Luke Betts knows the state of soccer in the South. Loathed by some but loved by many, the “beautiful game” may not draw the maniacal following in Louisiana that it does overseas, but that won’t stop Betts, co-owner and partner of The Londoner Pub and Grill, from catering to the “huge following” that soccer has garnered in Baton Rouge. “We’ve been opening up early for the English Premier league games,” Betts said. “We always get a great following for USA games, Champions League and English Premier League.” Fresh off watching his native England defeat Ukraine 1-0 in the group stage of Euro Cup 2012 Tuesday, Betts said efforts by the Baton Rouge Soccer Association have created a cult following for the sport. “They love and hate it, but the following is getting bigger and bigger.” Betts said. “I see it every week on the fields.” Like Betts, Drew Galloway, manager at Plucker’s Wing Bar, said he could sense a growing following before the 2006 World Cup, although it was met with apprehension from his boss. “The owner was kind of skeptical at the time,” Galloway said. “I didn’t even really advertise and we got huge crowds.” When Galloway did advertise during the 2010 World Cup, Plucker’s became the hot spot to watch the United States in the group stage, highlighted by the 1-0 win over Algeria in their final group game. Numerous YouTube videos show the standing-room-only crowd’s frenzied reaction to Landon Donovan’s late goal to push the Americans into the knockout stage. “You couldn’t walk in here [during the game],” Galloway said. “It was unbelievable.” With Euro 2012 in full swing this summer, Galloway said Plucker’s has not seen a drastic increase in business, attributing it to summer vacations and a lack of European ethnicities around campus. Betts said that while England games will always draw a crowd at The Londoner, other surprise teams with loyal fans can boost business. “There’s a huge German following,” Betts said. “There’s also obviously a big Spanish following.” While he hopes for an England-Spain final in the Euro Cup, Betts believes that no matter who advances, there will be a boost in weekend business and patrons will come to watch whoever will battle it out. “We’ve got a lot of people who want to see the two best teams in Europe fight it out in a final,” Betts said.
 
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