Sean Jones: The Outspoken President

The world of women’s lower league soccer is effectively split four ways: WPSL, UWS, UPSL, and regional leagues. Much like the men’s side, there is almost no coverage of these lower leagues, as they continue to generate great players without a sniff of national media coverage. In an effort to remedy this situation, I sat down with Sean Jones, President of the WPSL, to discuss the WPSL from a variety of viewpoints. Jones was a candid interview, speaking bluntly about every question I threw at him. Typically these types of interviews yield bland answers that have been carefully cleansed of any strong opinion or outspoken takes. Jones definitely didn’t take that approach. Honestly, his approach was absolutely refreshing. I hope you enjoy this interview and Sean Jones’ perspective on the state of lower league WOSO.

Protagonist: You’re going to be a complete unknown for most of our audience, so let’s begin with you, personally. What’s your background and how did you come to the sport of soccer?

SJ: That’s going to be a long story... My mother is German, my father was in the military, so I had a little bit of an introduction to soccer because my mom followed it. Every summer spent in Germany, playing, going back and forth, staying with my grandparents. I fell in love with the sport at an early age. Never really got to play because I grew up in central Ohio. The year we moved to Oklahoma from Ohio was the first year they started soccer in schools. So I started playing. Played a little bit collegiately for a year before playing for a rec league at Oklahoma State. After college I played in the USISL, with the Oklahoma City Warriors, but I made no claim to fame as a player, I was a very average player who just really liked it. Got involved, at an early age coaching, started at 14 or 15, helping out with my coach. By the time I was 16, I was helping run Oklahoma and Texas All Star soccer camps. I spent my summers coaching in soccer camps, all the way through college. Paid my way through college basically paying for it by coaching soccer through the summers. Ended up married with 5 children and they were all involved with soccer. My oldest, my son, coached him quite a ways. I had 4 daughters, that was kind of my involvement in women’s soccer. I just enjoyed coaching women more, I really fell in love with that part of the sport.

Jones, center, is an owner in the league as well. (Image courtesy of the Journal Record)

Jones, center, is an owner in the league as well. (Image courtesy of the Journal Record)

Protagonist: Your 2019 Championship match was less than a month ago. Do you think playing the match in a neutral site offers unique challenges for a league which sometimes struggles to draw crowds in the best of situations? Does a neutral site just magnify that problem?

SJ: There are challenges, but we took this approach - when we took the league over and moved the headquarters to Oklahoma City, for the first several years, we wanted to host it, because we want to make sure it’s a great event, #1. #2, our team [that Jones is involved with], Oklahoma City FC, had made it to three Final Fours. So the first year we made it, we went to Pensacola. They had a home field and there were probably 200 people in the stands, it was not well-supported. This whole argument, “it’s a hometeam, you’re gonna have a crowd.” I think that some teams (Asheville, Tulsa) produce really good crowds during the season and those teams can also draw a good crowd for a championship. There’s others that don’t produce great crowds during the season and I don’t know why a championship would change that.

“Let’s prove the model, that it does benefit the Utah Royals to have a reserve team in a league like this and then maybe we can go and work together to go to the NWSL and see how our leagues can work more closely. That’s something we definitely want to do.”

What we felt was, what if we tried to produce a top-notch event? Where the players are all treated very well, where we do a lunch paid for by the league. We put much more money into making sure it was a great facility, that the livestreaming was good. We wanted all the things around the championship to be done right. When the players arrived, we gave them t shirts, gift baskets, had a luncheon for them. Let’s try that and make it a great event. Then let’s start working on the crowd. Even though we might not have great crowds in the first couple of years, by hosting the championship, over time we can. “If you build it they will come” kind of idea. I'd be willing to bet you a steak dinner we’ll have 1,500 people at next season’s championship.

Protagonist: It seemed like a lot of lower leagues struggled to draw fans to their championships this spring. How much do you worry about fan support and match day atmosphere for a championship match?

SJ: We clearly want it to be better. Like I said before, we first wanted to get it in a great facility, which we did. Second, we wanted to make it an amazing weekend for the players, where we provide everything and they are treated like royalty. Everything was taken care of. So now we have that part hammered out. So the next part is the fans. Let’s give it two years and let’s see if we can drum up interest. Let’s try and get the local community to come out and support it. Let’s see what we can along those lines.

To be honest with you, just because this is our idea doesn’t mean it’s going to work or that it’s right. Let’s give it a couple of years and if we are able to draw good crowds, then we’ve solved that issue.

Protagonist: The two clubs in the Championship were Pensacola FC and Utah Royals Reserves, from a league perspective, is it a good thing to have a NWSL reserve side finish as the runner-up for your 2019 season? Does that question the strength of the league?

SJ: There’s a couple of ways to look at that. Most of their players, even though they are called a reserve side, are collegiate players. I’d venture a guess, if you looked at their roster, 80% of their players were collegiate athletes, just like every other club. So, it wasn’t like it was the 8 players that train with the first team [NWSL] that are filling time with the reserve team. In order to play with collegiate players, they are not under contract. So they are amateurs. The reality is, I know some of those girls train with the first team, but I don’t think a single person on their [Utah Royals Reserves] roster got minutes or even got on the bench for a first team [NWSL] game.

So although they are called “reserves,” I think the way Utah is looking at this is that they are bringing some players in that they may potentially want to draft and look at in the future. Also local players who may have the potential to play for the Royals in the future. That’s the way they are looking at it. It’s not a true “reserve” club.

