So who are you and what's your position with the club?

My name is Nick Platt, I’m the President/Co-founder of New York International FC, but also team captain and Centre Forward. I was born and raised in Colchester, England and moved to New York three years ago. I’m a lifelong West Ham fan and have been passionate about football since a kid. I’ve played to a decent level back in England and have help run some of my local teams with friends, but to be President and Founder of a brand new club in New York City has taken my passion for football to the next level. We have great vision for this club and are really excited about what the future holds.

What's the history of New York International?

This is our first season as a club! We founded the team in the summer of 2019 with a group of 7 players, who would form the first club board (Gary Philpott, Simon Czaplinski, Corentin Claisse, Sam Gozlan, Teddy Mabiala, Varun Rangaraj, and Myself). All 7 of the board members played and were heavily involved in the running of ‘Beyond FC’ (Div. 2 CSL) and ‘New Amsterdam United FC’ before it (New Amsterdam evolved into Beyond FC).Last season, we were operating under the Beyond FC banner in the Metro division but decided that this year we wanted to step out and form our own club.This allowed us to become a first team in our own right and create the foundations within a shared ethos. The vision was to create a club embedded in our diverse routes, as we have 19 different nationalities represented in our squad and celebrate that within our club culture and mentality.

Why the name?

We wanted a name that had a classic feel and told our story. We settled on ‘New York International FC’ after a board vote on all potential options, and this was the clear and resounding winner.

As we have such a diverse squad we felt this name was fitting, highlighting the welcoming, international community we are trying to create. Our team motto ‘Together as One’ encapsulates this mentality that is free of barriers to bring together people from different walks of life.

Great kit, by the way, can you tell us about the design?

We love it! It was a collaborative effort between Icarus (the manufacturer) and our own design team (Simon Czaplinski and Gary Philpott). We were very meticulous in the design phase, really taking time with branding to decide on our club color pallet, badge design, and the final kit design, whilst adding elements into the design to pay homage to our history. In particular, we added Lions, thus birthing our nickname, ‘The Lions’. The kit design drew inspiration from teams that had a clean, classic feel in a more sleek, modern package. Robert, from Icarus, was an amazing help, giving us freedom to develop our ideas and his insight to execute.We couldn’t be happier with how the end product came out! Thanks, Icarus!

Your club plays in the Cosmo League, what division are you in and how was your fall campaign?

We are in the South Conference of the Metro League. We are currently top of the league by two points with a game in hand (9 Games played, 8 Wins, 1 Loss). Manager, Gary Philpott, did an amazing job quickly gelling a lot of new players into a team. We have an amazing group of players and have exceeded my expectations so far! The goal is to carry this form through to spring and finish champions, and then on to D3 for the 2020/21 season! We have already started our spring preseason in the beginning of January, 10 weeks before our first spring game which is the first round of the league cup on March 8th. We are leaving no stone unturned and preparing correctly to help set us up for success.

What's the level of play like in the Cosmo?

The league has some amazing teams and brilliant players. Some of the level of play in Division 1 and 2, in particular, is very high and pretty much at a semi pro level. The lower divisions are highly competitive also. You have a lot of newly created teams who start out in the lower divisions, just like ourselves, who are definitely at a D3 or D2 level. New York is home to some fantastic amateur football!

With so many clubs in the League, how do you stand out?

I’m incredibly proud of the infrastructure we have put in place in such a short space of time. We have obtained some amazing sponsors that have allowed us to quickly become a well-run club.This allows our manager, Gary, to ensure the team can play and train to bring in the points.

If I had to praise a particular aspect for helping us stand out, it is our branding and social presence! We are very active on social media and really aim to stand out and attract talent with our efforts here.

We have invested heavily in technology for recording games and training sessions. We post a lot of our game highlights and clips on social media, as well as study footage and share clips with our players to help them develop their individual games. I feel this definitely separates us and takes us to the next level.

We have also launched our very own online club store where we sell really creative and quality official club branded gear. Not a lot of teams do this in amateur football and it certainly helps us attract some top talent.

Since the launch of our social platforms, online store, and the great content we pump out, we have had some of the other teams in the leagues reach out to us, and we’ve been more than happy to share our process with them to help them grow their presence also. We’re about supporting the non league community as a whole, and helping transcend amateur football

You can check out our content on Twitter and Instagram @NYIntfc and our club store nyintfc.shop to see some of the great work our design and social team has created

Can you highlight one or two players people should know about?

Abdel Idrissou. 21. Togo. Winger.

Abdel joined us this season and has made the wing his own. He Has bags of pace and a vicious shot. Abdel grew up in Gakpodium, Togo, and moved to the Bronx when he was 14. Abel has an outstanding attitude, always willing to learn and improve. You’ll always seem him with a massive smile on his face. Abdel goes to York college and plays for his college team, while also working at night. Football is Abdels entire world, and is more than just a game to him. It’s what brings him together with friends and family and to him is like therapy and a source of happiness. His dream is to make it as a pro one day, but if that doesn’t come true he seems himself working in soccer as a coach or some other aspect of the game.

Rob Hourihane. 33. Irish. Defender

Big Rob is our tough-tackling, all-action center-back. Rob grew up in Cork, Ireland and played for League of Ireland side Cobh Ramblers. Another great friendly personality in the team. He puts his body on the line every week and can play ball too. Rob moved to New York a number of years ago also, and outside of football runs his own business and is a part owner is a trendy NYC wine bar Stella and Fly, who are actually one of our sponsors. Despite his shy and humble demeanor he can be a bit fancy when he wants.

What is the matchday experience like in your division?

The matchday experience is very grassroots in our division, but some teams do have a following which gives a great feel and atmosphere to the games! We are actively trying to grow our matchday following and are looking to hold our first ‘friends and family’ day later in the season to really build this momentum.

As for the football side of things we treat matchday like a proper top level side would. We show up an hour before every game and prepare correctly to get in the right frame of mind for the game. We take a serious warm up and then walk through the specific game plan and strategy for the task at hand. This certainly has played a pivotal part in our success this season.

Simon Czaplinski, who leads the creative team, is there an hour before the game setting up cameras at several vantage points, getting great footage of the game, and fun shots of the warm up and pre game interactions between the players. There’s a great vibe in the group.

Anything else we should know about the club?

Absolutely, as we are growing and looking to progress we are open to any players who wish to come and train with the team. Not just on the football side, we’re also open to people who are passionate about non league football and want to be and help out with the club in any way shape or form.

Massive thanks to Protagonist Soccer for the opportunity to chat.

COME ON YOU LIONS!