Destination Soccer Chattanooga: Part 1 - CFC

Chattanooga has been close to my heart. Growing up in a small town less than an hour south of the city, I spent a lot of time going up to the Scenic City to have anything at all to do. Going to the Tennessee Aquarium (it’s awesome and was at one point the largest freshwater aquarium in the world), the Creative Discovery Museum, the Chickamauga Dam, and the Chattanooga Zoo were all huge part of my childhood.

Despite all of this, I never really knew about Chattanooga FC. I started watching soccer when I was in early middle school. That’s when I picked up my love for Manchester United. A couple of years later, I found out there was a relatively successful team just a few miles from my hometown. I somewhat followed them from then on. I’d check scores and see what was going on, but never really got super into it.

My junior year, I started watching their livestreams and absolutely fell in love with the club. I know I should be a neutral as a journalist, and I do try to be fair to all parties when writing, but, man, do I love the Boys in Blue. The supporters, the atmosphere, the players themselves. It’s all so amazing, and I knew I wanted to write about all of it.

So, I started looking and didn’t really find anywhere that really covered the lower leagues (this was before I fully dove into this wonderful community), so I backed off for a while. I forgot about writing about the lower leagues for a while, but in the summer following my graduation, I revisited the idea. I took to Reddit to see if I could find anywhere to write about this club and Reddit user “stagnation13” told me to reach out to Dan Vaughn because he was starting a lower league project.

I’m so thankful that I did reach out. Being apart of Protagonist has been one of the most impactful things I’ve done in my short and mostly amateur writing career. The people I’ve met and the stories I’ve heard have been incredible.

This series was one I wanted to write from the beginning. I kind of put it off for a while so I could write some other things for the site, but in November of 2018, I went to work. Every day that I was off, I’d drive up to Chattanooga for a couple of interviews I had set up. I talked to Sheldon Grizzle and Tim Kelly of CFC first, then Peter Woolcock of Operation Get Active. The next day off, I spoke with a couple of high school coaches (Baylor’s Curtis Blair and McCallie’s Chris Cushenbery) and former Protagonist writer/CFC Academy coach Justin Haskell. The next day off, I spoke with CFC player Felipe Oliveira, another high school coach (Boyd Buchanan’s Dustin Walker), Lee University Coach Derek Potteiger, and former CFC GM and current Red Wolves GM, Sean McDaniel.

I got to meet people from all parts of the soccer scene that is growing so rapidly in the city. I heard their perspectives on the things happening and see their joy when talking about the clubs they support. These pieces also got me on the other side of the interview for the first time, as the awesome guys that do The 425 Soccer Pod reached out and got me on for an episode.

Looking back, I’m still so proud to have written these pieces. I’m proud that I got to cover this incredible club that calls the best soccer city in the US home. I’m proud that I was able to complete such a large project. Most of all, I’m proud to have written the piece for the best lower league website the internet has to offer.

- Aarik Long

The Destination Soccer Chattanooga Series originally ran the week of June 17, 2019.

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Destination Soccer Chattanooga: Part 1 - CFC

2019 will be the eleventh season for the “Chattanooga’s Team,” “The Boys in Blue,” or whatever nickname you want to throw out there for Chattanooga Football Club. When hearing their story, there’s no doubt in your mind that they would have succeeded, but things were not always that simple. The club started in 2008, which was still in the heart of The Great Recession. The economy in the Chattanooga area was as bad as it was anywhere in the nation.

“We would have been happy to have five-hundred people show up,” said team co-founder and president Tim Kelly. That’s all they hoped for. Five-hundred people per game would have been their “wildest dreams” according to the club’s head coach and general manager, Sheldon Grizzle. The first game on May 16th, 2009, against the Atlanta Silverbacks had over 1,600 fans in attendance. Over their first ten years, they have brought nearly 400,000 fans to Finley Stadium, about eight times as many fans as they had originally hoped for.

Volkswagen has been a key sponsor for CFC.

One of the things that the guys at CFC believe helped them out is looking professional from the outset. A beautiful crest, nice kits, playing in a big stadium instead of at a little high school field. It all added up to a professional looking club built by a bunch of volunteers. They even got Volkswagen to sponsor the kits, sort of.

Volkswagen was coming to town to build a massive facility. CFC knew that Volkswagen has a history of supporting soccer, and they’re a fantastic partner anyway. Well, Volkswagen wasn’t going to support a little club just starting out, so CFC got the next best thing, the local VW dealer. “The first year, we just did it. He gave us $500. I don’t know if he ever even wrote the check. We just kind of put it on there,” explains Kelly. They did, however, eventually get the legit sponsorship, which would lead to a partnership with German first division side, VfL Wolfsburg.

Another thing they said had a huge impact was the fact that they weren’t all about soccer. Obviously, they love the game. They started a club after all. But that does not mean everyone else is just as passionate about the game. “If we came out and said ‘Soccer soccer soccer soccer’ then there would have been a lot of yawns. We have more people show up, even to this day, who are more passionate about Chattanooga than they are about soccer,” says Grizzle, “Tapping into that localism spirit is really important.”

“You can’t be about one person trying to make a buck,” adds Kelly, “One of the cancers of US soccer is the idea that you have to have one owner who controls the whole thing and is trying to leverage it into the New York Jets.” The club has spent almost eleven years now putting an emphasis on the community and working to make the club work instead of making a dollar. “We’ve literally reinvested almost every dime back into the club over the years,’ says Grizzle, “I think at most the ownership has taken maybe a couple thousand dollars distribution check. And we even distribute an equal amount to the Foundation. On average, we earn about $200 a year.”

The team has also had a fantastic impact through their work with their foundation and with their academies (I’ll get into some of that in a future installment of this), but they’ve also made waves across the NPSL. A lot of the NPSL’s Southeastern division has Chattanooga’s thumbprint in it. Three teams currently in the division (Inter Nashville FC, Greenville FC, and Asheville City SC) all got help starting up from Chattanooga. Tim Kelly joked that “We made life harder for ourselves. It used to be a lot easier to make it to the National Championship.”

“We will never move the team. We are permanently in Chattanooga.”

— Tim Kelly

Two of the more prominent teams across the NPSL were also impacted by Chattanooga. Sheldon Grizzle told a story of how random chance helped their path cross with the founder of Detroit City FC. “The founders of Detroit City FC was in Chattanooga having beers with me and a couple of friends right across the street over here. I started telling him about what we’re doing with Chattanooga FC and they were looking at each other like ‘We’re doing this in Detroit.’” Grizzle also said that they helped out with the Kingston Stockade. “We became friends with Dennis Crowley of the Kingston Stockade. Helped him through the whole process of figuring out how to get a team off the ground. And not only how we do it, but why we do it. He was able to bring that into a new community.”

The club has done something that so many other clubs have failed to do. They connected with the community to find long-term success. “Authentic grassroots thing. By Chattanoogans for Chattanoogans. It is authentically Chatanoogan. We were able to create that at a time when there wasn’t a whole lot to root for.” What they’ve done here has been insanely impactful and has really set off a chain reaction throughout the city’s soccer scene. In the next few installments, we’ll dig into those. From the CFC Academy and their foundation to the local high school and college soccer programs all the way to the Red Wolves coming to down. “The Club that Chattanooga Built” had an impact on it all.

- Aarik Long

The Two Miss Clarks: The Women Who Made an Early Mark on Soccer in the US

Miss Helen Clark (left), player, coach, referee (Bridgeport, Connecticut) Miss Doris Clark (right) Manager of McKinley Park Football Club, photo from Spalding’s Guide to Soccer Football, 1919-20

Originally posted January 23, 2019, Protagonist told us about Miss Doris Clark of Sacramento, California, who is credited as the first women sanctioned as an official soccer manager by the United States Football Association. However, the story was incomplete and the intent was always to go back and include the other Miss Clark—Miss Helen Clark of Bridgeport Connecticut “who is the Athletic Supervisor for the Board of Education… an enthusiast of athletic sports and a crack basketball player.” We are now in an era when women’s soccer is growing in popularity and women referees are slowly making it to the big stage; first Bibiana Steinhaus in the Bundesliga and most recently Stéphanie Frappart, who just became the first woman to officiate a major men’s European match when she took charge of the 2019 UEFA Supercup. But Helen Clark preceded those efforts by a century and became the first recognized woman referee to officiate senior matches in the United States. As part of our anniversary retrospective, we’ve taken the opportunity to add Helen’s story to Doris’ and rename the piece out of respect to the efforts of both pioneers of women’s soccer.

