Shannon Browning had been a soccer fan for several years before Atlanta United began play, having followed the Premier League while living in England.
It wasn’t until that first-ever match at Bobby Dodd Stadium in 2017 that her “soccer journey” truly began.
“I was aware of soccer. I enjoyed watching soccer before then,” Browning told Scarves and Spikes. “But that first match at Bobby Dodd was eye-opening. It was very electric.”
That journey saw Browning start to follow the NWSL during the 2020 Challenge Cup, held shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began. She became a fan of the Portland Thorns, joining the Rose City Riveters supporter group, eventually attending a match at Providence Park, and watching from the Thorns’ supporters’ section at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., as the club hoisted the NWSL Championship trophy in 2022. Still, the Atlanta native watched and waited for her own city’s turn to get its own club in the league.
That announcement finally came on November 12.
“For somebody that was a serious NWSL fan, it didn’t look like I was gonna get one in my hometown,” Browning said. “Then that news dropped in November, and then all of a sudden, my Instagram, my social medias are lighting up, and I’m like, ‘Where do I sign up? Where do I put my money down?’”
Shortly thereafter, Steel Magnolias ATL, NWSL Atlanta’s first supporter group, started to take shape.
The name Steel Magnolias is intentionally—and proudly—Atlanta… Magnolias represent classic Southern femininity, beauty, resilience, and grace. They thrive in heat, storms, and every challenge the South brings—mirroring the strength of the women who shape this city and this sport. Steel ties directly to Atlanta’s historic rail lines and industrial backbone. The growth of the city was built on steel tracks, connection, movement, and progress.
Together, Steel Magnolias becomes a symbol of: strength and softness, grit and grace, beauty backed by resilience, feminine energy paired with unbreakable backbone. This identity feels unmistakably Southern and authentically Atlanta.
The phrase Steel Magnolias also resonates deeply within LGBTQ communities due to the beloved films of the same name—celebrated for its themes of chosen family, friendship, humor, and fierce loyalty. These values align strongly with the inclusive, community-driven spirit expected of a welcoming NWSL supporters group.
It was important for the ball to get rolling right away. Browning, a former board member of All Stripes ATL — Atlanta United’s LGBTQ+ supporter group — reached out to Melanie Koerting, its president.
“We had a board meeting that Wednesday afterwards, and we got to the end of the meeting. We wrapped up our regular business for All Stripes … And I was like, so what do y’all think about the NWSL?” Browning said. “And there was a lot of chatter about, are they going to like have a train theme or (are) there going to be spikes and all this is. I was like, ‘Whoa, time out, let this thing like blossom in its own way’.”
That led to an initial meeting shortly thereafter.
“We’re all, like, ‘Let’s go,’” Browning said. “I’ve got people from [Terminus Legion], people from The Faction. I was originally Footie Mob. And we’re just like, ‘Hey, let’s all come together and work on this thing.’”
The collaborative approach with members from across Atlanta United’s supporters’ community was international, she noted.
“There are six supporter groups for Atlanta United, and they all have their own character. I can understand where they all come from, and they all serve a different role in our supporter community,” Browning said. “But at the same time, there’s six of them, and maybe part of the motivation to move quickly here, I think, was to kind of make sure that we made a welcoming space where…all of the six Atlanta United SGs (didn’t) think ‘well, we need to have our NWSL SG form overnight.’ And I could just see it about to be a mess.”
An key early milestone came in January. Steel Magnolias became a member of the Independent Supporters Council, joining around 140 member groups across North America representing MLS, the NWSL, and second- and third-division leagues.
“It’s a forum for supporter groups like ours to engage, share best practices, have contacts with players’ associations, contacts with the leagues, and the front offices,” Browning said. “There’s coordination with the leagues and the front offices to some extent to collaborate on (things) like conduct inside supporter sections, safety during away matches, travel, all of these sorts of things. And so, the Independent Supporters Council provides a good structure for that.”
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One other thing that’s important for Steel Magnolias is its support for the LGBTQ+ community, in keeping with the culture shared among NWSL supporter groups, Browning said.
Browning recalled the May 2025 decision taken by the FA, soccer’s governing body in England, to ban transgender women from competition. In response, NWSL supporter groups joined together to create a campaign called “Trans People Belong.”
“They raised over $5,000 for the Transgender Law Center, selling these ‘Trans People Belong’ t-shirts, as well as getting coordinated messaging into stadiums,” she said. “They made sure they were able to get a ‘Trans People Belong’ banner into the NWSL Championship at the end of the season.
“And all of the groups really got that banner into their stadiums over the years and so forth. There’s really been a lot of coordination amongst those groups since that collective action.”
Leading up to the 2025 NWSL Championship at Paypal Park, each club’s supporter groups — Cloud 9 from Gotham FC and the Spirit Squad from the Washington Spirit — organized a “friendly wager” on Bluesky, Browning said. The SG of the losing club agreed to donate $200 to the LGBTQ+ rights center in the winning club’s hometown.
After Gotham’s 1-0 win over the Spirit, “the next day, (the Spirit Squad) posted their receipts. Cloud 9 said, you know what? We’re going to make the donation to Washington anyway,” she added. “That spirit of competitiveness on the pitch, but strong collaboration off the pitch, I think, is really exciting. And we’re really excited to join that community.”
Browning estimates “a small but growing number” of about 50-100 people have indicated interest in Steel Magnolias so far. The group will have a kickoff party on March 13 in Midtown, the same day the Spirit and Thorns kick off the 2026 season.
Along with the group’s Facebook page, there are plans for a Discord server to keep members connected, as well as outings to women’s sporting events around Metro Atlanta, including the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream and the Atlanta Vibe pro volleyball team.
“There’s other activities that we’re looking to do, just to kind of start to build that community and that core group of people,” Browning said.
While Atlanta’s NWSL team doesn’t kick off for another couple of years, Browning hopes Steel Magnolias can help it develop its own culture and traditions, separate from Atlanta United.
“There’s a lot of the women’s soccer community that’s interested in professional men’s soccer. They are women’s sports fans. They are women’s soccer fans. And they haven’t been around Atlanta United this full time. And what we want to make sure is that this is their space too,” she said. “So if you’re a women’s soccer fan and you haven’t been part of all of this hoopla around Atlanta United for the past 10 years, that’s okay. You are who we’re trying to bring in and make space for.
“I want to make sure that we’re not creating this kind of gatekeeping environment and make sure that this is an inclusive space for everybody.”