We’ve got the Chicago Red Stars, they lost in the regional finals last year to Motor City. If all four teams [in the final four] were “reserve” teams, I’d say we have a problem. I think our top 20-30 teams can all compete with them very easily.

Protagonist: What’s the relationship between the WPSL and the NWSL? How do the leagues interact?

SJ: Right now, we really don’t have a relationship, but it’s something we’re working on.

In our first two years [with Jones as WPSL President], we’ve focused on getting the league standards up. Trying to promote the league and get the social media going. Our next step is to meet with the NWSL and find out how to work more closely. Our goal was to get Utah in this year and see how they work. Let’s prove the model, that it does benefit the Utah Royals to have a reserve team in a league like this and then maybe we can go and work together to go to the NWSL and see how our leagues can work more closely. That’s something we definitely want to do.

Protagonist: Well, the small size of the NWSL really sets up the second division leagues to have a high level of talent because there are only so many roster spots in the NWSL. That size issue creates a bottleneck on talent that the WPSL and UWS can absorb.

SJ: Absolutely. I think a lot of people don’t understand that. Last year, there were 36 players drafted in the NWSL. 23 of those 36 played in the WPSL the summer prior and 30 of the 36 have played in the WPSL at some point. 12 of the 23 on the USWNT had played in the WPSL. Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle both played in the WPSL. The talent level in this league is really high, especially on the top end.

I mean, you’re absolutely right. On the men’s side, there’s probably 60-70 teams of professional men’s clubs in North America, if not more. And then there’s 9 women’s teams. You can be an all-american your senior year and still not be drafted to the NWSL. There are a lot of developing opportunities overseas, but a lot of players don’t want to go overseas. So yeah, the level of our league is really high, which is fantastic for the clubs. The problem is, it’s a limited season, October to the end of July because 70-80% of our players are collegiate players, so it limits when they can play, which hurts those players who are post collegiate and want to use it as a springboard. It’s a great thing for our league, but I do think it’s something, over the next five years, that a league like ours and the NWSL do have to solve.

“I can promise you that every decision the UPSL makes is for men and if the women can come along for the ride, fantastic. It’s not a women’s league.”

There should be a second division of professional women’s soccer. And I think that’s coming, but I don’t think it’s happening until the NWSL gets to 18-20 clubs. It’s the same issue that MLS had in the beginning. USL didn’t really start to grow and prosper until MLS had matured and gotten stronger. Then USL solved the regional issue, getting enough clubs to get travel costs down. From my perspective, it’s a great position for the WPSL to be in to eventually help foster that second division, maybe it’s a WPSL Elite or something that the top teams in our leagues aspire to do. I will tell you, that out of the 120 teams in our league, 20-30 of them have that as their ultimate goal but they realize that might be 5, 7, 10 years down the road.

Protagonist: We’re pretty in favor of promotion relegation on our site and, in theory, your league could develop really strong clubs that could eventually move up into the NWSL. They would have already developed both their talent base and their fan base to a point where they could sustain going professional. That kind of idea seems to be something you could get to with a little bit of hard work and coordination between the two leagues.

SJ: I would agree 100% and I think the first step there is to get those clubs that are interested, maybe 8-10 regional clubs, who are interested in taking that next step and having an extended season. Those who have a reserve side in the WPSL during the summer, but their first team is post-collegiate players and ex professionals. They could play in a 5-6 month league. That could become a true second tier professional league. The key is we have to get enough teams close together to where they aren’t spending $20,000 a week on travel costs. That’s the problem with the UWS, isn’t it? The Western Conference, there’s a team in Colorado, two in Canada, two in California. Every week is a flight. For me, that’s a tough sell when that $100,000 you spent on travel could have been reinvested in your club. That’s the difficulty.

If you’re going to start paying players and have professional staff and invest the money to do that, yet the 20 game season, 10 trips, is going to be $250,000 to $300,000 to travel, that really makes it difficult. Now if you could put it together where out of your 10 trips, eight of them were by bus and two are flights, now all of a sudden it becomes much more reasonable. Much more sustainable. We need to grow this league to the point that we have enough clubs to get there. But I think that can happen, I really do.

Pensecola won the 2019 WPSL Title in 2019. (Image courtesy of WPSL and KT King)

Pensecola won the 2019 WPSL Title in 2019. (Image courtesy of WPSL and KT King)

Protagonist: You brought up the UWS, so let’s go that direction. Why should a club choose the WPSL over another national league? What sets the WPSL apart?

SJ: I’ll take this backwards first. I completely understood the reasons Joe Ferrara started the UWS in 2015. We were very frustrated with the way the WPSL was being ran, the lack of professionalism. I can remember how we would try to put games on - we would get in the car and drive to Texas and play a match in a mowed pasture with a portapotty in the corner. It was frustrating. It just wasn’t done right. I know that Joe and Jerry [Zanelli, previous commissioner of WPSL] had a falling out. I think he was frustrated with the minimum standards and I think he convinced eight or ten other teams that were all frustrated with the same things - they went out and started this league [UWS]. And I think in the beginning, for some clubs that wanted to play at a higher level, not necessarily on the field, but in standards and organization - Joe’s league had value.