Miss Helen Clark attended the New Haven Normal School of Gymnastics, where she earned the title “Queen of the whistle” while focusing on conducting baseball, basketball and soccer games. The Normal School eventually became Arnold College in New Haven Connecticut, and has since merged into the University of Bridgeport—who coincidentally won their first NCAA Div II Women’s National Title in 2018. The Bridgeport and Evening Farmer Times from January 20, 1919 tells us she “has the distinguished honor of being the first soccer woman referee in the history of the kicking game in this country.” The article continues to laud her enthusiasm and notes her all around athleticism, “besides coaching teams, conducting gymnasium classes, refereeing and serving as an executive member of the committee on the Bridgeport Public School Soccer League, this woman soccer referee teaches folk dancing at both the Barnum and Huntington Schools.” Despite its perhaps unintentional but nonetheless patronizing tone, the Times does go into depth regarding her earned qualifications and expertise.

2018 NCAA Div II Champions, University of Bridgeport, have a connection to the history of women’s soccer in the United States

“She looks so much like a young miss in her High School days that one would for a moment doubt her capability in leadership, but only for a moment. One need only ask Miss Clark to explain a game of soccer, or watch her conduct a baseball, or basketball game, and the least bit of doubt will disappear.” The Times did give her credit for her knowledge and understanding of the game, but laced with surprise that such a young-looking woman would be able to pull it off. She did have her credentials though, Helen graduated from the Northfield Seminary and then entered the New Haven Normal School where she learned the intricacies of multiple sports—she was so masterful at teaching and refereeing soccer that Joe Booth, then head of the Connecticut Soccer Association and of the Connecticut delegates to the US Football Association Council, witnessed her knowledge of the laws of the sport in action and eventually moved her up to take charge of senior matches in the state. In Spalding’s Soccer Football Guide of 1919-20, she says, “My success as a referee was almost entirely due to the great confidence in me shown by Mr. Joe Booth. After having played, coached, and refereed many games, I now consider soccer the best all-around sport.”

In addition to her academically-earned credentials and meritorious elevation to senior referee in Connecticut, Helen Clark was also awarded a place in the “Knights of Athletic Valor” for her all-around efforts in educating school children in gymnastics and athletics as well as urging the Connecticut Recreation Board to find a suitable place to form basketball teams and a league for interested youths from her gym classes—she was always enthusiastically promoting athletics and healthy living. Helen Clark, the daughter of Connecticut Senator George B. Clark, was ahead of her time and likely learned from her father how to work with committees and boards to accomplish meaningful goals. She didn’t know it at the time, but she was a pioneer for women’s roles in both the world of soccer and for civic engagement.

- Joshua Duder

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Doris Clark’s XI

Oak Park was Sacramento’s first suburb, sub-divided and developed in 1887—by the 1910s it was connected directly to Downtown Sacramento by multiple streetcars and attracted the California State Fairgrounds. It became a destination neighborhood by boasting “no city taxes” and had a thriving social scene at the titular park on 8th and Sacramento Boulevard. In 1913, according to Sacramento Union archives, the city appointed a young Miss Doris Clark to become its Student Assistant of Parks, at a payrate of $510 a year.

Scouring the online archives of the Sacramento Union, a defunct local newspaper, shows as many posts about her social activities as it has regarding her successes on the pitch. For the first few years as a Parks Assistant, she oversaw archery events, hiking, track and field, as well as helping to set up popular outdoor music events in Oak Park. Miss Doris Clark even participated in these events from time to time as a member of a quartet. It seems that by late 1915 or early 1916 she had earned herself a promotion and moved north 3 miles to McKinley Park on the corner of Alhambra and McKinley Boulevards.

The Gateway to the Oak Park neighborhood near Sacramento, California

It was here, at McKinley Park that she really took off and by all accounts, she was very well regarded; even her vacations to Yosemite in 1916 and to Lake Tahoe in 1917, would eventually be newsworthy. However, it was her continued efforts in her local park position that earned her the most attention. Even Spalding’s 1919-20 edition noted her efforts in a piece titled Women Taking Up the Kicking Game, “Soccer Football is about the most strenuous of athletic games. Its forty-five-minute halves are marked by practically continuous action in which every member of each team is on his toes, but that doesn’t seem to keep the girls out. In Sacramento, California, Miss Doris Clark is the manager, and a very successful one, of the McKinley Park Football Club. The only lady manager of a club affiliated with the United States Football Association.”

In their book, Women’s Soccer: The Passionate Game, Barbara Stewart and Helen Stoumbos tell us that “Women were on the periphery of soccer from the beginning. In part, because public schools were for men only, but as well, polite society at the time frowned on women who engaged in strenuous exercise. Doctors believed such activity could injure the reproductive system or simply make women too manly to have children.” From the sources available, there’s no evidence to point to Doris Clark having experience on the pitch but once she moved from Oak Park to McKinley Park, she took up the role of managing the competitive soccer team associated with that neighborhood. Stewart and Stoumbos go on to tell us, “At any time when women’s team sports such as baseball and hockey were being played across America, women’s soccer made inroads. Women were being accepted as part of the game, and several colleges picked it up as a regular sport. In 1920, a woman named Doris Clark became manager of the McKinley Park Football Club in Sacramento. She was the first woman to hold such a position with a sanctioned team.”

Excerpt from Spalding’s Soccer Football Guide, 1919-1920.

From 1916 to 1919, Doris continued to organize seasonal and social events at McKinley Park, and she also managed the young men’s soccer team there. They dominated teams called Acorns, Grass Valley and Rovers—they even travelled to San Francisco to compete in the state cup. One Sacramento Union article from December 19, 1918 tells us, “Despite adverse conditions of weather and facing influenza, soccer is in full swing with spirited contests each Sunday… On Christmas day, the McKinley team will clash with Grass Valley… Miss Doris Clark, who has the local club in charge, expects her boys to win, although, she says the Grass Valley boys can play some football.”

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While there are several notes and articles to share from the Sacramento Union’s archives regarding Miss Clark, its important to note that Stewart and Stoumbos’ assertion Clark took up the position in 1920 is incorrect—she resigned in 1919 after six years working between Oak and McKinley Parks. There’s no reason given, but the last piece I can find speaking to Doris’ activities says she “has tended her resignation to superintendent George Kim, to take effect July 20 (1919). Miss Clark has been very active in her work and was manager of the winning soccer team there last season. Before going to McKinley Park she served at Oak Park Playground.” Judging from her vacations spent in the outdoors and her success at throwing events at the parks, I can only venture to guess that she moved on to a similar parks position somewhere else; perhaps someday we’ll find an ending more befitting the first USSF sanctioned woman manager.

- Joshua Duder

Vampire Association Football Club

“Vampire Association Football Club” originally ran November 2, 2018.

I’ve always considered myself a bit of a history buff, but I always found myself lacking in terms of the history of soccer. So when this article dropped as part of our “Cracking the Crypt” series in October/November 2018, I had to read it a few times. It was an interesting article because it showed that the sport had spread quickly across the Atlantic, with clubs taking on names you’d see associated with maritime sports like San Francisco Yacht Club or Encinal Yacht Club. While this was taking place, a small club in Alameda took inspiration from a simple horror character, vampires.

While Vampires Association Football Club was founded in 1897 and pulled inspiration from the novels and writings of the era, it wouldn’t surprise me if they also pulled the name from a social issue happening in the Bay area. As it states in the article, a political cartoon was ran in that time that portrayed local landlords as bloodsucking vampire bats, feasting on their tenants through constant rent hikes and other fees. It’s unfortunate that this club only lasted 27 years before all traces of it disappeared, but given the way its last season went, I’d say it’s a good thing it died.

Even though I consider myself a history and soccer fanatic, I’d love to see this club come back from the dead (pun intended) and begin a renaissance of sorts for similarly interesting club names to come back and dominate the lower league scene.

