Philadelphia Falcons

So who are you and how did you get involved with Philly Falcons?

My name is Yunio Martinez (he/him), I'm originally from Guatemala so FOOTBALL is the main sport there. When I moved to PA, 8 years ago, I remember googling “Gay soccer Philadelphia” and from there it’s all history.

Can you share some about how the club came to exist?

The club has existed for 31 years - same as my age haha. Our founder Drew Adair started everything with a pickup or practice and now the Club has mens, womens, and coed teams playing in Philly Leagues, International Tournaments, and we also host our own Pickups and Leagues. But here is something of OUR STORY (in a more formal response):

Through his experience playing in local sports leagues, Drew Adair recognized the urgent need for an LGBT+ space for soccer players. To start this Philly movement, he first reached out to the NY Ramblers, President and Founder, Bob Whitmore. He collected ideas on how to organize, advertise and discover what other teams were out there. Drew contacted the Park Commission Office about available field space, got some free ad space in Au Courant & PGN, and prepared a press release for the gay-friendly show on the public radio station.

In early July, Drew posted flyers at all the usual hangouts, submitted press releases and scheduled practice. On a softball field down in South Philly, Drew held the first practice with about 7 or 8 other men. Within a couple of weeks, they secured a couple of hours once a week on a college field hockey pitch (mostly when the security guards were on break!). As things progressed, there were regular practices, more men joining, and the group was gaining some publicity. One of the biggest initial hurdles was working with schedules of other sports and retaining players when it came time to seriously join leagues, which meant entering the public, heteronormative sphere. This emergence into leagues and playing in out-of-state tournaments also meant picking a name for the group was imminent and a crucial decision. After several meetings solely for the purpose of naming, the group stood behind the Falcons because it was "Philly-ish" and had a lot of visual possibilities.

Our women's teams didn't start forming until 1998 when a Falcons team traveled to Dallas for a tournament with one woman player. Another team refused to play our team, which lit the fire to build up the women's side of the club. By 1999, we were able to send a team just full enough to cover the field to the IGLFA Championship Tournament.

Now we have had over 500 members and continue to be at the forefront of inclusivity within the soccer community. We have teams in many leagues across Philadelphia and still travel nationally to tournaments. 

What's the current mission of the club? What do you do on a day to day basis?

The Falcons are dedicated to bringing affordable and fun soccer to the Philadelphia community. Our members are primarily LGBTQ+, but we gladly welcome anyone who is interested in playing soccer!

On a regular basis before this Pandemic, we had pickups twice a week, and we also have teams playing in the different leagues in Philly. Some of our teams even travel around the United States and the world to participate in different LGBTQA tournaments.

Can you tell us about some people who have been involved with your organization over the years?

Our club is run by 10 volunteers who dedicate their time, called the Falcons Board. We vote and elect a new board every year. Besides the board, there are the captains of the different teams...

This is my second year as president, but before me, there have been so many great people who served as Board members, so I couldn't mention one because everyone put their time and effort to continue building a SAFE SPACE for everyone.

We're in love with your kits, can you talk a little about how they came to exist?

Our jerseys went crazy on Twitter! I do remember posting the link as Pre-Sale and then my phone was getting all the notifications, people from different countries were in LOVE. But the whole story starts here. In March we have to cancel all our soccer and social activities. For almost 4 months we tried to continue to stay in contact with the membership, but finally, in June we had our first in-person Board Meeting and, of course, June is PRIDE MONTH. So we were trying to decide what we should do for Pride Month. Every Pride Month, all the organizations come to us, we usually get emails of invitations to events and all that stuff.

In the past months, we have seen how the gay and lesbian part has been more accepted but our trans community is getting under-served. In a way to show our support (because we are not just a LGB soccer Team, we are a LGBTQA+ organization and together we are strong), we decided on changing our logo and raise funds for an organization that supports our siblings (Morris Home is the one we decided on, days later).

I was on my way home when the idea to make NEW JERSEYS come to my mind, so I texted Robert Smukler from ICARUS. I sent the NEW LOGO and the Trans Flag, told him some ideas, and he did the first design. I presented it to the Board and we switched some colors and then this beauty came to life. It was crazy, we never had people from all over the country, 40 different states and 5 other countries were buying them.

