are all Tigres,” breaking the barrier between the porra and the normal fans.”

But the best in all the Americas?

Asked about whether such a phenomenon of traveling to road games exists in South America, Brazil-based soccer journalist Paulo Freitas cannot think of a comparable situation.

“Not on a regular basis,” he told Soccer365.com. “Corinthians in 1976 once brought 70k or so fans to a game against Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro and last year 12k of their fans went to Minas Gerais to watch a key game in the Brasileirão, but normally fans here don't travel large distances for ordinary away games.

Added Freitas: “Most of the away fans tend to be local fans that support the visiting team, as teams like Flamengo in Brazil or Boca in Argentina have large fanbases anywhere in the country.”

Certainly all the elements have come together for Tigres over the last year: The quality of the team, the relative affluence of Monterrey and the successful marketing campaign of the club.

Only time will tell whether this will be a long term trend, but for now, the Tigres invasions are giving a welcome bit of added color to Mexican soccer and showing other teams the “twelfth man” can be a powerful presence.

By Tom Marshall (@MexicoWorldCup)