- Shawn Laird

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Gothic Horror made its way into popular fiction as early as the end of the 1700s with works by English authors Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis—by the mid-19th century, serial pieces and novels by Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, and Charles Dickens were readily available throughout western culture. Vampirism was very much an early component of Gothic writings with pieces by John William Polidori (The Vampyre, 1819) Rymer and Prest (Varney the Vampire serials, 1845-47), or Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu’s lesbian vampire work (Carmilla, 1871-72). This creature of the night was fast becoming one of Gothic Horror’s most well-known archetypes.

Often, a literary goal of working with these archetypes (Scapegoat, Villain, Temptress) was more meaningful than simply telling a spooky story, there was an element of revealing darker sides of humanity to the reader, almost with a didactic sensibility. As these works of fiction became increasingly available, they also became increasingly influential for new waves of writers as well as readers. By the 1890s, the word vampire had taken on a meaning beyond that of a literary sense and began to permeate everyday vernacular. Even in the farthest-flung cities of western civilization, like San Francisco, creatures from Gothic writings were now portrayed in daily media.

In regards to an issue we can relate to in modern times, this 1882 political cartoon portrays the landlords of San Francisco, as Vampire bats, looking to drink the tenants dry. These Vampires, of course, ate and drank merrily; however, ended up in hell for squeezing every last cent out of their renters. At a certain point, those privileged enough to be in a position of this level of mockery, begin to own it—they would rather on-board the titles of “Scrooge” or “Vampire” than succumb to social pressure and give up their positions of leverage. Calling oneself a Vampire in these terms becomes a bit of self-scathing or sardonic humor, and maybe simultaneously allows them to explain away not knowing how to sleep at night.

The game of association football, or soccer, had been played in Britain for centuries, but had only been codified for a relatively short period of time--1863. As Britannia spread their literature and financial system around the world, they brought with them the laws of their exciting new sport; wherever sailors travelled, be it to continental Europe, South America or even the port cities up and down California, they brought with them the game of football and all of its glorious Victorian Era laws. While sailors came and went, the clerks, merchants, bankers or property managers might stick around longer and since they might have been members of Cricket Clubs or Yacht Clubs back home, this budding white-collared class set up similar clubs in their respective new locales.

Organizations, such as the San Francisco Yacht Club or the Encinal Yacht Club were forming as early as 1890, all around the San Francisco Bay. They would throw elaborate social events and parade their decorated yachts for onlookers to see. Popular destinations around the bay to sail to were fellow Yacht Clubs like San Leandro, Redwood City and San Francisco’s Corinthian YC. Simultaneously massive athletic clubs, like the Olympic Club in San Francisco or the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club were assembling to provide common areas for athletic competition and fraternization. As football became a larger part of life in the late 19th centuries, these existing athletic organizations added soccer teams to their organizations in the late 1890s. From this you get some of the most historic clubs in Bay Area soccer history: Pastimes, Pickwicks, Thistle, Albion Rovers, Pacific Wanderers, and even a club from Alameda calling themselves the Vampire Association Football Club.

Initially, there were only four clubs, we know of, founded as early as 1892 and played a bit of a round robin for two years; however, the economic boom of the gilded age (1870s to end of the 1880s) came to a screeching stop just before 1894, in what is referred to as the “Panic of 1893.” These clubs didn’t stop playing soccer, it was just more intermittent for several years; they would have to find competition against teams of visiting sailors or travel by rail to play clubs some distance away. Shortly after an economic recovery, Vampire Association Football Club was formed in either 1896 or 1897—it very well could be 1896 and they simply didn’t play their first matches until the following year.

Unlike some of the bigger clubs in San Francisco, Vampires were based out of Alameda, about a 45-minute drive from The City nowadays; however, the Bay Bridge wasn’t constructed until 1933 so in order to play away matches, they would have to take a ferry off the Alameda Mole to cross the bay. VAFC seem to initially have hosted their home matches at the Alameda Cricket Club grounds and a few of the cricketers played for the new football side. Other members of the Vampires team came from the San Francisco Yacht Club and most of the team were English expats. “… and they generally had money,” Brian Bunk tells us in his SoccerHistoryUSA podcast, “… this makes them a bit different than most of the soccer hotbeds in the United States, where the players tended to come from more blue-collared type occupations. The Vampires, on the other hand, were mostly white-collared workers; clerks, bankers, and accountants.”

They came from Yacht Clubs, Cricket Clubs, Athletic Clubs and the white-collared business professionals who brought with them the understanding of football, were privileged enough to have had access to some of the aforementioned Goth literary classics during their formative years. Vampire Association Football Club were established, perhaps, shortly after Bram Stoker’s seminal novel Dracula had been published in May of 1897. Rudyard Kipling’s Poem, The Vampire, was also released in 1897—which makes the year an oddly influential year for Gothic Horror and vampirism. Considering the players for Vampires, were clerks, bankers, accountants and independent business owners, it’s likely they ran in the same circles as landlords and property investors—those who would laughingly take ownership of the socially derogatory expression “Vampire” and use it as a mascot for a newly formed football side. There’s no way to know if this is true, but its as good a guess as any. There’s also the likelihood that they came to consensus, while inventing a name for their side, that Vampires just sounded good and scary.

According to The History of Soccer in the San Francisco Bay Region website, maintained by David Litterer, “… soccer first made its appearance in Northern California in the late 19th Century; soon the California Football League, Western League and other circuits were founded, which eventually led to the formation of the California State Football Association in 1902.” Just two years later, the State FA would launch the State Cup as well as the Bellis Perpetual Trophy. Vampires were amongst the early powerhouses of these competitions, along with names like Union Works, Burns, and of course, they’re local rival, the Barbarians—who can boast having won the State Cup three times and the Bellis Trophy once. Litterer provides the lists of silverware in the Vampires’ case: State Cup in 1907, 10, 14 and the Bellis Trophy 1910 and 11… and looks like they did the triple in 1910.

In their centenary celebration, the San Francisco Soccer Football League released a 20-page document, making a list of the league winners available. The Vampires from Alameda managed to win the league in both 1908 as well as in 1910… Barbarians only managed to win the league once, in 1923. Sean McGeever, author of a lengthily bit of history content provided in the league document, tells us “Founded in 1902, the SFSFL is, in fact, one of the oldest semi-professional leagues in the United States… One of the early teams in the league, the Vampires, sported a bat on their jerseys, and rumor has it, drew first blood every game!” This, and the few remaining team photos, can confirm the jersey recreations by Brian Bunk are accurate (Shown above, courtesy of @SoccerHistoryUS).

Prior to the turn of the century, the ethnic composition of San Francisco’s immigrants, and by default, soccer teams, was primarily of English or Scottish descent; however, “The 1920s proved to be a pivotal decade in the establishment of a new generation of soccer teams due to the influx of immigrants from Germany, Russia, France, and other countries where the Great War had caused cataclysmic changes,” says McGeever. These newly minted Americans looked to form their own Athletic Clubs and soccer teams too—so much so, that a second division had to be added to the SFSFL. While the Vampires won their second State Cup in 1909-10 and won it again in 1913-14, ten years would go by before another of the region’s founding clubs would win the league title. McGeever tells us, “The Vampire’s State Cup success in 1914 proved, in retrospect, to be the end of an era.” The Vampires would not win any more titles for their remaining ten years in the league, and in 1924-25 they were replaced in the league by Unione Sportiva Italiana, the “Soccer Champions.”

Vampires’ 1923 season was a disaster, according to J.N. Young’s report in Spalding’s Soccer Football Guide of 1923, “From the start, the competition was keen and Olympic and Union Iron Works were generally considered as the most likely contenders. Yet it could not be said that they dominated the other teams which, with the exception of Vampires and later Burns, kept well in the fighting line...” The club from Alameda finished dead last, they showed no fight all year and were bottom of the table with no wins and gave up thirty more goals than they scored. On the other hand, they fought hard in the State Cup, forcing replays in the first and second rounds, as well as in the semi-finals. After each draw, they would follow up with a win in the replay. Vampires even, somehow, forced a reply in the Cup Final, drawing newcomers McKinley Park 3-3 away. On the home leg, they lost the final 1-3 and that may have been the proverbial stake in the heart for the Vampires in the City.

