Houston Dynamo - last updated on 6 December 2007
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Houston Dynamo
Foundation: December 15th 2005
City: Houston, Texas
Colours: Orange, sky blue and white
Website: www.houstondynamo.com
Honours:
MLS Cup - 1 (2006)
Carolina Challenge Cup (pre-season) - 2 (2006, 2007)
A bit of history:
The team was created on December 15, 2005 when the San Jose Earthquakes were relocated, due to owner AEG's failure to secure a soccer-specific stadium. Even though all of San Jose's players and coaches moved to Houston, the team's name, logo, history and statistics were not transferred and remained inactive in San Jose until the Earthquakes were reactivated in 2007. The Dynamo were thus a new team, similar to the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL.
On January 25, 2006, Houston 1836 was first announced as the team name. This followed an online survey for the fans to provide unofficial suggestions for the new team name, with given options of: Apollos, Bulls, Eagles, Gatos, Lonestars, Stallions, Toros, Americans, Buffaloes, Generals, Houston 1836, Mustangs, and Stars. According to MLS & AEG, who chose the name, the 1836 name referred to the year that the city of Houston was founded by brothers Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, though it had perceived ambiguity, as it is also the year of Texan independence from Mexico. Houston 1836's logo featured a silhouette of General Sam Houston, perhaps the city's, and state's, most famous historical figure.
The choice of Houston 1836, however, soon became a political issue. While their stated intent was to link to the founding year of the city, the team name was changed to Houston Dynamo after the Houston 1836 name raised a furor among some locals of Mexican descent—a target audience—who related 1836 with the war for Texas independence. Sylvia Garcia, Harris County's first Hispanic commissioner in more than a century, rallied for a boycott of the team name. Due to the controversy undergone through the boycotts of the name 'Houston 1836', Major League Soccer announced that they would no longer conduct online surveys to decide names for new expansion teams.[citation needed] MLS later decided on a name for the team: The 'Houston Dynamo'.
The name "Dynamo" refers to Houston's industrial economy, as well as two previous Houston soccer teams, the Houston Dynamos of the Lone Star Soccer Alliance in 1987-1991, and the Houston Dynamos of the United Soccer League in 1984. The official reason for the name is that "Dynamo is a word to describe someone who never fatigues, never gives up. The new name is symbolic of Houston as an energetic, hard-working, risk-taking kind of town." The team colors are orange, white, and "Space City" blue, meant as a symbol of yet another team in Houston's sports history: the Houston Oilers of the NFL.
Ironically, the name Dynamo is not without some controversy itself, as the Eastern European Dynamo sports society was historically sponsored by the Soviet police. The choice of that name also drew some criticism for lack of originality since it has been used by so many other teams, including the USL PDL Carolina Dynamo and numerous youth clubs in the U.S. Since the "1836" debacle, MLS has announced that they will no longer do online surveys for future expansion teams; they had also taken a poll to name Real Salt Lake, which itself was an unpopular choice.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Houston Dynamo -
Founded in 2005
