Under the Lights: AFC Columbia
So who are YOU and what's your position with AFC Columbia?
I’m Anthony Kristensen, and I am the Director of Communications for AFC Columbia.
A lot of people trumpet the St. Louis soccer scene, but what's the culture in the rest of the state?
I think that Missouri is a great state for soccer. Growing up and playing here my whole life, I’ve played against kids from all over the state and I can confidently say that the talent and the culture is there in every corner of the state. I think that one big issue in Missouri is that there’s a lack of access to high-level soccer outside the St. Louis and Kansas City areas, which is part of the reason I’m so excited to be part of this project.
Your badge is solid, with a lot of representation in it, who designed it and how did you choose the elements?
Our club president actually designed the badge. I think that a lot of the elements in our badge go into the city of Columbia and the surrounding areas. We want this to be a club that the people here can really get behind and rally around, so when choosing the elements of our badge, I think that just making it very close-to-home was something that we definitely did a good job of. On top of that, Icarus also helped vectorize the badge as well.
So in the context of your club, what is does semi-pro mean versus pro or amateur?
I’d say that semi-pro represents an opportunity that doesn’t come with being pro or amateur. When I think of semi-pro, I think of teams that get into the US Open Cup and cause a couple of upsets, and we certainly hope to be at that point at some point in the future. I think that semi-pro really represents a good opportunity for players in and around Columbia to really get a chance to play on a bigger stage and maybe make that step into the pro game at some point.
One of your first big announcements was the agreement with Icarus FC, can you talk about that relationship?
Icarus has been fantastic to us ever since we first made contact with them. For me personally, the choice to go with Icarus as a kit provider was one of the easier decisions we’ve had to make, though we did have a couple of other great people reach out. I think that our partnership with Icarus is one that’s going to be very mutually beneficial, and I’ve really enjoyed working with the people at Icarus up to this point.
Has the club made a decision on what league you plan on playing in? What goes into that decision?
We haven’t decided which league we’re going to play in quite yet. There’s a few different factors that have to go into making that decision, like stability and level of play just to give a couple of examples. We’ve got a couple of options that we really like, but at the moment, we haven’t made a final decision on that front.
Where is the club in the development phase? Any on field yet? Or just strategic partners, planning, etc?Right now, I’d say that our main focus is building a strong board and staff to make sure that we’re in a stable spot before we take the field. That, along with finding partnerships and beginning to look at sponsors and planning for the future, is where we are with the project at the moment, and I think that we’re in a really good spot. Another area that we’re putting a lot of effort into is community outreach and building a solid fan base. We obviously want to build this up with a big focus on the local community, and I think that we are developing some good plans in that regard. And whenever you have a strong connection to the community, the fans will come, and that strong connection with the community is a big target of ours.
What else should people know about your club?
I think that overall, we want to be well-versed in the community. Aside from the University of Missouri athletics programs, the people in Columbia have to make the two-hour trip east or west to St. Louis or Kansas City to see high-level sports. We really want to give the city a local team that they can get behind. We’re looking at the ways other clubs at our level have been successful, and I think that we’ve got a really good basis of what we want to do and who we want to be.
When should we see AFC Columbia on the field?
I hesitate to give a straight answer on this, given the ever changing landscape of the world right now. I’d say that a good tentative goal would be for us to field a team this coming summer, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens on that front.
Thank you for the opportunity to talk about the club!