If the club vanished into thin air or put itself to rest in a coffin, Vampire Association Football Club was not mentioned in any available sources after 1924. For a short while, however, the frightful club from Alameda California haunted the football grounds of the Bay Area and even made a meal of their competition. There is every chance that several of Vampires’ players were not done playing soccer just because the team didn’t show up for any more seasons in the SFSFL, and they might have found somewhere else to play. The San Francisco Soccer Football League is still up and running, with many current clubs who can trace their lineage back, through mergers and moves, to the clubs of yesteryear and maybe… just maybe there was a vampire or two who played for them too.

- Josh Duder

The Post War Sports Boom and the Birth of the North American Professional Soccer League

The Post War Sports Boom and the Birth of the North American Professional Soccer League originally ran April 17, 2019.

The most enjoyable pieces I do are when a narrative I wasn’t expecting emerges as I’m doing the research and writing itself. For the most part, when I’m writing for Kicking Back, the only big viewpoint I start with is the understanding that soccer is an American sport. It’s a very basic, general idea but, as soccer is not traditionally connected to the idea of America, radical, nonetheless. For me, this simple framing of soccer as American appropriately connects it to the American experience which then reveals the myriad of connections between the sport and American society, culture, and history.

This piece started as straightforward research on the North American Professional Soccer League. The league was the first and last attempt at big league pro soccer between the ASL and the NASL. Beyond that it isn’t well-known or well-researched.

The first narrative thread that spooled out of the research was how the league, and pro soccer, fit into the post-war sports boom. The NAPSL was like fledgling leagues in the other (now) major sports. It’s founders, including baseball magnates, sought to cash in on America’s booming economy and its desire for diversion following years at war.

But, where the other sports thrived, soccer failed. US soccer fans, especially those of us who followed the sport during the “wilderness years” knew soccer and failure were inextricably connected.

As I dug into the NAPSL, it became apparent that the league’s failure, and the failure of the game itself to become a major American sport, wasn’t fully integral to soccer or its backers. As it had been from its beginnings, soccer in America was a sport of the immigrant. It was a sport of the working-class. That had always been a problem for the sport to integrate into the mainstream. But, it was even more so during the patriotism of the post-war years.

The second big story that emerged was the narrative of the league’s biggest star, Gil Heron; a prolific goalscorer with a troubled background. But, even more than that, was the recognition that a league of a sport seen as not American enough had a black man as its superstar.

I went into the piece assuming that, like the rest of US soccer history, that the league failed due to incompetence. That the league had been poorly conceived and poorly run. And, while some of those issues were factors in its demise, the legacy of the league, and the legacy of that time in the sport, is not only one of failure. The league and the sport didn’t sit outside of time. They were embedded in post-war American society and what America was at that time must be understood as a factor in what happened to the NAPSL and the sport.

- Dan Creel

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The Post War Sports Boom and the Birth of the North American Professional Soccer League

April 20, 1947 Chicago Tribune Article.

After the end of the Second World War, the U.S. began to transition from a war-time to a peacetime society. One immediate reaction to this change was an enormous surge in interest in professional sports. New leagues sprang up to satisfy this need and to challenge the more established leagues. In late 1946, the All-America Football Conference and the Basketball Association of America both played their first seasons as direct competitors to the National Football League and the National Basketball League respectively. The sport of soccer also saw a rise in interest and, earlier that same year, the North American Professional Soccer League began play. [Editor’s note: The league is now more commonly known as the North American Soccer Football League.]

The league was the brainchild of Fred Weiszmann, who played football in his native Hungary as a youth. By 1945, Weiszmann was a restaurant manager and owner of the Chicago Maroons soccer club. But, he had grand aspirations for soccer both in the U.S. and worldwide. Weiszmann dreamt of an international soccer league where the top teams from each region would play each other in a super league. With Phil Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, as the Maroons sponsor, Weiszmann applied for membership in the American Soccer League, the only real professional soccer league in operation. The ASL denied the club admission but, in November, gave Weiszmann tentative permission to launch a Midwest Division of the league.

Weiszmann began discussions with midwestern amateur clubs about forming the new ASL division, while, at the same time, the Inter-state Professional Soccer League, another proposed regional league, was in the works. While the ISPSL never materialized, Weiszmann was able to raise $75,000 to launch his new endeavor and gained rights to all the open dates at Wrigley Field for his club.

In January 1946, the proposed ASL Midwest Division announced it had a roster of teams: the Maroons; the Chicago Vikings; Morgan Strasser of Pittsburgh; and John Inglis of Toronto. All of these were successful amateur clubs in their metropolitan leagues and Morgan Strasser had been one of the clubs in talks to join the ISPSL. A few weeks later the U.S. Soccer Football Association (recently renamed from the U.S. Football Association) gave the new league permission to operate and took up an internal discussion about its possible affiliation with the ASL. The league’s affiliation with the ASL never occurred and Wieszmann launched his organization as a fully-independent league. Originally planned to start in April, the league’s season was pushed back to an early June opening. In the interim, the league gained a new club in the newly-organized Detroit Wolverines, and Morgan Strasser and John Inglis were rebranded as the Americanized, Pittsburgh Indians and Toronto Greenbacks respectively.

On June 2, the Chicago Maroons played an exhibition match against Liverpool FC at Soldier Field and were crushed 3-9. But, while official attendance numbers aren’t known, the crowd may have been large enough to bring new investment into the league. A few days after that match, it was announced that Leslie O’Connor, general manager of the Chicago White Sox, had purchased a half-interest in the Chicago Vikings and that the club’s home grounds would be Comiskey Park.

The league began its eight-game home-and-home summer schedule on the weekend of June 6. On opening day, the Chicago Vikings and Detroit Wolverines drew 4-4 at Comiskey Park with center forward, Gil Heron, scoring a hat trick for the Wolverines. Born in Jamaica in 1922, Heron moved to Canada and then the U.S. with his family as a teenager, eventually landing in Detroit. When war broke out, Heron, as a British subject, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. Following the war he returned to Detroit to work at an auto plant while also playing soccer. In 1945, playing for Venetia in the Detroit District Soccer League, he scored a staggering 44 goals in just 14 games. Recognized as the first black player in a pro U.S. soccer league, Heron continued to shine scoring 15 goals in eight starts. Heron was easily the league’s top offensive star with his goal totals nearly double the next-highest seven scored by Roscoe Anderson of the Vikings, Pete Matevich of the Maroons, and Harry Pitchok of Pittsburgh.

With 11 points, the Wolverines edged out the Greenbacks by one point to take the inaugural season championship. During the season, a post-season playoff series had been planned but was called off.

April 6, 1947 - Chicago Tribune

Although crowds weren’t as large as hoped, attendance was regularly in the 2,000 to 4,000 range and the league was seen as a modest success. In the December meetings, Fred Weiszmann stepped down as President of the league in order to spend more time as general manager of the Maroons. Leslie O’Connor was named president of the league and Weiszmann named vice president. The league received applications from a number of new organizations and set an expansion franchise fee of $5,000. The Detroit Pioneers, a top amateur club, and the newly-organized St. Louis Raiders were admitted to the league on January 27, 1947. In addition, the league approved a split schedule for 1947: a first half in the spring; and a second half in the fall.

But, as the league looked to expand, it also began to contend with a need to tighten their finances. During those same meetings, Martin Donnelly withdrew his champion Detroit Wolverines from at least the first half of the season. Donnelly spent $40,000 (over $500,000 adjusted for inflation) during the 1946 and was unable to field a team in time for the spring session. The last straw for him was an impression that the league was not living up to the promise of being a big league sport. The Wolverines’ franchise was held open pending a decision if Donnelly was going to field a team for the second half. In addition, both Chicago clubs moved out of their major league grounds and decided to share a high school stadium in Winnemac Park. The St. Louis Raiders had initially planned on using a major league venue, Sportsman’s Park, but decided to use the 3,000-seat Public Schools Stadium instead.

One more hit during the off-season caused the league’s future to seem more wobbly than at first glance. The Chicago Tribune published a front-page story which revealed that Fred Weiszmann had signed a number of players as amateurs, but had, in fact, paid them. One of these, Pete Matevich, was being paid $100 per game which made him the highest paid player in the league. In contrast, Gil Heron, the undeniable star of the league on the pitch, was paid $30 dollars per game. Even after being sold by the inactive Wolverines to the Maroons in the off-season he was still only making $5 more.