Does the club play in a league currently?

As of right now we aren't having any soccer activities, but we can't wait to come back to the pitch. I'm also co-captain with Isaiah Johnson of our 11v11 CASA team. So we are talking with their president Nolan Bair on having a tournament like the NWSL or MLS have, but for a good cause.  We probably will not have all the Sponsors that they do, but we are going to try to continue raising funds for our pride campaign (Fundraiser Campaign that goes all summer long).

If so can you talk about some players from the team?

We have great humans in our team, love everyone of them. We have people from all the backgrounds, all skill levels, all genders. WE LOVE ALL AND WE WELCOME ALL. SOCCER FOR ALL.

If someone wants to get involved, how would they do that?

If you love to play soccer, if you are LGBTQA+, and I'm including straight people (because our club has a lot of allies too) just reach out to us on our website.

As I said, we have practices and our leagues (which usually are all skills), but we also have competitive teams playing in different leagues around the Philadelphia area. If you like to travel, we go all over. Our last tournament was Sin City Classic Las Vegas. We’ve even been out of the country - we were in Mexico and Paris for the Gay Games and the next ones will be Hong Kong. But if things improve, our captains are planning on sending a team to Copenhagen next year for World Pride.

Anything else we should know about Philly Falcons?

We love to play soccer. We love to be accepted for who we are, not only for our sexual orientations. We will continue fighting on building a safe space for everyone.

Crescent City FC (GCPL)

So who are you and how did you get involved with Crescent CIty?

I'm Jonathan Rednour and I created Crescent City Football Club back in 2014 in hopes to bring a club that showcased both New Orleans and our local players on the same stage. We are a non profit so I am on the BOD and have been appointed the General Manager title for year one.

Can you talk about the name and the crest?

Crescent City is one of New Orleans many nicknames, being that the city was built on a sharp bend in the Mississippi River, forming a crescent. There were a few names that I went through, but Crescent City FC just fit with what I had in mind. The original crest was sort of a play on the original water meter covers in New Orleans.

I chose to rebrand the crests in 2017 to better represent our club. The New Orleans flag was used as a concept for colors and being that the city is known for its nightlife, and it is a color in the New Orleans flag, I wanted to use navy as the main color. Gold fleur de lis were needed, as gold is a color that represents our city, thanks to the Saints. I did opt out to put in red and used more of a light blue to represent the chill nature of us New Orleanians. The stars represent field players and our crescent represents our keeper. You can sort of see we're playing in a 3-4-3. Our home kits will represent the New Orleans flag and feature navy, white and red.

You're an expansion side in the GCPL, why did you choose this league?

The concept of the GCPL was built around allowing a club like Crescent City FC to grow from the bottom up. The investment being made by our BOD is to show that a club like CCFC is needed and wanted in the city of New Orleans, and at the moment, the GCPL is the best league that allows us to do that from scratch. We will always assess our growth and plan accordingly to what best fits our club.

How far along is the club in preparation for the season?

We would have been playing our first game today, but we're still moving forward and preparing for an exhibition season. A lot of things have shifted due to the current situation we're all in, but we're on the right track to have a successful summer 2020.

There's some talk of friendlies in the summer, any news yet?

We will be announcing our summer schedule soon. We're sort of in a wait and see period with the state of Louisiana and city of New Orleans. 

How is the GCPL supporting their clubs through the pandemic?

The GCPL tried to find a way to make it work for everyone, but in the end they listened to their clubs and did what was right. Crescent City FC was on the fence about playing a shortened, behind closed doors season, as we were relying on getting fans out to our games. Would have been tough, but we were going to make it work if we could. GCPL made the right call. 

How are you keeping in contact with your players?

On What'sApp and texting. I think we've done a great job of keeping them in the loop. They're itching to get something in this summer.

Tell us about a player or two we should know about?

Anthony Peters, from Baton Rouge, sort of had a journeyman career, being drafted by DC United back in 2009 and then went on to play USL and League One before coming back to Louisiana. Anthony's a veteran who's been around the pro game and is a great person to have giving it all for the crest. He's a good leader. Helps that he's a 6'6 physical specimen and a great centerback.