I think since we took the WPSL over, I don’t think that exists any more. I think if you look at what we’ve done, as far as social media, media presence, website updates, statistics, I don’t think there’s any difference. In fact, I think we do a better job, because we have more financial backing. With the volume of teams in our league, we have more money to spend on those things, which we are. So I think the reason the UWS spawned made sense, but if I was looking at coming into the UWS versus our league now, I think it completely depends where you are in the country. In certain areas, the UWS is strong and the travel is good. In other areas, it’s terrible. There’s no reason to be in the UWS if I’m in Colorado and I can make one trip instead of eight, it makes no sense. If I’m in Michigan and I’ve got enough teams close enough, then I have to make a decision on which league I join.

“It’s sort of comical that there’s a bunch of men running a women’s league, right? It is something we are cognizant of and trying to improve.”

I’m not going to say anything negative about the UWS, they’ve done a good job. I do think you’ve seen though, they got as high as 30-32 teams and this year they’re back to 20-22. I think a lot of teams that thought about joining one league or the other, are now looking at us and saying “there’s no reason to join the UWS, this is a better league.” And when I say better, everything else is done well and they don’t have to spend the money on travel. For that reason, I think our league makes more sense.

Secondarily, I also think we have more resources. We had prize money this year. $52,000 went to clubs that made the regionals and nationals. Teams that made it to the finals had prize money, basically a bonus for advancing. We’re able to do that because of the volume of teams we have.

So, again I’m not saying anything negative about another league, but I think, looking from the outside looking in, if the travel is better in the WPSL and everything else is the same or better, why would I join one league versus the other? I think in the beginning, Joe and the UWS could push the fact that they were “a higher level.” That’s what they told everyone - “a higher level of soccer.” If you look at the competitions where our teams have played one another, like the Milk Cup in Michigan. There was a very good UWS team, Detroit, Motor City beat them 7-0 in the final. So, Houston Aces is one of the best UWS sides, the Houston Aces struggled to win our conference last couple of years before they went over to the UWS. We beat them, FC Dallas beat them, they struggled to win. I can tell you right now, if they came over, they would not win our conference. They just wouldn’t. They are a good club and would be a good addition to the WPSL, but this idea that somehow the UWS is a higher level, I don’t buy it. You’ve got a couple of very good teams, but I promise you, if one of those teams were in our championship, the sixteen teams we had in regionals are just as good or better than any of their teams. I think the level is comparable. We both have the same issues. The bottom 30% of the leagues isn’t good and that’s one of the top things we’re always trying to do.

That would be my sales pitch. I’m not going to say anything negative about another league, but the levels are equal, we have more resources poured into helping our teams positioning themselves as far as sponsorships, we’ve got money to travel after regional play, and you can save money on travel. For all those reasons, that’s what I think our selling points are.

“I don’t think U.S. Soccer even cares - we’re an afterthought. They really don’t care. They only care about the NWSL. ”

As far as the UPSL, there is truly a difference in level there. They are at a much lower level, we even have a couple of our teams with reserve sides in the UPSL and they do very well. I think on the men’s side, the UPSL has done a great job on expanding nationally. But I think, if I’m trying to convince someone to join a women’s league, I’d say you should either join the UWS or the WPSL because those leagues are focused on women. It’s not an afterthought. I can promise you that every decision the UPSL makes is for men and if the women can come along for the ride, fantastic. It’s not a women’s league. To me, they’ve got some great things they do on the men’s side, I just think it’s an afterthought for them, just another way to bring in revenue, same thing with youth soccer. I think they are biting off more than they can chew and the only complaints I hear about the UPSL is that it’s not organized. They have way too much going on. So why would I put a women’s team in that league? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. I would think you’re always going to have to take the back seat to the men’s sides.

Protagonist: In an interview with you that ran in Midfield Press last year, you were asked about merging the UWS and WPSL. At the time, you said you were just setting up shop and were focused on other things. How would you respond to that same question now?

SJ: I would be happy to talk to Joe and discuss it. I think there are some great synergies were they are strong regionally and we’re a little bit weaker. I think there would be some issues to work out but I am more than willing to sit down and have the conversation. I think we’ve gotten our house in order, though we still have a lot of room to improve. That’s all we talk about, what can we do better, what can we fix? At the time [of that question], we were focused on that, it wasn’t a good time. Now, I think it would be a good time. Will we reach out to him? I don’t know. Would he be willing to do that? I just don’t know. I do know we did exchange some emails and I also exchanged some emails with Yan [Skwara] of the UPSL to restart the talk about the Open Cup and the Amateur Cup, which we’re working on. But we’ve never gotten past that, to have the discussion. I’d be more than willing to sit down and talk about it. It would never hurt to talk.

Key members of the 2019 World Cup Champion USWNT began their careers in the WPSL, including Rose Lavelle. (Image courtesy of WashingtonSpirit.com)

Key members of the 2019 World Cup Champion USWNT began their careers in the WPSL, including Rose Lavelle. (Image courtesy of WashingtonSpirit.com)

Protagonist: What do you see are the biggest challenges to a Women’s Open Cup?

SJ: Number one, a true Open Cup, the challenge would be getting the buy-in from the NWSL, to be honest with you. Number two, most of the clubs in our league and the UWS use collegiate players, so you’ve got a very small window. You’ve got from early May to late July to get all their Open Cup and league games in. So the idea was, do you start it as a true open cup? Because I think if it fails again, I think it’s done for. So our idea was, and we’ve been working with USASA on, is to use our league as a qualifier. The UWS would use their league as a qualifier. The UPSL would also. Basically, you’d have an eight team Open Cup or an Amateur Cup, that took the champions of all the leagues and a host team. Just to prove that the concept could work.

