Look up in The Backline Supporters’ Section on any given matchday and you’ll see a giant Alistair Johnston cutout head.
It belongs to Anna Antonetti, a Nashville SC fan that has been supporting the club since its professional beginnings alongside her wife Stephanie Montenegro.
Stephanie and Anna are Ultimate Fans. They’ve followed Nashville SC since the club’s days in the USL Championship. They joined one of The Backline’s supporter groups, The Roadies, as soon as they could. The club is an integral part of their relationship and their lives.
“Our life revolves around this team,” they said. “It is the one place we can go where all of our worldly adult stress melts away, and we can just be crazy kids and scream and curse and laugh. Life is better at an NSC match.”
Soccer was one of the reasons they met in the first place. One of Stephanie’s soccer teammates insisted that she meet her rec league kickball teammate Anna. They finally agreed, and never looked back. Seven years later, they’re married with kids, and are living the soccer supporters’ life in Nashville.
The two of them have been there for some of the club’s biggest moments. They’ve traveled together to see the Boys in Gold play on the road in Salt Lake City and Atlanta. On home match days, you can catch them at The Backline tailgate and in the Supporters’ Section chanting and singing along with the rest of The Backline.
“Our favorite part of matchday is seeing our extended family (the Roadies/Backline),” they said. “We get to catch up with everyone and scream our hearts out with all of them. The adrenaline and excitement is amazing and watching our team take the pitch with the lights flashing and the beat thumping is a feeling like no other.”
Nashville SC’s slogan is “Everyone N.” It shows the club’s commitment to making Nashville’s club a place for all Nashvillians. For Stephanie and Anna, the slogan means so much more.
“’Everyone N’ means to us a safe place for us to be ourselves,” they said. “We are two women, married to each other with kids. But when we are at the match, we are just part of a greater whole, which is The Backline. We enhance it and it enhances us. It’s a place we feel completely safe and loved.”
Get to Know Stephanie and Anna
First NSC Match:
Nashville SC (USL) vs. Atlanta United FC Friendly, Feb. 10, 2018
Favorite NSC Player:
Anna – Alistair Johnston
Stephanie - Aníbal Godoy
Favorite NSC Memory:
Anna - Watching our Boys in Gold win a home playoff game this season and having Alistair Johnston jump the barrier to give me his Playoff game-worn jersey.
Stephanie - The first away game to Atlanta this year when we fought back to secure a point on the road! She didn’t have a voice the next day.
