The San Francisco Nighthawks are a founding WPSL team. They have been playing in the WPSL since the inaugural season in 1998. The team is older than all the NWSL teams. The Nighthawks also field premier and first division teams in the Golden Gate Women’s Soccer League and one with US Futsal. Nighthawks play in the WPSL Pac North Conference with another of the inaugural teams, Cal Storm. The conference is one of the larger in the league with 12 teams. It is abundantly clear that Northern California supports women’s soccer and the Nighthawks are certainly deserving.

The Nighthawks were established in 1995 in the heart of the Bay area. There are not a lot of teams who can say they have been in existence for 27 years. To be able to continuously operate a team for nearly 30 years means that they have a steady foundation in soccer and business. Most teams when they fold it’s usually due to insufficient financing unable to pay league dues, travel expenses, kits, etc. that all adds up, for even the short season. This can be attributed to lack of sponsorship or minimal attendance for ticket sales.

Proactively, the Nighthawks have a player first mentality. GM Jill Lounsbury discusses the ways they look to focus on their players. “We took it upon ourselves to no longer charge players to play on the team, (training, league fees, gear) so that we would be available to anyone to play with us regardless of their economic status. If you can play at our level then you can play with us. We never judge players on size (shirt, tall, skinny or large-boned) or age (we currently range from 13-39) and we certainly don’t care about ethnicity or who you choose to love. My hope is to continue to help more by providing meals and gas/toll money to players with help from sponsors and donators.” These are the factors that this generation of players is looking for, to belong on an inclusive team.

The Nighthawks chose to pursue equality and provide the highest opportunity to their players from day one. Their website talks about this as part of their mission, “In this quest we chose to provide equal representation and opportunities for all. Our belief is that every female player, who is qualified to play at this high level, should be afforded the opportunity to play with us regardless of age, physical size, race, preferences, identities, socio-economic background, education or previous club.”

Many teams have an equality statement on their website or talk about it in interviews. In women’s soccer, equity is a hot buzz word. It is built into the values of the club. Many teams talk about equality in the women’s game, but moving from equity talk to equity walk is a strategic move that requires intentionality and action.

Lounsbury shares how it is not just a word to them, but it is embedded into their culture. “As far as our politics We took a knee during the anthem and moments of silence instead of the anthem for the atrocities at our southern border, back before BLM, and we were told we’d be reported and fined for it, and I said I didn’t care: fine me, give me an even bigger platform to speak out about brown children in cages at the border. We then created political uniforms to resist the possibility of censorship by our Leagues.”

During Pride month with so many rainbows being posted on social media there is a team that lives the inclusive culture. It is a place where each player belongs. They “Are more than just the 90 minutes we play on the field.” They see that players need to be recognized as an individual and not just as a lump of a group, avoiding universalism. When the dialogue opens for honest conversation about the individual rights of each person, there is a name and history of experience for that culture that is longing to be validated. People want to be seen for who they are.

The Nighthawks have developed a network of social justice advocates through their 27 years in existence and all the players that have been a part of this movement. They finish playing college soccer and enter the workforce. It is a platform these players now have and use it to vocalize for causes focusing on rights of minoritized peoples: women’s rights, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, children’s rights, and those without a voice in places where decisions are being made.

The Nighthawks are the true embodiment of a community. They reflect the community they are in. They advocate for their community. They kneel for their community. They wear the community on their jerseys.

The Nighthawks say it best, they “use soccer as the canvas and social activism as the multicolored brushstrokes. We are and forever want to be an active member of our local and extended communities… We are stronger together.”

- Danielle Gawronski