Then, you go to the NWSL and say “let’s use our qualifier for a true Open Cup.” Because, we can’t start in February or March and our teams can’t afford to play multiple games in an Open Cup scenario. But what if we used our league as a qualifier? So maybe in a couple of years, the NWSL is at twelve teams and you can take the top four from the Open Cup, that have qualified from their leagues, played in the Amateur Cup, and take the top four teams that come out of the Amateur Cup, and put them in the pool to play in a sixteen team Open Cup. I think that would be an idea to make it work. The challenge is that there are so many players on the women’s side that are collegiate players. So it can’t be long, it can’t be 64 teams, I just don’t think there’s time.

I think we have to prove that this model will work, then go to the NWSL. Let’s be honest, the Utah Royals or North Carolina Courage would spank a lot of the amateur sides. It would be so lopsided. On the men’s side it works because there are so many rounds to weed teams out, so get the two or three really exceptional amateur clubs who are fantastic and get to go play those kind of games. But if you take the first couple of rounds opponents and put them against the Seattle Sounders, it would be ugly. You have to have several rounds to bring those teams in. I just don’t think we have that on the women’s side yet.

Protagonist: How could U.S. Soccer help to grow the women’s side of the lower leagues?

SJ: I think for one they could give a rip. Because right now I don’t think they do. I will tell you, USASA has been fantastic - they really do care and want to grow it. I don’t think U.S. Soccer even cares - we’re an afterthought. They really don’t care. They only care about the NWSL. I understand why; they want the NWSL to grow. They are taking a top down approach. We’re taking a bottom up approach. But I do think there are some ways they could help. Help some of the expenses or promote an Open Cup. I think it would be good to sit down with them and brainstorm about how they could help. But, as of right now, I think we’re just a fly on the wall in their world. We’re just not that important to them.

“I’m not going to say anything negative about the UWS, they’ve done a good job. I do think you’ve seen though, they got as high as 30-32 teams and this year they’re back to 20-22. I think a lot of teams that thought about joining one league or the other, are now looking at us and saying ‘there’s no reason to join the UWS, this is a better league.’”

Protagonist: Two years into your role with the league, what are you most proud of?

SJ: Honestly, I think that I’m proud of the teams in our league. We have amazing owners who are so dedicated to providing a top, high quality, professional environment for women to play, which hasn’t been there in the past. I’m very proud of the teams in our league and the owners. It’s 100% about women’s soccer. It’s not an afterthought. I’m very proud of that. I’m proud of how we’ve raised the standard, where the women have a fantastic gameday experience. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but that’s what I’m proud of. We’ve got great people all pulling on the same rope, to keep this league growing.

Protagonist: So what are your biggest priorities moving forward?

SJ: Number one, I think we’ve greatly improved on the technology side, but we’ve got more room for improvement. I really want to make that work better. The less time our teams, coaches and administrators have to spend on player registration and stuff like that, I think that has to improve. I think getting more teams to livestream and finding ways to monetize those streams, helping our clubs realize how easy that is and getting them past challenges they might have. Streaming can be a revenue source that helps sustain those clubs. And finally, bringing more teams into the league in certain areas to help limit travel costs. If a team has to spend $5,000 to travel to a game, that’s $5,000 less for the club. It’s going to hotels, bus companies, etc. We’ve got a lot of areas of the country we need to fill in with good clubs, so that every team’s travel is limited to three or four hours at the top end. That’s a challenge we’re working on and want to improve.

Protagonist: Final question, looking over the makeup of your league staff, the entire executive committee is made up of men. Do you see this as problematic, running a women’s soccer league without a woman being on the executive committee? Has there been any thought given to adding a position that included a women on the committee?

SJ: Yes. So I’ll say this, three of our four associate commissioners are women. And that was intentional. That’s the biggest thing that bothered me to be real honest. We’ve absolutely thought about it. Our commissioner is a man and we brought him on board because he had a lot of experience in leagues. He’s also on the board of the NPSL, so he has a lot of insight on a lot of lower level soccer issues. I would think our next commissioner will be a woman, though I don’t know when that will be. But yeah, that is clearly an issue.

It’s sort of comical that there’s a bunch of men running a women’s league, right? It is something we are cognizant of and trying to improve. We also are cognizant of the fact that a lot of our team owners are men. When we get an application, or a woman that’s involved, we really try to push those. We try to help, we try to make it work. Because we really do want more women owners, women coaches, we like women’s staff. It doesn’t mean that men can’t do a good job, but inherently it’s a league for women players. So I think we would like the female perspective instead of only the male perspective.

But I will tell you, every decision we make, we run it through a group of women. We meet and run things by them. Our three Associate Commissioners are Kendra Halterman, Macy Jo Harrison, and Jessica Mendez. They’re all involved in youth soccer and their state associations, as well as the WPSL. They are all fantastic about giving insight from a woman’s perspective. So we’re cognizant of it. It’s something we’re trying to improve and I know we will get that changed over time.

I'll Stick to Sports Some Other Day

This weekend, hell visited my hometown.

I know we are a sports website, focused on soccer and dedicated to growing the sport and that will remain our mission. On the other hand, sometimes the reality of what is going on in the world around us invades the bubble and ignoring it, because “it’s not sports,” would be shirking our responsibilities as journalists.

