It’s been a whirlwind for the last 48 hours.

After the announcement from NISA that 10 clubs would be playing the USOC on January 25th, the New Amsterdam Twitter account (the club-run one) fired off a tweet. “We are still strongly considering playing in @NISALeague and in the Open Cup. The major reason we have not made a final decision is that the league has failed to provide us with financial statements. We cannot commit to play in a league that we do not know the financial status of [.]” From there it’s been a flood of posts from the club, which had only posted once since the New Year. The posts have ranged from claiming the team will indeed be playing in NISA in 2022 to saying that NISA Commissioner Prutch has a “personal vendetta with 1 person.”

That one person, of course, is New Amsterdam owner Laurence Girard. Girard is well-known among NISA fans for his continued playing time in goal for his club. Girard is also the husband of Chicago House AC owner, Lindsey Sacks. While the club Twitter account does not actually claim to be controlled by Girard, Protagonist Soccer confirmed via DM that the team owner is indeed using the account personally.

Wednesday evening, as accusations and claims about league finances were being made on twitter, we contacted Girard about appearing on the Knights Who Say NISA podcast to discuss his grievances with NISA. He was amenable and appeared on the show, offering his perspective in a 24 minute interview. Girard made some very specific claims in the podcast.

“The commissioner and the league have not provided New Amsterdam or Chicago House with financial statements of the league, that I’ve been asking for for weeks now.”
“New Amsterdam wants to play this season, in both NISA and in the Open Cup, and I was shocked to see them announce we were not playing in the Open Cup.”
“We were not consulted before that statement was made about the Open Cup.”
“There were discussions between New Amsterdam, Chicago House, and the league about whether or not we were going to play in NISA this season, because we have been considering not playing. But they were fully aware that no final decision had been made.”
“Our intention is to play in NISA, full stop.”
“We [NAFC] have a tentative roster…we are going to have a new coach.”

After the show, however, we received multiple emails and calls from connected persons within NISA. One such source claimed that the Girard had made it clear to the board of governors that both New Amsterdam and Chicago House would not be playing in 2022, unless specific “reasonable demands” were met (an internal email was provided that appears to corroborate this fact). This source went on to allege that the demands were a funding proposal that would grant two loans to Chicago House and New Amsterdam, allowing them to play in 2022. In an email from mid December 2021, an email from Girard appears to state that both clubs “are out for next season.” This certainly would seem to contradict what Girard claimed on our podcast.

According to another NISA club source, New Amsterdam and Chicago House still owe league dues from 2021, which has apparently been used by the league to deem both clubs “members in forfeiture.” In another long internal email sent on Thursday morning, it appears that Girard claims the clubs “never received a notice and if we did then we would have cured the issue within 30 days.” The email states that this move is being made by the Commissioner “to push two teams out that have spent millions developing the league and he is even trying to push the founder of the League Peter Wilt out!” The email continues “How do you think that's going to go over with the public?”

The tone of the emails that have been sent to us indicate a prickly impasse has developed between the NISA front office and the Girard family-owned clubs. According to Girard, he is prepared to play in both NISA and the Open Cup regardless of the financial information being released. Just yesterday, he shared photos on twitter of NAFC’s USOC application and the check that paid for it (one wonders why those photos even existed?). This was paired with a screenshot of an email from “David” with the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup that highlighted that NISA only informed them of 10 teams and that “if New Amsterdam will be participating in NISA this year, please request that NISA inform U.S. Soccer…”

In an internal email to the NISA Board of Governors sent yesterday, it appears that the club owner is still open to NAFC playing, regardless of the original funding demands: “I am willing to have at least New Amsterdam play, but the league needs to immediately drop 1) all fines related to this nonsense 2) give both NAFC and Chicago 30 days to pay league dues 3) Issue a retraction about the open cup stating that NAFC is playing in both the league and open cup.”

From the league front office, we have received zero comment. It would appear that the two parties are playing chicken and NISA seems committed to moving forward without the two clubs. When approached for comment on the podcast, NISA spokesperson Steve Johnson responded that “there was nothing here we can discuss. We don’t discuss financials or club internals. Again we are focused on the 10 clubs that will be participating in the 2022 USOC” and he “couldn’t confirm or deny anything in the interview beyond NAFC is not on the NISA list of clubs participating in the 2022 USOC.”

It will be interesting to see what the next move is, as NISA seems committed to running out the clock, both on the season and the USOC scheduling. Girard is difficult to read, but appears to be focusing on trying to win the public relations battle and potentially oust the commissioner, who he feels targeted NAFC. How this plays out is hard to predict, but both sides seem determined to hold course into rough seas.

- Protagonist Staff