(Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in a weekly series spotlighting Rhode Island FC and Centreville Bank Stadium from a business perspective throughout the 2025 United Soccer League Championship season. To read past stories in this series, click here.) PAWTUCKET – In just two years, Ervin Vargas has built a nonprofit group of Rhode
Already a Subscriber? Log in
To Continue Reading This Article
Become a Providence Business News subscriber and get immediate access to all of our premier content and much more.Learn More and Become a Subscriber
- Critical RI business news and analysis updated daily.
- 1 year of print (26 issues).
- Unlimited access to all subscriber only content on our website, on any device.
- Free email alerts.
- Annual Book of Lists Print Edition.
- All special issues produced during subscription term.
Click Here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article
PBN Branded Content
Expanding Women’s Health in Newport
South County Health has expanded its award-winning Center for Women’s Health to Newport, offering a…
Learn More
DEFIANCE 1636, the supporters group for Rhode Island FC, also includes “La Banda 401,” members who play drums and horns throughout every home match. / COURTESY DEFIANCE 1636[/caption]
PBN: How unique is this supporters group compared with others across the United Soccer League or even the New England Revolution’s group, The Rebellion? What makes Defiance 1636 stand out?
VARGAS: When you look at our neighbors up the road [in Foxborough, Mass.], it’s one of the reasons why I took a blueprint of what I don’t want to be and don’t want to look like. When it comes to the stands, where it actually matters as a supporters group, [The Rebellion is] very lazy, boring and cookie-cutter cheerleading. I didn’t want to be that. I want to be full on what I bring from home. I want to have English chants with a mix of Spanish beats. Ranking-wise, we’re the best supporters group in New England and definitely top-five in [all of the United Soccer League]. I feel we have a very vibrant group of people who want to support the group in a certain way and we’ve shown that. We’re great in traveling. We’re great at home. We’re ruthless and we show color. We show that passion for this team. We own this team.
PBN: Does your style give Centreville Bank Stadium character in the stands?
VARGAS: Absolutely. Anyone who comes around the [stadium’s] south end will know that’s where all the crazies are, and they join in. We even have kids joining in. We have juniors called “Jr. Defiance” and we want them to be a part of this. We want them to feel that they can be the next generation of hooligans. That’s what we want to build. I’m almost 30 years old. I might do this until I’m 40 and then pass it on to the next kid who has better ideas or more youth. Supporter culture is a youth game and that’s why I want to give this “Barra” to someone else [in time].
PBN: Does Rhode Island FC do anything to support the group? If so, what do the club do?
VARGAS: What the team has done for us is they made it so we stay independent but helps us on occasional things. If people ask to be part of the group, the team directs them to us. The club helps us in the stands. They provide the pyro for us. The team also helps us with community events. If there’s an event they’re doing and want us to be a part of it, then we go with them. If I’m doing events, they come out as well. They were at the Guatemalan festival, the Puerto Rican festival and Portuguese festival in East Providence. We help each other out. The team also has helped us immensely by helping us grow and putting out promotions of us, showing us who we are and what we do.
PBN: What role does Defiance 1636 have in spreading awareness of Rhode Island FC? Does the group share responsibility with the club to boost interest across the state in the team?
VARGAS: Not necessarily. When we talk about our group, we talk about RIFC. It kind of goes hand in hand. They won’t know who we are unless they see who we are. We show people that we are the crazies behind the goal at games. We don’t have an obligation to promote the team, but it is our passion to do that. We love to talk about the team. At the end of the day, talking about our group ends up boosting the team, as well, and the team knows that. [The group] is for the boys on the pitch. That’s how we show love.
PBN: How do group members stay connected?
VARGAS: About 90% of our members are connected through our online discord. It’s basically an online chatroom. We post photos, what our thoughts are, suggestions and have the diehards hang out and talk to other fans. It’s open to the public, so we don’t hide it from anybody. People end up connecting with many different fans through the discord and then meeting at the tailgates. We have Rhode Island FC members fans who are not in the Rhode Island area anymore, but have ties with the state. We have fans that watch from Alaska. We have three, four fans who watch from Wales and they watch when they can. There’s even a café in the United Kingdom called “Rhode Island Coffee” and they’re big Rhode Island FC fans. We gave [café staff] jerseys, flags and scarves. The family grows as we grow.
[caption id="attachment_496689" align="alignright" width="420"]
DEFIANCE 1636 members unravel a giant banner during Rhode Island FC's inaugural home match at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket on May 3. / COURTESY DEFIANCE 1636[/caption]
PBN: How have the business partnerships with Defiance 1636 helped the group and vice versa?
VARGAS: We shop with [the businesses] a lot. The main thing we want to do to help businesses is they have to be local, and they also have to understand their cause. For The Isle Brewers Guild LLC, it was a no-brainer. That’s where our signature “Forever Faithful” beer is being sold and where we do our watch parties … and to have fun. We’re also in the mix with Mother Earth Wellness [in Pawtucket] to make a [cannabis] product. Also, if you’re a [group] member, you get 10% off walking in. They helped us out because they want to be part of this community. The German-American Cultural Society, they come to every single game. They’re season-ticket holders with us in Section 116 and part of our pyro squad; they pop smoke with us. If you show a membership card there, you get 30% off a beer. People have discovered the German-American Cultural Society because of us.
PBN: Do you have plans to make this group a bigger thing? If so, how big do you want Defiance 1636 to get?
VARGAS: I want my group to be as big as the stadium. If the stadium fits 10,500 people, I want every single one of those being members of Defiance. Even if they don’t buy, at least they know who we are and they can sing the songs and be part of it. My dream is to have this place rocking like many other South American groups. I want that to be the culture here in Rhode Island. I know it will take a long time because we’re still very new. But the ambition I have is I want the whole south section [of the stadium] be part of it. I want 1,000 people there to be rocking. We just have to keep letting people know who we are and get bigger and better with our atmosphere at the games.