The shooting in El Paso happened on Saturday morning. That day I was working my day job as a Starbucks manager. A customer in our drive thru mentioned there was something going on at Wal-Mart, because her son who worked in the pharmacy there and was hiding in the backroom because “someone is shooting up the store.”

I’ve heard many crazy things from customers in my drive thru, but nothing like that. You could tell she was upset, her voice was cracking, her face was flushed, she was scared. I immediately went off the floor to check social media. Twitter is great at quick information bursts, as long as you use common sense to filter out the rumors that begin swirling every time an event like this happens. But twitter, at the moment anyway, was silent. I logged into our manager group chat, shared by the other 28 or so store managers locally to see if anyone else had heard anything. Nothing.

The Cielo Vista Wal-Mart is on the same I-10 exit as my store. There is a mall between it and my store, but I’ve been into that location 100’s of times because of work. I know the employees that work there, several by name, but most by sight and the passing nods of people working in the service industry. It’s close enough to make this feel personal and real. Saturday, all I could think about was the greeter, Fuad, who always comes by my store for coffee after work. If someone was shooting at the entrance, he would be one of the first people to face fire. I wasn’t sure what to think in those first few moments.

If you can ignore the rhetoric that gets thrown around about immigration and the border, El Paso is a very safe city. Over the last 10 years, we average 18 murders. We’re a big city in many ways (19th by population in the U.S.), but the mentality of the people and the culture of the city are small town. Everyone knows everyone, people help each other, neighbors say hi in passing. It’s really a wonderful city. Ane one that doesn’t see much violence.

That lack of violence is often offered in juxtaposition to our sister city across the border, Juarez. Rocked by waves of cartel killings, Juarez has been referred to as the most dangerous place in the world or more simply put - Murder City. Unlike other parts of the border, the border in the Juarez/El Paso area is porous and people flow back and forth on a daily basis. Families straddle the border, with aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins, visiting each other on a weekly routine. People shop on both sides of the border, almost entirely without incident. While the people flow freely back and forth, the crime-fueled violence has been almost entirely filtered by the border.

Twitter caught up quick.

The first post was of a woman who was in the store. “Someone is shooting a bunch of people at Wal-Mart. There’s dead bodies everywhere.” When I read it, it sunk in suddenly. It wasn’t a robbery gone wrong or a misunderstood prank. Someone was killing innocent shoppers on a Saturday morning. I immediately sent another message into the manager group chat at 10:52am “There’s a shooting happening at Wal-Mart.”

Almost on cue, we began to hear sirens and could see police cars and border patrol vehicles flying down the frontage heading into the direction of the store. Soon ambulances and fire trucks were streaming past our store. And then we could hear helicopters in the air, first one and soon after another, eventually four would begin circling the area, passing lower than I had ever seen on a normal day in this city.

My phone began to buzz. My boss was calling. First he asked if we were ok and after I responded, he cautioned me “keep your eyes out for a shooter in your area.” While I was worried about the employees and customers up the street, I hadn’t really considered that we could be next. I got silent for a minute and then asked if we should stop serving. “Lock it down.” I hung up and rushed to the doors to lock them.

My wife texted me minutes later asking if I was ok. “You always shop at that store for work, so I assumed you might have been there.” She was right, I had planned on heading to that store just after the morning rush, but had been delayed because I was short-staffed. I could have been in line when that gunman entered the building and killed 21 of my fellow El Pasoans. Instead I was standing safely behind the counter, serving coffee to my weekend customers.

We talk about sports on this site as if they are removed from the politics of our time, but they are connected. They are attached because the people that populate our clubs, coach from the sidelines, sit in the stands, post about the matches on twitter, every one of those people live in this world and vote. We’re not homogenous, of course, I’d imagine there is a broad spectrum of political viewpoints and opinions that fall under the general term “American soccer fan.”

That fact was on display just this weekend in Seattle. A group of white supremacists confronted some fans of the Seattle Sounders at a bar in Seattle. With American flags in hand, the far-right attempted to enter the bar filled with Sounders’ fans but were denied entry by the owner. A crowd of people gathered and both sides began insulting and taunting each other. Sure, soccer was involved, but it was intensely personal and, obviously, political.

The intensity of the rhetoric in this country has reached a level that we can’t ignore it any longer. The far right has begun to openly march and declare their hateful and ignorant views for everyone to hear. It isn’t a matter of conservative or liberal any longer, it’s a matter of right or wrong, American or un-American. Our grandfathers went to Europe to kill people who espoused this type of doctrine. Seeing and hear Americans throw the salute and recycle Third Reich slogans should repulse any citizen of this country.

And the man who drove from Dallas to El Paso to shoot brown people is an ardent believer in those ideas. His manifesto is full of references of ethnic genocide and invading races. He's terrified of his race being eliminated and erased. He’s full of fear. And that fear drove him to kill.

The rest of Saturday was a blur. We sat in our store, blinds down, and called family members. For six hours we waited until the police gave the all clear. We could all go home, but that couldn’t be said for the 21 victims, who lay dead just a couple of blocks from us.

I went directly to my in-laws’ house, where my wife and daughter were waiting. My wife and in-laws are brown people, people the shooter hates, people who would have been a target if they were in that store on Saturday. My daughter has the complicated position of being both white and Mexican-American, but at three, she’s happy being a kid, unconcerned about the insanity that brews around her.

