February 5th marks the first match in the Southwest Premier League Community Shield between Valley FC Raiders (Gilbert, AZ) and Las Vegas Quicksilvers. This event is a home and away series with proceeds and donations going to local charities chosen by each club’s representatives. The first match will be held on February 5th at Mesquite High School in Gilbert, AZ and also streamed on the Raiders Twitch channel @VFCRaiders. The second leg will be held at Spring Valley High School in Las Vegas Nevada and streamed via Raiders Twitch @VFCRaiders. This event marks the first of its kind in the Southwest Premier League and hopefully inspires more in the future.

The Clubs

Valley FC Raiders look to be the next big club out of Arizona. A new club that launched during the pandemic with visions of the development of sport and community. Based out of Gilbert, AZ, the Raiders right away developed a passionate and experienced staff that went to work on building the foundation of a club with big ambitions for the results both on and off the pitch.

The Raiders have built a roster that is currently playing in the Phoenix Premier League, a local Sunday league, in preparations for SWPL and NISA Nation. This match against the Quicksilvers will be the first test for the Raiders to see how they perform not only with new competition on the field, but also new operational challenges that arise from playing clubs out of state.

“We're working with the Quicksilvers, another club based in the community, very grassroots oriented and about developing local talent. So, I think that already our ideals align with one another. Both are going to promote local and build our local talent, so this was kind of like a no brainer saying, why don't we come together, play, challenge ourselves and really bring out the best in each other.” - Okechukwu Ogba, CEO/ President of Valley FC Raiders.

The Las Vegas Quicksilvers is a special project led by Technical Director Ben Thomas to revive a legendary club that promoted the true essence of soccer in Vegas. One that was based on the game and its relationship to the local community. The original Quicksilvers were created in 1976 and played in the NASL and were most notably known for employing Eusébio, a true legend in the global sport.

Las Vegas Quicksilvers prepare for the match.

The modern day Quicksilvers helped build out the Nevada Premier Region of the SWPL, highlighting multiple clubs from an area that is often neglected on the National level. In its first season the club finished with a record of four wins, four draws and two losses. The Quicksilvers were only shut out during two matches and habitually scored multiple goals a match, averaging 2.6 goals per game.

“From the very beginning we wanted to use [the Quicksilvers] as a vehicle to build and drive change, not just with building a team, but we wanted to build a team that supports a league that supports our values and our mission.” - Ben Thomas, Technical Director of Las Vegas Quicksilvers.

The Shield

“ Well, we really wanted it to be a way to bridge the gap between Regions, at first,” said Ben Thomas, when asked about how the idea for this community shield started, he added “ we wanted a way that we could tie in the league and kind of build that sense of like, you know, rivalry and competition between the two Regions. We were going to set it up like a cup. We started to do some research, and we actually stumbled on the English community shield, which started out as an amateur competition between two teams, for the benefit of charity, and that model kind of fit what we were trying to do and that's kind of what inspired it.”

Charity and grassroots soccer have and will always be closely intertwined, so much so that many grassroot organizations are non-profits or are partnered with non-profit organizations in their respective communities. In more recent years we have seen clubs donate match proceeds and create merchandise for charity. “ We really wanted it to mean something, which is why there's like a charitable component included in this,” said Raiders CEO Okey Ogba. He added “ Lanny [Gholston, COO of Valley FC Raiders] and I both have young kids who are developing, so child initiatives and charities are very important to both of us.” The Raiders are playing on behalf of Child Crisis Arizona who provide services to children, youth and families that focus on creating safe and prosperous environments for kids. (https://childcrisisaz.org/)

“So Child Crisis came across our radar, because we're saying, what organizations are really invested in the lives of kids,” explained Okey, adding that “ we were able to connect with them and learn a little bit more about what they do and the services that they provide. You're talking about stuff, all the way from parental support, to providing emergency shelter for kids, to providing adoption support, so there's just like so much that they do around children and building up healthy families. And once again, we can't really say to ourselves, we're a local club interested in investing in the community and building community roots and ties if we're not working with organizations that are doing the same.”

While this match is for charity and a friendly, it also brings about many new challenges for the players and the organizations. Both clubs are relatively new and have predominantly competed at a local level. Now these clubs are challenged with the complications around traveling, hosting and promoting the event. These new challenges are what become weekly issues when playing in NISA Nation, an ambition that the Raiders have already stated and a reality that the Quicksilvers could see when they earn promotion out of the Southwest Premier League.

Las Vegas Quicksilvers running through drills pregame.

The NISA pyramid is set up for clubs like the Quicksilvers and the Raiders. They can start their organization at a lower level, but as they begin to improve, win and earn promotion the organization is met with operational standards that have to improve to be successful at the next level. When asked about these new challenges for the Quicksilvers, Ben replied “ Well, I think it's really important for us as a club to test ourselves, not only with the local Las Vegas competition, but to branch out and play against other teams, within our league and within our region. The importance for us is on giving our players the most competitive platform that we can get.”

The Tradition

The Southwest Premier League always preaches the benefits of playing at the local level. It’s the league's duty to help clubs prepare themselves for the next step in their journey. As clubs begin to win and grow they’ll get the opportunity to play cross regional rivals in NISA Independent Cup Qualification and Promotion Playoffs. The SWPL Community Shield now gives another competition for clubs to work with getting more exposure in their respective hometown and the Southwest, all while developing relationships with future leaders of the sport in the Southwest Region.

“Any team that wants to be a part of what we're doing and, and wants to compete with us and wants to play against us, whether it's a friendlier competition, like, we'll take it. We'll play anyone, anywhere. As long as we can get, people involved, our players, our teams, you know, we're excited about and open to doing it all,” said Ben of the Quicksilvers, when asked about playing other regional rivals in the future. Ben went on to add that the Raiders are “ a new team, but as far as their organization, they're really well put together and you can tell that everyone in that organization really cares about what they're doing. There's a lot of passion there and I think that contributes to everything else that we're doing right, it makes it really easy to put a cup together when the other team cares just as much as you do. So that was something that really resonated with us.”

For amateur soccer clubs to thrive and be successful, they have to work within the community. A community shield gives clubs an opportunity to do what they do best, play the beautiful game, and raise money and awareness while doing so.

“We don't want to feel so isolated in our own bubble here locally, that we're not recognizing that there's a lot of clubs, who we can learn from, we can grow with and that we can kind of really connect with, especially like in our league. It's about connections, it's about building, It's about growing together.”- Okey Ogba

Every soccer match eleven players are asked to come together to fight towards the common goal of winning. Soccer organizations also need to ask that of their members, because one club or one organization can’t change the fate of Soccer in this country. It takes a community.

- Steven Ramirez