Up in the stands at Nashville SC’s brand-new Geodis Park, a soccer prophet looks around at the sparkling new facility and believes he has reached the promised land.
Stephen Mason is not hard to miss in the crowd. Decked out in full-on Moses regalia, Mason has become a cult figure for the third-year MLS franchise.
In an interview with The Tennessean, Mason explained that the idea for the character came when a friend saw Nigeria’s Victor Moses score a goal at the 2018 World Cup, causing him to exclaim: “Let my people goal!”
Mason put the phrase on a T-shirt, and it caught on from there: “It started as a joke and then it got carried away,” he said.
Also, it should be noted that Soccer Moses can absolutely shred.
“Let my people goal!”
Meet @NashvilleSC’s “Soccer Moses.” pic.twitter.com/LLMhbkuncw
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) July 5, 2021
That’s because in addition to being a barber and a celebrity soccer fan, Mason is also a founding member of the popular Christian rock group Jars of Clay.
Witnessing the opening of Geodis Park earlier this month, Mason said he felt like he and the club had been led out of the desert.
It’s been 15 months since Soccer Moses grabbed a national following during the first #EveryoneN game in MLS. On Sunday, he led his people into the “promised land”: Geodis Park. pic.twitter.com/4qjLHOUoFi
— Drake Hills (@LiveLifeDrake) May 6, 2022
“You fast-forward three, long years in the wilderness, and we ended up at the promised land,” he said. “I’m feeling really grateful for the people alongside in this journey that’ve supported the club, the community around it and watched it grow to where we are today.”