My wife and I went to a vigil at our local high school, a 100 year old building which has seen so much over its lifetime. As we stood with several hundred other El Pasoans, I couldn’t help but think of the generations that had passed through these doors. Those who would have been denied the right to vote. Those that marched with Cesar Chavez. Those that are attending today. That night we stood and wept for the 21 who were gone.

The next day I returned to work.

And so did the rest of the city.

21 of us did not.

We do not have to agree on everything. We can vote for different candidates and parties, that’s the beauty of our democracy.

But we have to agree that hating someone for the color of their skin is wrong. We have to agree that taking a gun and traveling across a state to shoot people of color is wrong. We have to acknowledge that 21 senseless murdered dead in a Wal-Mart in El Paso is wrong. This is all wrong.

The list of the dead, released on Monday afternoon.

The list of the dead, released on Monday afternoon.

The soccer community has long been infected by the political climate at surrounds it. Today we must stand as one to condemn the rise of white nationalism, neo-nazism, racism, and xenophobia. It is not enough to turn a blind eye to it for political reasons. Speaking out, standing against, and refusing quarter to this type of thinking is required of every one of us. The innocent blood of 21 people demands it.

- Dan Vaughn

The views of this article are mine alone.

Maryland Majors Soccer League Announces Preseason Tournament

Maryland Major Soccer League is set to announce a pre-season league tournament. It will feature four MMSL teams. The confirmed teams are Columbia FC, Kickers FC, All Star United, and MD International. The winner of this tournament will earn a prize of $2,500 and the runner up will earn $1,000. The tournament is set to take place on August 24th at Latrobe Park. This will be a full day tournament from 12:00 PM to 7:00 PM. It will be a great opportunity for these clubs to bring in some extra funds and a good chance for these clubs to get in some extra preparation for the fall season.

In a time where many are shifting focus to club over league, this is a league doing it the right way. This tournament is yet another example of the great work MMSL is doing to help their teams survive and find financial stability. Other leagues should pay attention to what is going on in the Maryland Majors Soccer League. There is much speculation around what the league has planned, but they all point to two things. One is the growth of the league and the other is the fortification of its clubs.

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Another announcement that is going to be made is that current MMSL club, World Class Premier, is going to co-host the tournament. This is huge for the club. It shows how financially stable this club has become. 2019 has been a great year for WPS. They joined UPSL for spring 2019, then went on to win their division, but unfortunately they lost in the quarterfinals in UPSL’s National Playoff. Now they are taking all their success and giving back to both the league and state that helped them get where they are.

When speaking to WCP leadership about the tournament, they made it clear their focus was on sustaining local soccer. “We know there are some teams that need help and we will continue to be a helping hand for them. We are blessed, and we are not about just talking about building a community that is inclusive. We are all about action and we hope this is the first of many to come in the future”.

WCP is a class act and setting their own path and always living by their motto, “Play the right way”.

The Kings of Columbia

Sometime around noon on Monday, July 22, 2019 Columbia FC broke the news that they had been promoted. In the Fall of 2019, we will see Columbia FC play in Maryland Majors Division 1. The feeling of joy and pride could be felt on every post on the #CFCMD social media pages.

This promotion come to a side who has consistently been a top performer and a contender in all three of their seasons. Columbia FC joined the league in the Spring of 2018. Since then, they have qualified for the Division 2 promotion playoffs each season. In the spring of 2018, they lost in the semifinals against Super Delegates FC. In the Fall of 2018 they lost against Steel Pulse FC. Then, in the Spring of 2019, they lost against Maryland International. Columbia FC has never finished below the top three. With that sort of consistent excellence, it was only a matter of time until the promotion of the Howard County powerhouse would come to fruition.

Coach Tolentino has been massively successful with Columbia FC.

Coach Tolentino has been massively successful with Columbia FC.

Under Head Coach Carlos Tolentino, Columbia FC has an impressive MMSL all-time record of 23-9-4. Their best season was the Fall of 2018 when they would end the season with a mighty 10-2-0 record. However, a new challenge awaits coach Carlos and his boys: Division 1 of the Maryland Majors.

When speaking to Coach Carlos about his promotion, I could see the joy and feel the passion in the words he spoke, and now there is a new focus for Columbia FC. In a brief interview, Coach Tolentino shared his insight on the new promotion:

How does this promotion change the team’s offseason? What is the new goal for the team?

“The offseason changes because now we need to focus on bringing up the level, we don’t just want to be in D1, we want to win the title. There are so many great teams in D1 and it will take a lot of work but with the talent we have, and the new talent set to join us in the offseason; we know we can do it.”

What message do you want to send to the players?

“The message is that we have to work harder. We need to remind everyone and show everyone why we earned this promotion. The part of the message that doesn’t change is we are here to win titles. We fight and never give up.”

How are the players taking the promotion?

“The players are super pumped. They understand the importance of this achievement. They know all the work it took to get here. Now we are ready to go all out. That’s the only way we know how to”.

Tolentino’s passion for progress comes through in every word. The team is united and ready to take on whatever is heading their way. One thing is for sure, the team and staff are full behind Coach Carlos and for good reason.

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We also got a chance to speak to 1st Captain Jose Rech Origaen, a former Catonsville F.C. player. He has had experience playing in D1 of the MMSL. Jose knows what it takes to succeed, but he can speak for himself on that subject:

What does this promotion mean to you personal and as the team Captain?

