This year, the Richmond Kickers are celebrating their 30th season and we thought it would be fantastic to learn more about the legendary club from Virginia’s capital. We reached out, as we do, and Chairman Rob Ukrop was generous enough to give our questions some answers…

When was Richmond Kickers founded, by whom, and what was the original mission of the organization?The club was founded in 1993 by Bobby Lennon and Cookie Ketcham in the early version of USL called the USISL. The mission was to bring professional soccer to a Richmond community that was a hotbed for the youth game.

Over time, the league you play in has changed, has the intent or mission of the club changed? Has your fanbase changed with you?
We are still serving our community, our mission has evolved "to strengthen community connections by curating a joyful, authentic soccer experience in Richmond VA.” Our fanbase has grown and many of our originals are still cheering us on, but we have done a nice job of bringing new families, millennials, and community partners to the game.

You have great supporters, some clubs set aside specific spaces in their stadiums for supporters’ groups, do you? In what other ways might you partner with your supporters?
We have Section O set up in the stadium for our Red Army. Our leadership team sat down before the holidays to chat and get thoughts on the 2021 season and how we can improve the experience for our supporters!

Running a soccer team at any level is a lot of work, how many people do Kickers employ either full time or even seasonally? How many players come in and out each year and who's in charge of making it all tick?
Darren has done a nice job of creating a team first culture with players who will be active in our RVA community (when Covid protocols permit). Our COO, Camp Peery, leads the business side for us and continues to build a high-performing team. Our player’s roster is usually around 25 players, and our front office fluctuates between 15- 25 depending on our interns.

Creating new merch each year to help fund the club, as well as to keep fans engaged, can be super fun. How often does the club introduce new kits, scarfs, and other items? What's the process for thinking up new swag?
We have a talented internal team that creates our designs. Alyn Carr and Talle Parrish are our leaders in our merchandise designs and sales, while the uniforms take on a larger group of stakeholders in our club. We are super excited about the first two kits for 2022.

Most clubs have a rival, over the years surely Kickers have developed a rivalry or two - who are your rivals, both currently and traditionally and who do you most look forward to playing in 2022?
Charleston was always our biggest rival; they are the second longest running professional soccer franchise in the country-we are one day older since our first game in 1993 was on the Friday before their Saturday debut in May of 1993. While our fans miss those matchups we had in the past, in our current setup in USL League One, Greenville and Forward Madison are the two rivals that get our fans most riled up! Our matchups with Greenville have been hotly contested as we have competed for the east three year to win the Bon Secours Cup (a Cup presented by the Healthcare provider for both clubs to the season winner of the aggregated matches). Our matches with Forward Madison have been great, we have the Henny Derby to settle between our respective supporters clubs, Elliot and Kyle have done a fantastic job stirring this rivalry up over the last 3 years!

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