The South Bay Raiders Booster Club of San Diego watched the Oakland Raiders football game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Wild Wings in the Chula Vista Center, as they do every Raiders game.
They showed their discontent every time the Chiefs scored.
And they roared in jubilation when the Raiders came out victorious with a 24-20 score for their first win in 16 games, dating back to last season.
“Our mission, set by our founder, is to change the image of Raiders fans in San Diego because we have such a bad image,” said Ariel Zuniga, the club’s event coordinator. “By doing that we wanted to give back to the community, get along with other fans from other teams, and work together with them while providing a family environment for other Raiders fans.”
Zuniga, 38, said false portrayals of Raiders fans include notions of them as “thugs, troublemakers, drunks and drug addicts.”
Buffalo Wild Wings manager Katie Willis said she sees the group at her establishment every week and has never had an issue with them.
“Overall, they’re a great group of people,” she said.
Willis also said that the club always interacts with guests at the restaurant and she’s never received complaints about them.
The club’s president, Albert Garcia, founded the club in 2004.
It is an official Raiders Booster Club, meaning they are tied into the Raiders organization and must report to the public relations department.
The club has bylaws and a code of conduct that each of its approximately 40 members must adhere to.
The only requirement to join the club comes from the Raiders organization, which asks the club to be in good standing by not having any of its members getting into trouble with the law.
Zuniga, a Chula Vista resident, said members go as far as doing community work to change their image.
The community service is not a requirement from the Raiders it is something the club wants to do out of the kindness of their hearts, Zuniga said.
Throughout the years, the club has teamed up with a local radio personality in conducting toy drives. Recently they held a fundraiser at Buffalo Wild Wings for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.
And in September they were participants in the I Love A Clean San Diego Coastal Cleanup at J Street Marina where they were still looked upon negatively because they are Raiders fans, Zuniga said.
“It was funny because a lot of people when they came to that event, were actually intimated by us because we had our Raiders canopy,” he said.
Barbara Locci, a conservationist for the city of Chula Vista, said the Raiders Booster Club was a big help during the coastal cleanup.
“They did a great job,” she said. “They provided food and drinks for all of the volunteers.”
Locci said she is aware of the Raiders fans’ stigma.
“They are really trying to be the change of positivity for Raiders fans,” she said.