“It literally means everything. I was originally in D1 with Catonsville F.C with a few other teammates. we merged with an Academy and it didn’t work out. So, the majority of the team left and sought out a new Club that was forming. Which was Columbia F.C. Since we knew each other for a few years now that core became the core of Columbia and since then we’ve grown exponentially. In the year and a half of competing, we’ve reached 1 semifinal lost against the champion and then reached two finals back to back. So, we’re an established team. What we were lacking was luck. Couldn’t get those opportunities in. We matched every single team head to head. Being in D1 as a Captain now I have to commit 1000% as I have to represent our colors. I’m so happy to be back on top of MMSL”.

What message do you want to deliver to your teammates?

“My message to our teammates is to know that you worked your butts off for this. Playing in cold rainy finals, 100-degree heat against players that were faster and stronger than us. we know what it’s like to endure! We’re always the underdog and there is nothing better than knowing how to get back up and that’s what we did after each and every lesson we’ve had to learn”.

Another of Columbia’s captains is Christian Garrido. He is the 2nd captain for Columbia FC, here is what he had to say:

How does this promotion change the fall season for you and the team?

“It will change in all ways. Players and staff are even more motivated to reach our new goals. Now is our moment to show what's is Columbia fc ready for. We will face great teams like Christos and Steele Pulse. So, our commitment is to be there in the top in this coming season”.

What does this promotion mean to you personally?

“Wow. It means a lot. All the hard work and training. From the beginning our goals is to be in D1. We work for it, we fought for it and now we are in it. It Makes me feel proud of my teammates and staff. Because every game we fought with all and this is the result of our hard work”.

Both captains are ready and excited to lead their team in the upcoming D1 fall season. We are expecting a good show Columbia FC.

– Hector Monterroso

Murdering An Idea

There’s a great exchange between the comedian and noted atheist Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert on Colbert’s The Late Show. Gervais was asked about his lack of belief in a god by Colbert, a Catholic. In response, Gervais first asked Colbert if he believed in a god, which Colbert admitted. Then Gervais responded, “Okay. But there are about 3,000 to choose from… Basically, you deny one less God than I do. You don’t believe in 2,999 gods. And I don’t believe in just one more.” Rejecting an idea entirely is only a single step further than rejecting all the other forms of an idea.

In 1894, the American Association of Professional Football was formed. It died the same year. In 1921, the American Soccer League, home of Bethlehem Steel and Fall River Marksmen was born. In 1933, facing the financial stress of the Great Depression, it collapsed. In 1960, the International Soccer League was born and in 1965 it withered away. The North American Soccer League, the league that brought Pele to the United States, lived from 1968 to 1984. In 2019, the NPSL Founders Cup, due to the exit of multiple clubs, was renamed and reformulated, effectively killing the competition in its crib. There is a long list (a much, much longer than this very brief list) of men’s and women’s soccer leagues in this country which have died. And there are a hundred different varieties of causes of those deaths, and even that list doesn’t include all of the women’s leagues that have come and gone. So maybe, instead of focusing on the league that died this week (and the new one that took its place), it’s time we found a new perspective of the American idea of soccer leagues.

The collapse of NPSL Founders Cup (and the NPSL may deny it collapsed, but that’s what happened) was brought about by a better resourced, flashier league, and, most importantly, one that has officially earned D3 sanctioning from U.S. Soccer. That league is the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) and when it was originally formed there was a massive buzz within the lower league soccer press. At its formation, clubs had not been named formally, but NISA announced it would begin play in the Fall of 2018 with 8 teams in multiple markets across the country.

Then the league effectively went silent. So much so that it became a running joke on social media. However, in May of this year there was a shakeup in leadership which led to the exit of Bob Watkins and John Prutch taking over the commissioner’s chair. Since Prutch took over, the league has become much more active online and has quickly gathered new clubs into the league, mostly at the expense of the NPSL and Founders Cup. First, Miami FC and California United Strikers were approved to join the league in the beginning of June. Then, just a couple of weeks later, Oakland Roots, one of the gems of the upcoming Founders Cup, announced they too would be joining NISA in the Spring of 2020.

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After the exit of three of their original “founders,” NPSL was forced to reformulate the pro league from the ground up. Founders Cup had been formed as separate from the NPSL, an entirely independent entity. So much so that the league forwarded information requests about Founders Cup to four FC club owners instead of responding from the league. This week, NPSL announced a rebranding of the pro league - “NPSL Members Cup.” The Members Cup will host 6 teams, with a season to run from August 10th to October 26th. Honestly, no matter how the league spins it, it’s a black eye for the NPSL and hampers their plan to grow a new pro league.

For fans of the NPSL, there is an uncomfortable, almost visceral, response to all of this news. Are the clubs that exited Founders Cup traitors? Should they be seen as opportunists who exploited a situation? Is what they did right or fair? But the tenuous relationship with NISA and its newly-joined clubs is only an extension of the weirdness surrounding professional clubs in the lower leagues in general. While the vast majority of the lower leagues are amateur, many clubs are rumored to pay their players, regardless of league rules. Those rumors swirl every time those clubs succeed on the field, though mostly in anonymous twitter posts and DMs. “You know they pay their players, right? That’s how they win.” Regardless, the idea of clubs paying players is a pressure point for many fans.