The Maroons’, and Heron’s, second game of the 1947 season against the Raiders was also the first professional game in St. Louis since the St. Louis Soccer League disbanded in 1938. A newspaper report before the match noted that Heron would be only the third black player ever to appear on a St. Louis soccer field. Half-back, José Leandro Andrade, one of the greatest footballers of his generation and member of the Uruguay world champion squads, visited St. Louis during Nacional’s 1927 U.S. tour. And, top scorer at the 1938 World Cup, Leônidas, played there when his Botafogo squad played two matches against the St. Louis Shamrocks during a 1936 tour of Mexico and the U.S.

Gil Heron

In Chicago, Heron found a bigger venue than Detroit, but also more abuse on and off the field. As the only black player in the league, fans, even those at home, would hurl taunts and racial epithets at him. Opposing players often kicked, pushed and roughed him up. That July Ebony featured Heron in a piece titled the “Babe Ruth of Soccer”, but often injured and harassed, Heron’s play suffered and he only scored four goals in the first half of the 1947 season.

The league’s schedule for that first half called for a 10-game home-and-home series among the clubs beginning in April and running through June. It was another close one with Pittsburgh and Toronto ending the half at 14 points each. Bad weather caused a number of postponements and, with mounting financial difficulties, league officials met in June to discuss whether it was feasible to play the fall schedule. The discussions ended with an understanding that no team would drop out of the league, the Detroit Wolverines would rejoin, and a fall half would be scheduled.

By the end of August things were looking more bleak. A six-game fall schedule was tentatively approved, and play began the first weekend of September. But, when the second half got underway, the Wolverines never returned, the Vikings quit the pro game and the Maroons folded. The Chicago Maroons franchise was transferred to a new club, the Chicago Tornadoes and it was decided that the Tornadoes would get the best players from the Maroons and Vikings. This new club was owned by the men who had previously financed the defunct Maroons, but Fred Weiszmann was not part of the new franchise. As play began, the Detroit Pioneers dropped out before playing their first scheduled league game against Pittsburgh. The league was, for all intents and purposes, down to three active clubs with an additional one attempting to quickly organize.

After a few games for each active club, the league took a pause to play a previously unscheduled best-of-three series to determine the first half champions. Pittsburgh twice beat Toronto 3-2 on October 11 and on October 12 to take the series. The league announced that the playoffs were taking place during a break so the four remaining league teams (the Tornadoes, Indians, Raiders, and Greenbacks) could prepare for a reconfigured second half. But, just over a week later the league declared it was suspending operations and officially declared Pittsburgh the champions. The Tornadoes never played a game and the remaining active clubs (the Vikings, Pioneers, Raiders, Greenbacks, and renamed Morgan Strasser) returned to the amateur ranks.

In postwar United States, the country had emerged as the most powerful country in the world. A new world order was quickly forming with America as the primary bulwark against the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. The “American way” was no longer just a lifestyle, it was now undeniable proof we were on the right side in the burgeoning Cold War.

The moment the NBA was born. Image courtesy of WBUR.

At the end of three seasons, the BAA merged with the NBL to form the National Basketball Association. The end of the 1949 pro football season saw both major leagues struggling financially. That December, the AAFC effectively merged with the NFL when three of its seven teams, the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Baltimore Colts, were admitted into the older league. Both of these post-war pro leagues have had a major impact on the American sports landscape.

The narrative of the American Dream tells us that, with all things being equal, anything can be achieved through hard work. Through that lens, the league’s collapse can be seen as a failure of league officials and team owners to understand the market for pro soccer in the late 1940s. A failure that would continue to haunt the sport for the next half century with league after league.

But, in retrospect, what if all things weren’t equal? What is the legacy of the NAPSL then? It is a legacy of a sport that is not American enough. It is legacy of a league whose brightest star was too black. A legacy that Americans can be comfortable that soccer is a failure because it is not good enough, and that soccer is not good enough because it is a failure.

Gil Heron played the next few years with amateur clubs Chicago Sparta and Detroit Corinthians. In 1949, his first wife, Bobbie Scott, and he had a son. In 1951, Celtic F.C. toured the U.S. and Heron was invited to an open tryout. He left his wife and young son for Glasgow and, after a trial, and was signed by the club, becoming the first black man to play for the legendary Scottish club. In his debut for the club, he scored two goals in a League Cup match but was released the next year after only a handful of first team appearances. Heron spent then next two years as a journeyman in the UK and eventually returned to Detroit and a new life.

Gil Heron did not meet his first son, Gil Scott-Heron, again until the famous poet, musician and activist was 26 years-old.

- Dan Creel

A New Golden Age?

“A New Golden Age?” originally ran on July 3, 2019.

Soccer in the US has come a long way since it first arrived to the states in the late 19th century, becoming one of the most popular past times for today’s youth. However, the United States Soccer Federation, our nation’s governing body of the sport, has made it increasingly difficult for semi-pro, amateur and youth clubs not in the Developmental Academy to grow as organizations, and to remain relevant within today’s soccer community. In A New Golden Age?, Dan Creel evaluates the current climate in US Soccer and compares today’s Modern Era to that of the first Golden Age of soccer in the US to assess whether we have entered into a second Golden Age.

It is easy to look at how much the game has grown in the US and the success and popularity that the MLS has achieved in the past 23 years, as well the explosion of grassroots and youth soccer and think that we have entered into a new Golden Age. However, the current system being implemented by the USSF has favored the few and suppressed those not sanctioned by them. Soccer in the US has been described as a pay to play system and this is true at every level, from youth to pros. Whether it be the fees that are required to play for elite youth teams, the expansion fess required by teams to enter USSF sanctioned leagues, or even the increasing prices of tickets for national team or MLS games. If you want to experience soccer in the US, it requires money, and it’s only becoming more expensive to experience. The USSF needs to be more inclusive and must allow greater fluidity and connection between all levels of soccer in the US if it truly wants another Golden Age.

Dan’s piece raises these concerns and provides insight into the problems that exist within today’s culture of soccer in the US. While Dan discusses other issues with the USSF in pieces like The American Pyramid: The Ties That Bind and The Many Versions of the Soccer Wars, I believe this piece is important because it highlights the monopoly the USSF holds on professional soccer in the US and that they are completely disconnected from the hundreds of local teams struggling to receive adequate funding or attention.

- Paul Kowalczyk

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A New Golden Age?

Cultural commentators have noted that we are presently in a second Golden Age of Television. The combined quality, diversity and popularity of current television programming has resulted in an era where television, traditionally a formulaic medium, has replaced film as the prestige format for visual creators.

One important factor in that is the myriad of streaming services that emerged over the last decade. As diverse content was created, these platforms gave instant and far-reaching access to shows that may have simply had cult status in prior years.

Some cultural critics have even begun predicting that this Golden Age may be rapidly ending as media companies begin rolling out their own streaming services. Many envision that this will lead to content again being more costly, and thus, harder to access. As the easy access to a massive amount of content disappears so will the Second Golden Age of Television as viewership declines and content providers no longer see worth investing in as much prestige programming.

I have started wondering if we may be in a new Golden Age of U.S. Soccer. The original Golden Age took place in the 1920s when the U.S. joined the rest of the world as a soccer-playing nation and the fully-professional American Soccer League brought in huge crowds. For some time we have been living in the Modern Age of U.S. Soccer. The Modern Age is roughly understood to be from the 1994 World Cup, through the launching of MLS in 1996 to the present day.

I suspect that the Modern Era is ending or, perhaps, has already ended. Things are vastly better now than 20 years ago at the national level. MLS is a stable Division I league and has the highest number clubs of any top-level league in the world. The league is popular and can charge expansion fees in the $150 million to $200 million range. Also, the U.S. Soccer Federation is in the last few years of a lucrative marketing deal that has paid the federation more than $300 million in less than 20 years.

On top of that, the game has exploded at the local, grassroots level. The youth game, huge even in the pre-Modern Era, has continued to expand. Even more than that, the number of elite amateur, semi-pro and pro teams is larger than it ever has been. The game is no longer played at a high level in just a concentrated number of pockets. You can find high-quality soccer clubs in all parts of the country now.

In addition, the investment in the game is no longer happening just at the national level. The number of clubs with excellent front offices continues to grow. Clubs are doing a better job investing in operations, media and outreach. We continue to see the creation of enthusiastic communities of fans.

