U.S. National Team midfielder Benny Feilhaber signed a contract with MLS in April. However, his destination would be determined by the League's rotating allocation order.
New England Revolution fans, spurred on by the news that both Chivas USA and the Philadelphia Union had passed on Feilhaber with the two top spots in the allocation process, flooded their feeds with #BringBennytoBoston messages encouraging the Revs to select the 2010 FIFA World Cup veteran.
Brendan Schimmel, one of the founding members of The Rebellion supporters group, started the #BringBennytoBoston slogan with the hope that his clever catch phrase would have a dual purpose.
"The two-fold plan from The Rebellion end was to inform our friends that we had a great chance at a great player in Benny, and to organize a collective response so that our voices would be heard,” said Schimmel. “This allowed us – as a community – to echo our sentiments way more loudly than any one individual Tweet ever could.
“On Saturday night, The Rebellion put it out on Twitter, Facebook and our website,” Schimmel continued. “The rest of the credit goes to our members and fans who spread it like wildfire. I mean, who doesn’t love a good alliteration?”
During the height of the drama, “Feilhaber” was trending nationwide, and the #BringBennytoBoston hashtag was tweeted at a rate of more than once per minute.
