With last week’s news that the Oakland Roots were anticipated to be exiting NISA for a spot in the USL Championship division in 2021, some twitter respondees floated additional rumored news that Little Rock Rangers SC, of the NPSL, would also be making a move to the USL to compete in the League 2 division. The news was confirmed today with the official announcement from both the United Soccer League and Little Rock of the Rangers’ acceptance into League 2 as an expansion side for the 2021 season.

Founded in 2016, the Rangers have long been considered lower league social media circles to be one of the more stable second group of sides in the NPSL that sit just behind the flagship clubs in Detroit and Chattanooga, but right alongside programs like those in Ann Arbor, Asheville, Grand Rapids, and Kingston, among others. With CFC and DCFC (NISA) and AFC Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids FC, and Asheville City (USLL2) all departing the league at the close of 2019, the Rangers were the last club in the league remaining of the NPSL’s top six programs in average home match attendance the previous three years running, and were expected to step forward as one of the league’s premier programs in 2020.

Instead, Covid-19 quickly put an end to any expectation of a 2020 regular season for the NPSL. While most club members shuttered for the year in hopes of returning for 2021, Little Rock remained one of a handful of clubs making an effort to find a way to play on in some manner. Early on, there was an attempt to organize a regional campaign with their NPSL Heartland Conference mates for the fall. Then, NISA announced the launch of the inaugural Independent Cup, listing the Rangers alongside clubs like Bugeaters FC and Soda City FC as amateur sides expected to participate. Little Rock was also the initial choice to host a regional, at the least, of the cup. This contributed to speculation that the club in the Natural State’s capital might be preparing to use this tournament as a means to announce a transition from the amateur ranks to join NISA as a professional side.

Little Rock Rangers had created the kind of environment few could match in the NPSL. (image courtesy of LRR)

However, NISA clubs expected to play in Little Rock opted to host, or join play, in other regions rather than travel to Arkansas. Then, the NPSL front office, likely concerned about a NISA move from the Rangers, reportedly directed the Little Rock club to neither host, or take part in, the Independent Cup in any capacity. While the Rangers were now out of competing with other independent amateur and professional sides in the cup, it remained seemingly obvious to all paying attention that Little Rock was seeking a path forward to becoming a professional side. So, to say the announcement of Little Rock Rangers SC to USL League 2, considered by many to be a lateral move between amateur leagues from the NPSL, is a surprise is a bit of an understatement. I spoke with Jonathan Wardlaw, President and General Manager of the club, to look back at the Rangers’ time in the NPSL, gain perspective on the club’s decision to switch leagues, and learn a bit more on what Little Rock’s goals are for the organization going forward.

RS: When founding the club in 2016, the only real known options for competition outside of local Sunday league here in Little Rock was the then-PDL (USLL2) and the NPSL. What convinced you to join the NPSL at that time?

JW: Most clubs in the amateur national league levels tend to have started from existing youth organizations or local men’s sides. With the Rangers, we were founding a club completely from scratch. We didn’t yet know if the program would find a home in the community, or if we would attract a fanbase in any numbers that would aid in making the club a sustainable fixture. While we looked at, and spoke with, both the PDL and the NPSL in 2015, the NPSL offered the best path for us to create a club at the amateur/semi-pro level that provided both a national footprint and a quality product in terms of expectations and standards for its members. Standards like knowing your host opponent on away days would provide for your team meals, and hotel stays when necessary, that some of the other national leagues cropping up now don’t have.

RS: Looking back at the past five years, what are some of the benefits of Little Rock having been a part of the NPSL?

JW: For the club, it's been beneficial in that it provided us a means of growing in a league environment that had standards of professionalism and expectation without being cost prohibitive. For myself, it’s absolutely been the relationships, connections and friendships I’ve made within the league.

RS: For both local supporters and social media followers of the club, the move to USL League 2 is surprising. Why the move, and why now?

JW: Our focus and goal in founding Rangers was always to develop a sustainable, grassroots, youth program that would provide a pathway for youth players in Arkansas to receive the highest level of training and experience possible that we didn’t have here with only recreational and classic/travel clubs. With Ante Jazic now serving as the Rangers Academy’s Technical Director, and a growing, quality coaching staff throughout our academy, we’ve continued to grow, both in terms of youth numbers and in training capability. The USL Academy system that the league has piloted and formalized offers our academy what we believe is the best path in continuing to grow our academy here. The level of competition offered through training with and playing against other youth academies associated with clubs at all levels of the USL focuses and furthers the pathway we can provide to the youth here in Arkansas, both in our own academy and in other youth organizations, to further their experience and abilities. That’s the driving reason for our move now.

RS: What are the expectations for the mens side in joining USL League 2?

JW: It largely feels like starting over. If you watch and observe the Open Cup, the results in matches between the NPSL and USL League 2 are typically evenly split between the leagues each year, so the change may not be too large as far as talent level. The players coming through division one programs near us seem to have a preference for USLL2, so we hope to retain many of the local players at local programs that we haven’t been able to in past seasons. More than likely, it will take us a couple seasons, similar to our time in NPSL, to begin making a name for ourselves in the league, particularly against the strong clubs in our region. But I do think that with the strong support from our fanbase and The Red Watch (supporters group), and continued large home crowds, we’ll become an attractive club for players to want to play for and represent.

RS: Any future plans for the Stags to field a professional side you can share?

JW: We aren’t there yet in any way when it comes to meeting professional league standards. We’ll keep working on developing to meet those standards in terms of investment and growth of the club, but we’re focused on the opportunity growth for youth and in fielding competitive first team sides in USL league 2 for the foreseeable future.Should we add investment and find ourselves in a place to sustainably make the jump to a professional division, our goal is to continue to field a team in USL League 2 in order to continue to provide that consistent opportunity link through the academy, and onto League 2 play, for youth in the Natural State.

- Ryan Stallings