So, is this a Second Golden Age of U.S. Soccer? Given all of the above it seems one could make a valid argument for such. But, an important factor is still lacking.

A huge problem with the sport in this country is the continued attempt to shoehorn the game into the traditional U.S. league-franchise model. That has worked for the other major U.S. professional leagues (and their minor league affiliates), and may have been required to get MLS off the ground, but such a model will always hamper the sport of soccer.

With all the great strides being made, access to the game is still highly problematic. One of the vital aspects of soccer isn’t just the game itself, it is the interconnectivity of the sport. Soccer games, clubs, leagues and organizations are never isolated. They always operate within a larger system that spans levels, competitions and territorial boundaries. It is both an intra- and inter-organizational game. It is a local, regional, national and international game all at the same time.

MLS, and its formulaic version of top-level soccer, can, and likely will, continue to operate on its current owner-operator league-franchise model. But, as it is a soccer league, it will then always be capped as to its quality and popularity because it is inherently disconnected from the greater game. No matter how financially successful it is, it will always be hamstrung because It is not fully connected to the soccer community.

While MLS can survive, without that institution’s vast resources, the lower levels of soccer face even larger barriers due the lack of interconnectivity. Without the organization that is fundamental to the sport, the overall soccer environment in this country has been, and continues to be, chaotic. Without a community that provides stability and engenders innovation, many clubs struggle to find an audience or even adequate playing facilities. For the clubs who are doing well league hopping, or straight out poaching, is the norm as they outgrow their current situations. For fans, it is often hard to figure out the landscape at a grassroots level. Diehards will make great effort to seek out their local clubs but the average soccer fan will likely end up devoting their attention to a far away MLS, Liga MX or Premier League club because doing so simply makes more sense.

Even more troubling is the very real concern that a healthy burgeoning soccer environment will end even before it has a chance to begin. If the soccer powers continue to restrict access to the few and refuse to open the doors to a broader coalition then most of the innovators at the grassroots level will find it impractical to continue (or even attempt to join) the game. And, if that happens, then the U.S. soccer community will have access to an even-more limited version of the game controlled by a few moguls.

We can not and should not consider this a Golden Age of U.S. Soccer until the sport is fully integrated with the greater soccer community.

- Dan Creel

Club of Immigrants

Club of Immigrants originally ran August 20, 2018.

This story from way back in August 2018 will always be relevant because the story of Inocentes FC of Dallas is the story of so many of us and our families who are only a couple generations (or less) removed from our immigrant family. Many of us live in the United States because a relative had the courage and the determination to make their way to this country from their homeland in search of a better life. The story of Inocentes FC mirrors this dream as it was formed entirely by immigrants and continues to stock its roster with immigrants and the children of their original members. The impact of immigrants on the sport of soccer and the country as a whole should not be forgotten and especially in these times, where a hateful individual would target Hispanic players purely because of their race, it is doubly important to spread the positive impacts of immigrants in our communities across the country.

- Phil Baki

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Club of Immigrants

Often, when we discuss soccer, we lump the players on the field, the coaches on the sideline, the general managers in the box, the owner in an office, all into a massive machine, one that wins or loses games, disappoints or thrills fans, lifts the trophy at the end of the season or falls somewhere short of the mark. It’s easy to treat a soccer club like a golem, designed to work for our pleasure, to fill our evenings with bliss. Each element of our creation is mixed into the mass to give us a goal here, a defensive stop there, but always the target is deliver the result we want, a championship. But this golem is not a mix of mud and sticks, a mindless worker striving for our approval, instead it is an organization that is made up of people, each with their own mind, their own strengths and weaknesses, their own backstories, their own hopes and dreams.

While we watch our clubs play, we rarely place our feet into the cleats of those that race across the field. How did that keeper end up in the box, guarding the net? What inspired that coach to live his life to this point, now standing next to the bench? And what about the last player on the end of the bench, earnestly staring towards his coach, hoping for a nod, what does he dream of someday being? The reality is that each of those individuals has a story, a path that led to this point and a series of goals that stretch into the future. The humanity of those that play the game may be varnished over by the colors of the kit, but for those on the field, this is real life.

San Jerónimo, Jalisco, Mexico

If you ask Mario Alcalá where his roots lie, it’s far from North Texas. You’d have to cross the entire state of Texas, hop the southern border of the United States, cross another couple of states (Mexican this time), past Guadalajara, to the tiny pueblito of San Jerónimo in the Mexican state of Jalisco. And tiny hardly describes the place, really it’s not much more than a spot on the map. A city with the population of less than 500, that you could blink and miss. But that tiny city in Mexico was the home of Mario’s ancestors. He often notes with pride, if you look at it in Google Maps, you can spot a soccer field in the tiny town. The importance of the sport to this tiny town is multiplied in Mario’s mind and his history. Going back in time almost 100 years, his family lived in that city and, some of them anyway, played soccer. And not just played the sport, excelled at it. They were good enough to have a team that was like family and would stay together across generations, thousands of miles, and eventually span a border. That team had the same name as it does today, Inocentes.

The team of the 1930's was populated with names that still fill the names on the backs of kits today. They played together, competed with other teams, and had pride in their tiny town’s team. As immigration began to sweep players north into the United States, the bonds that had formed on the soccer field held. Better jobs, chances for prosperity, education for their children drew families from the tiny town southeast of Guadalajara. These families moved to Texas over the decades, settling in and around Ft. Worth.

It’s not easy to uproot your family and plug them into a whole new way of living. The decision to do it is only made when all other options are exhausted. No matter how good the promise of a new country may sound, it’s still a sacrifice of life as you know it. The familiar sounds of the tiny village in Mexico would be replaced by the cacophony of a bustling metropolis. While many immigrants do speak English, speaking the language is another hurdle to cross for the first generation, particularly those of Spanish-speaking countries. The only solution to maintain one’s culture and survive is to build a tiny bubble of home in your new country. A place where Spanish can be spoken without judgement, where food can taste just as it did in their Mexican homes, and where the game of soccer was the only futbol that mattered. While every generation of immigrants seeks to fit in and connect with their new culture, preserving the one they grew up in is a task for the soul, one that strengthens and grows the connection across generations.

The Game that Binds

Mario Alcalá, a third generation immigrant, is the president of Inocentes FC, who now play in the UPSL Central Conference - North Division. Based in Ft. Worth, the club’s history in the city goes back to the generation before Mario and his brothers. Inocentes has existed in the United States since the 1970s. As the families from San Jerónimo came to this country, they brought their love of soccer with them and what else to name the team they played on but Inocentes? Originally, the team competed in the the local Hispanic leagues. With their natural chemistry and common heritage, Inocentes won multiple championships in every league they competed in. Mario’s father and uncle both played for Inocentes in 1979 and now serve as influencers on the newest generation to wear the Inocentes crest.

But the generational connection isn’t limited to the Alcalá surname. Many of the players on this year’s UPSL side are the sons of players who played for the club in the 90’s. The little bubble that rose from Mexico and settled in Ft. Worth continues to provide a place for talent to germinate, eventually filling the roster of their local club. That talent was the reason Alcalá decided the club should head to greater competition. According to Mario, “the initial idea was to try and add the team into the NPSL,” but after an ex player recommended the UPSL they “looked into the league, spoke to Matt Khala (central conference commissioner), and we were sold on the league.” Inocentes made the leap from playing the local clubs to the UPSL.

UPSL

Often thought of as football country, Texas has a strong soccer culture that begins in the countless youth leagues that fill the fields on the weekends. The same talent pool that produced players like Clint Dempsey, Reggie Cannon, Brek Shea, and Lee Nguyen, has encouraged the growth of countless youth programs developing the stars of tomorrow. The depth of talent, the level of coaching, the years of team play all combine in the state, making it the perfect spot for lower tier leagues to set up shop. Amatuer teams began popping up across the state, filling the conferences of the ever-expanding UPSL. This expansion is ongoing as the Central Conference has divided itself again, from North and South, to now include a Heart Division. Three divisions, 23 clubs (and counting), it is clear that Texas soccer is on the rise.