So with the emergence of these new “lower league, professional leagues,” fans are often forced to decide the style and designation they prefer to support. Some draw the line at amateurism. Some stick with their clubs as they transitioned. Some are optimistic that this development would lead to promotion/relegation. Some just mock the lower leagues for being confusing and made memes to troll everyone involved. The reality is that the loyalty of the lower league fanbase is being actively fractured and how this all ends is still in the air. But all this fracturing of loyalties is unnecessary and pointless if lower league soccer fans, actually all soccer fans, begin to put club over league.

“Would you stick with the Cleveland Browns if they got relegated to NCAA DII? In the case of Bolton’s fans, the answer is yes.”

It is only in the United States that fans are pushed to be fans of a league. The concept of a league is dominate in American sports. Consider the National Football League and its monopoly over the sport of american football. There are competing football leagues, of course, but most of those are seen as a joke and not taken seriously by fans of the sport. The NFL is seen as the only important pro league in the sport and the league has groomed this image to maintain its control over fans and their dollars. The other big sports league in this country have all taken similar approaches. Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL) have all groomed the idea that their leagues are the best in their respective sports. It’s good business sense. If people believe you to be the best, they’ll be fans of your member clubs, driving up the worth of your league. American sports leagues have done such a great job at propagating this idea that the major American sports leagues are now worth hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars. But you don’t have to buy that idea.

While the English Premier League (EPL) is also worth billions of dollars (maybe trillions, honestly), that league doesn’t hold value the way the American systems do. In English soccer, the EPL is nothing more than a container for the clubs that play within it in a given season. Underperform and you’re out. Manchester City, who won the league last season, was relegated as recently as 2001. Manchester City fans weren’t told to root for Manchester United when their club was relegated. They simply cheered for their club to win the Championship (the name of the second tier English League) and regain promotion to the top tier. That would be even more complicated for fans of a club like Bolton Wanderers, who have dipped in and out of the top tier and who were just relegated to the third tier after a season of massive financial hardship. Would you stick with the Cleveland Browns if they got relegated to NCAA DII? In the case of Bolton’s fans, the answer is yes.

Image from Wikipedia and is the work of Wikipedia contributor EclecticArkie

Image from Wikipedia and is the work of Wikipedia contributor EclecticArkie

That’s because the idea of a league, regardless of how famous it is, means nothing more than the quality of the clubs that populate the table. If your club can’t measure up, it will end up in the level that it can compete at. Loyalty to the club is encouraged, because the league is always secondary from the fan’s perspective.

It’s easy to get hung up on leagues, particularly in the United States. The US Soccer Federation and this country’s soccer media is so guilty of this. Major League Soccer (took a long time to get to MLS, but here it is) began play in 1996, formed to meet the FIFA qualifications for hosting the 1994 World Cup. While the league has struggled, it has managed to grow to the point of sport dominance in the United States. The level of play within the league is good enough to be the best in the country, but it has woefully underperformed against clubs from other leagues, particularly against Liga MX clubs. In fact, in CONCACAF Champions League (previously known as Champions League Cup), the only formal head-to-head competition between members of the two leagues, it has been 19 years since the last MLS club won the title. In that time, a Mexican side has won 17 titles (Costa Rican teams won in 2004 and 2005). So the league is clearly inferior to continental competition, let alone the massive European leagues that dominate the sport.

Christos celebrates against DC United. Image courtesy of Baltimore Sun.

Christos celebrates against DC United. Image courtesy of Baltimore Sun.

Regardless of this inferiority in quality, MLS continues to be the only league focused on by the national media, NWSL included. The Federation seems intent on focusing entirely on setting the league up for success, even at the detriment of the leagues that fill the pyramid below the top tier. Consider the U.S. Open Cup. The scheduling has been criticized by lower league clubs for years as being difficult at best (in some cases impossible) for clubs not in MLS. The competition forces grassroot clubs to play 3 or 4 rounds of qualifying matches before even entering the competition, while MLS clubs do not enter the competition until the 4th round and often host matches, forcing the less-funded club to shoulder travel expenses. If a lower league club makes it to the 4th round, which rarely happens (Christos in 2017), they typically must play 7 or 8 matches to get to there.

Some might argue that the white-gloved treatment of MLS is due to the track record of league failure in the United States. Those people are thinking about the situation from a league centric perspective. If MLS was simply the name of the top tier and not a single-entity monster clinging to the top of the pyramid, the league would simply expand and contract as clubs exited downward and entered upward. The focus would be on the success and failure of the clubs and the sport itself, the league would be secondary. And yes, that is an argument for promotion/relegation, but fans of MLS clubs would be less wary of the idea if the focus was less on MLS and more on the clubs that filled the league currently.

Don Garber, Commissioner of MLS, has sold an idea to the American soccer fan. That idea has been regurgitated by the soccer media figures in this country. That same idea has been saluted and heralded by the Federation. That idea is that the league is more important than the clubs that exist within it. That idea has worked for every other league in the United States, so far. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

So instead of bemoaning the loss of Founders Cup and trying to decide what to make of NISA, maybe it’s time for American soccer fans to consider looking at leagues differently. Only one fan base has been aggressive and public about their feelings on the matter. And while Northern Guard supporters can be rough around the edges and irritate with their over-the-top support for their club, they are absolutely correct about this - club over league. If there is anything that the history of American soccer has proven, it is that leagues will come and go. But, more importantly, when the fans back their club, they will last forever.

- Dan Vaughn