And that rise caught Inocentes and carried them into the UPSL. Standing out from a crowded Texas market could be a challenge for a new club, but to Alcalá, there’s a difference between Inocentes and other clubs. “When you have a group of people who are motivated by something other than money, it allows you to make decisions based on what is best for the team and not the bottom line. This philosophy allows us to create a culture that everyone wants to be a part of and I think that is what separates us from other teams in our state.” The 2018 Spring Season was the first year for the club to play in the league, but they played like it was their tenth. While some expansion clubs struggle to find chemistry and get wins, the Ft. Worth team played with confidence and skill. They dominated their division, finishing the regular season without a loss. Led by Captain Jorge Rodriguez and top scorer Anthony Powell were dominate in the UPSL Central - North. With regular season perfection locked up, Inocentes continued their run in the playoff, winning two more matches and booking a trip to the UPSL 2018 Spring National Playoffs in Colorado.

It doesn’t require a map to know that transporting a team from East Texas to Colorado is no small matter. So a club with roots in the community spanning back across generations did what it had done since it formed; it asked the families to provide a way for the team to get to the playoffs. And the community, full of transplanted families, many of which had sons and cousins and nephews on the club, came together at a team fundraiser to raise money for the trip. The outpouring support allowed the club to rent a bus and drive to Colorado.

The playoffs were not as easy as the regular season had been for Inocentes. Their opening National playoff match was against Florida Soccer Soldiers, who had won the Southwest Conference. The playoff match ended 2-0 and, as quickly as it began, the playoff run was over. After the match, Mario was asked about the result. “It hurts even more because I thought we deserved a better result, but unfortunately this game isn’t about deserving.” The next day, Inocentes won their consolation match against Boise Cutthroats on PKs. Inocentes finished their inaugural UPSL season 7-4-1.

The Timeline Keeps Stretching

Maybe the game isn’t about deserving, but it’s definitely about heart and passion. And Inocentes FC has that in spades, from generations of immigrant soccer players. Without a pause, Mario and Inocentes began plans to prepare for the next season. New blood is the first step. “We are bringing in new players to solidify the existing team and create even more depth. We are also fielding a U-20 team that will compete in a local amateur league to allow us to find and develop local talent in the Fort Worth area.” That drive to bring new faces into team colors will pay dividends as the team continues to grow. More fans, more interest, and more winning. The long term goal? “Long term, we want to build the team within the community like Chattanooga FC and Detroit City FC have done in their respective cities. We believe you do that by listening to the community and creating a product that everyone can be a part of regardless of their culture, economic situation, or otherwise.” A soccer club so influenced by their past, opening doors to those different from themselves. From the humble beginnings in San Jerónimo, Inocentes has traveled through the miles, years and generations to embody what many call the American Dream.

- Dan Vaughn

Spotlight: FC Grande

This article originally ran on December 17, 2018. Dan Vaughn introduces it.

Beginning this week with a Spotlight on FC Grande just makes sense. Before coming to the lower leagues, I was a regular soccer fan. Watched mostly Euro leagues and an occasional MLS match, but didn’t know much about anything below MLS. The first step to this point began when a friend messaged me about a new club forming in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Without context or understanding, I hit up the owner of the club to appear on my podcast (Bury My Heart, USA). He did and I was blown away by this young guy who loved soccer enough to invest his time, energy, and money into an amateur side in his hometown. Alexis Ruiz shattered my understanding of what a club owner looked like. Not only he was he young, he played on the team! I decided then and there that I would support FC Grande from day one. Since then clubs have popped up all around where I live in El Paso, but I have remained true to FCG.

I helped create a supporters group, Notorious FCG, which really struggles to hold on to members (usually it’s three or four), but we do all we can to give a homefield advantage to FC Grande. I am the loudest of our bunch, but it’s all in good fun. Not every opposing player agrees, but I love the side eyes I earn, even more so the comments.

So this Spotlight was a work of love. It was me telling people where I came from, how I fell in love with the grassroots game, where I go on Saturdays, and which side will always have my heart. FC Grande is the epitome of lower league soccer - a passionate owner, a club full of talented young men, and a fan base that wants to see them succeed. I’ll always be there on Saturday.

Before I get to the article, I want to touch on Spotlight column in general. Joshua came up with the idea and it’s fucking brilliant. Because the American grassroots game is so big, it’s easy to miss clubs if you don’t live in their area. The Spotlight column allows clubs to talk about who they are and what they do. It gives fan a connection to a club they would never have heard of without the column. It’s important. Josh nailed this one.

- Dan

Ok, let’s look back on FC Grande’s Spotlight piece, constructed by me and Alexis Ruiz, owner of FC Grande.

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One of the most exciting clubs in the Southwest is second year club, FC Grande. Based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the club was set up by an owner who can only recently buy beer! The young and driven owner, Alexis Ruiz, sat down with Protagonist to answer some questions about FC Grande.

So tell us about your club.

FC Grande is a club based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. We play in the Southwest Conference of the United Premier Soccer League.

What gave you the idea to start a club?

I had always believed Las Cruces had the potential to have a solid professional team so I came up with the idea of joining the UPSL to give my friends and I a shot to play soccer at the next level. I had went from business to business asking for sponsorship to help fund this idea of mine. I went to many locations around Las Cruces and got told “no” most of the time. Luckily, a few businesses reached out after a few months that’s when it all began.

Las Cruces, NM is relatively isolated compared to other UPSL cities. What kind of soccer talent is there and what has your club done to attract it?

I would say there are a lot of technical players out here. We’ve always had small teams come out of Las Cruces, so we were always taught to keep the ball on the ground. Its something we focus on at FC Grande. Possession is ideal.

FC Grande got a lot of recognition for our run last season. We made the conference final but fell short to a solid Sporting AZ FC squad. I would say most of the soccer community knows who our club is. We have the most competitive team in town, as far as the next level, that is. We recently started an academy! We currently have three teams and are looking to add more this spring.

Why do you think your club was so successful season 1? What would you advise other clubs to do to replicate that sort of start?

The work ethic of these men and the support of our fans. These two things were crucial to our first season. The men spend countless hours on the pitch, in the gym, and on the tracks. We all pushed one another and never gave up. We would wake up as early as 4:00AM to go on team runs and hit the gym right after that. We worked, worked, and worked.

We had many locals come out and support our games. Many soccer fans and many who weren’t soccer fans. We always got great feedback from them! There really isn’t anything like a Saturday night at High Noon Soccer Stadium. We couldn’t have done it without our great supporter group, Notorious FCG. Those guys really know how to hype up a crowd!! They bring a certain energy you really can’t get anywhere else and that’s facts.

The UPSL Southwest has added several clubs this offseason, how do you feel FC Grande will stack up against the new clubs?

I think we will give all these clubs good competition! We are looking to add more players this spring season. We have a lot of older players who are interested in putting the boots back on for this next spring season. Many of them played academy or college ball. That experience could really help out a lot of the younger guys. I’m confident that we will have a more talented squad this upcoming season. We are currently working to build the best roster possible.

You’re young. Really young to be running a club. What has been your biggest challenge?

I get that very often. The biggest challenge for me is transitioning from player to manager. At times, I have to take management roles while I’m playing. It’s kind of weird but I’ve made it work. Sometimes it becomes vert difficult though. These past few weeks I’ve been having to run training sessions because we are without a coach. I would much rather be a part of the sessions, rather than ran them, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to when you’re chasing a dream.

Your logo is slick. One of our favorites. Three questions: Who designed it? What input did you have? How important do you think a crest is?

Thank you! We appreciate that. We get a lot of compliments on our crest. It’s a beauty! Custom FC had designed it. A gentleman by the name of Robert Boyd designed the FC grande crest.

I had sent Robert some photos and samples of things that would look good on a badge and he basically took it from there. It took about a month to finish the crest but it was well worth it. The crest came out super nice. Robert is a very creative designer. Highly recommend him to any club looking to design or redesign their crest.

I believe the crest is crucial to a club’s success. The crest is the very heart and soul of a club. It’s the first thing anyone sees. First impressions are a real thing!

During this offseason, USL set up shop in El Paso (45 minutes East of Las Cruces). What sort of relationship do you hope to develop between the UPSL sides (Southwest FC and FC Grande) and Locomotive FC?

We’re hoping that they give a shot to some of the men on our squad. We’ve got about five to six players who should be pro, including me haha, well at least I think so. Some of the men have the resume and experience for sure. Even the upcoming players putting their boots back on. If we had the best players in Las Cruces on FC Grande, we would give Locomotive FC a run for their money. I’m confident we will see them in the U.S. Open Cup one day.

What else should we know about FC Grande?

Come out and support FC Grande! This club has so much potential and will continue to grow. We will be hosting friendlies these next few months so keep an eye out for that! We are beginning pre-season now and will continue to work hard to put Las Cruces on the map. We are here to stay!

An Introduction and A Thank You

I can’t believe it’s been a year.

Seriously, it’s shocking to me as I look back. When we began this thing it was just an idea that was being tossed around in a group chat. Ryan Stallings, who many know as one of the leaders of the Red Watch, and Spencer Baugh, a friend who sort of dropped of the map, and I were complaining about the lack of coverage of lower league soccer. To be honest, we're notorious about coming up with ideas and not following through with them, so much so that the name of our group chat is “We’re better at ideas than getting them done.” So maybe Protagonist would have ended up in the pile along with our plan to build a museum for Fall River Marksmen and so many others (someone should build that museum, by the way). Instead, it turned into this.

Ryan and Spencer both exited in the first month we went live, a year ago this week. Ryan decided that other priorities in his life needed his attention and so he exited, though he and I text and DM multiple times a week - he’s a good man with a lot of great ideas about soccer. Spencer ghosted me and has yet to respond to any messages, but his social media is active and I wish him well. He’s a great guy with a beautiful family and a ton of talent. If he ever hit me up and wanted to saddle back up, he’d have a place at the table. And so that left me as the only founder.

And now a year later, I look back at all this and shake my head. Insane. It’s been wild.

So before I get into this week, I’d like to thank so many of you that have made this site what it is.

The Writers

Dominic Bisogno was one of the first writers we brought in, though we were cautioned by a club that he was biased towards his home club. He turned out to be one best writers we had join us - an absolute gem. He generated work on a weekly basis that surpassed all of our expectations. His laser focus on the sport was unmatched on our staff. He’s going places.

Steven Ramirez, who just recently pulled the plug - that one stung. I’ll never forget how much Steven pushed to record a podcast, though he had no experience. He did, The Pitch Perspective, and it was great. So full of content and Steven’s passion. Steven was a grinder, if you needed an article, he was there. He will be dearly missed.

Brian Burden was our most “professional” of the bunch, our only published author, the long-form producer. When we needed an article that required research or a professional approach, Brian was our guy. He’s also the one author who wrote an article so good we handed it off to another publication. His life got too busy and he had to exit. He’s always welcome back.

Jason Weintraub, dude was and is a rock star. He’s a world-travelling DJ, a USL expert, but,most importantly, he’s a fantastic guy. I loved what Jason brought to the team, his approach was so full of fun and passion, he infected everyone around him. He outgrew our site, but the gap he left is still felt.

Andy Rittenhouse never got his legs under him, honestly. He put out several great articles and I was extremely excited to see what he would bring to the table over time. Life got too busy and PS didn’t make the cut. I hope he comes back because the world needs to hear his voice.

Phil Baki was in that first group of writers. I had known him from his online gif-fests and his over-the-top love of Liverpool. When he hopped on the team, it was a running joke about when Protagonist’s twitter account would pass him in followers. We did about 5 months in. Phil has become less involved with the site as he has become a key figure in 8th Notch and the general buzz around El Paso Locomotive. He’s still there and when he has the time to produce work, it is stellar.

Aarik Long was an early one as well, though consumed by his job and studies, he still put out work that shone. I will never forget early on shooting down an article he had worked hours on. I was afraid I had lost him, but he bounced back. Now he’s a solid writer for our team, produced the Destination Soccer: Chattanooga articles, but he is also the driving force behind the Grassroots Soccer Media Union, which I firmly believe is vital to the future of lower league soccer journalism.

Shawn Laird, our fiery writer from Florida, blows up our Slack with hot takes for days. He’s always passionate about Florida soccer but that passion infects everything he says and does. Shawn never holds back, even if the more tender of our group cringe, and we love him for it.

Hector Monterroso first came to us as a club manager with Fortitude. Then his club suffered the same fate that so many lower league clubs meet. Rather than becoming jaded or angry, Hector joined our staff and gives some of the finest coverage Maryland Majors has ever received. He’s a new, but vital part of our coverage of regional soccer.

Dan Creel, our historian. Dan came out of nowhere (as far as I knew), but early on expressed his love of soccer and his desire to contribute, especially in soccer history. His work has driven the Kicking Back series and his focus on the lessons of the past has made our site richer and more interesting.

Stephen Packer, Paul Kowalczyk, and Nichole Singleton are all new members of our staff, finding their feet and generating amazing content when they can find the time. I’m so excited about what they will bring to the table as they grow into their roles.

There are so many other writers who came and went who were so important to us this first year. I apologize if their names don’t come to mind instantly, their work was no less vital to our success. I thank you so much for your volunteerism and desire to make this site a functioning thing. You did it and we couldn’t have done it without you.

Finally, I’d like to thank Joshua Duder. When the site began, he was referred to us by Ryan - “he’s a good guy, we need to get him.” Ryan was right. Duder has become my best friend, though we’ve never met in person. He’s a fantastic writer, a passable graphic artist, a great podcasting sidekick, and he’s my right hand on this site. I can’t tell you how much we text each other, it’s ridiculous. Honestly, I would have given up if it wasn’t for him. Thank you, Josh. I hope you stick around for another year of this roller coaster. But even if you don’t, you’ll always be my friend.

The Advertisers

We aren’t really a money-making entity and most of the expenses fall onto Josh and I. But we’ve been lucky enough to have a couple of sponsors step up because they believed in our site.

I’d be remiss to not mention Away Days who were a sponsor on our site for a month. Sadly it was only a month, but I cannot force people to click a link. I do, however, know multiple people who have ordered from Away Days since we pushed them on the site, so you’re welcome! In all honesty, though, Away Days took a chance on us and it didn’t work out. That’s all we could ask and we thank them and still encourage everyone to order a mystery kit box. It’s $25, people. That’s a ridiculous deal.

Douglas Heizer and Boca Raton FC came on about 6 months ago. When I forgot to bill Doug, he complained because he believed in what we do. That meant the world to me. I really love his vision, his passion, and desire to see the game grow. His commitment to lower league soccer and wanting to help all boats rise inspires me to do the same.

Icarus FC was the first advertiser we had on the site. Robbie hit us up and wanted to be involved early on. Now, a year later, he’s only the biggest name in specialized kits in the lower leagues. He’s a genius in design and works his ass off to keep prices down. He’s been nothing but the absolute best. I often say that the best part of my job is meeting people in the lower league game - Robbie is a real one. I don’t understand why clubs use anyone else for their kits.

The Patreon Crew

First of all, we know we’re behind on the rewards, we’re sorry, but we’ll get it done, PROMISE.

Thank each and every one of you. You give our writers money because you value what they do. It’s not a lot, yet, but it means so much to our staff that there are readers out there who respect our work enough to pay us for it. You don’t have to, but you do. Thank you.

The Readers

Finally, to all of you, I can’t express how blessed I am to do this thing. I’ve been a part of so many sites, blogs, zines, etc. They all died because no one cared. To see what this site has become, thousands of visitors every month, a social media following nearing 3,000, it’s overwhelming. As I type this, there are tears in my eyes because you made this possible. Every one of you clicks our links, visits our sites, shares our posts, this project is user focused because you are the most important part of this.

Fellow Journalists

I would be remiss to not mention the other guys grinding out there, for little or no pay. Some of the names you know, some you don’t, but volunteer work is a thankless job in a sport so full of passion. Fans kill you if they disagree, even if you stayed up late on an article or had to write during a lunch break. That’s ok, it’s part of what we do, but as a peer, let me say thank you.

And a special word to Steve Bailey of Non-League America, the lower league soccer world needs you. You’re an important voice, so speak. So many are listening.

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Even as I look over this, I can think of clubs and owners and players and league officials and fans, all of you have been so important to me over the last year. Just because I didn’t mention you doesn’t mean I didn’t think of you. Thanks for everything.

So to that introduction I promised. All this week, we’ll be putting out our favorite articles of the last year, with an intro to freshen the content. Each of us will talk about why we love the piece and what about it stands out. We hope you enjoy this work, this site, our passion. Thank you.

- Dan