Ethan Garvey is a local New Orleans boy who just finished his first year at the University of Evansville where he earned All-Freshman conference honors. He's also a 6'6 centerback and is a pretty versatile player. Has a lot of potential for the pro game, which we're hoping to assist him on achieving.

Anything else about the club we should know?

We are still schedule to play Chattanooga FC on August 1st in Chattanooga. Should be a fun one. 

Spotlight: Inter Philadelphia

There’s a new kid on the block in soccer social media and he’s making enough noise that we had to see what was going on in Philadelphia. Protagonist reached out to designer and founder of Inter Philadelphia, Phil Buckley, to get the inside scoop on what’s going on in the city of brotherly love and what’s inspired him to kick start this new team.

There seems to be an explosion of new soccer teams - what prompted you to found this club and what is the mission of the organization?

I became a soccer fan in college living with a few different EPL fans, fell in love with Arsenal, Spent hours in FIFA Career Mode and Football Manager. Then, probably like most, I came across what Dennis Crowley has done with the Kingston Sprint. Reading all the medium posts really made it sound like something I could do now. Also around this time, I came across this image on Reddit of the MLS teams transposed on top of a map of Europe to show the travel time. It really put into perspective the burgeoning potential for soccer all over the country. I have also been a follower of nonleague football overseas from my time with Football Manager and learning about teams and also seeing teams on YouTube like Hashtag United really show a modern way to start a team and get a community involved right away. So I started connecting dots and really thought how many teams are in the city of London alone and how many there really should be in my city, a sports town, Philadelphia. There are a handful of awesome teams in my area like Philly Lonestar, Bear Fight FC in Delaware, and the Union obviously, I felt like there should be a team that represents this city and plays within the city limits, is affordable for everyone, something that could fit with the big 4 city teams and reflect modern Philly fan culture.Philly loves their sports, we are very critical but also very passionate. We latch on to players that really put everything on the line or teams that beat the odds and prove everyone wrong. This passion results in a fanbase that’s very well educated in the sport and tuned into the goings-on of our teams. We are fans who grew up suffering painful loses but have seen a few lucky enough to see a few parades. We have Trusted the Process and we wore dog masks during a miracle playoff run with a backup QB.Soccer deserves to have these moments in Philly too and that’s what I want this team to be, I strongly believe that there is an audience for soccer at this level and with the rest of the world literally burning around us, I figured “Why not now?”I also think too many people still think Philadelphia we are the big scary jerks that throw batteries. Philadelphia is a vibrant city filled with amazing people and more people need to see it that way. A guiding principle for the team is “Passion Through Inclusivity” making it the main priority for us. Ensuring it reflects the ever-growing diversity of this city and takes the sentiments of “brotherly love” to heart. Everyone is welcome to play for and support InterPHL FC.

Its official, Inter Philadelphia FC, Inc. is on the books and a registered business.

Lower league teams are spoiled for choice in which leagues to join - so where will you be setting up? What teams are you most looking forward to playing?

So, we are still in the early days but I am hoping to get us ready to apply to the NPSL next year. There are also some local options to start getting a team playing together.

The beginning of a new season can be very exciting, but by the end of the first season, what will success look like?

I want to come back when we are about to play to answer this one!

Some clubs have supporters, some clubs are dependent upon youth programs to help finance the first team; what is your model and how is running a club at your level sustainable?

I spent the past year or so tackling this idea head one and figuring out potential ways to get this ball rolling. I am trying to take the idea of “startup soccer” to the test and really bootstrap this thing. I want to do my best to keep costs low and try to grow organically. Youth Team is definitely something I want to explore in the future. Coming from the tech world as a Digital Product Designer by trade, I wanted to leverage the spaces I knew. I have watched friends use crowdfunding, of all scales and methods, to fund their projects and ideas. So, in early 2020 we will be looking for some sponsors as well as launching a 2-month campaign on Indiegogo in attempts to potentially raise as much as 100k. Backer Rewards ranging from Backer/Member Only Video Content and some insight on the process I am going through to Fan Packages and Obviously dope merch. I have post-campaign plans as well after to build out a Supporters Club Membership to create more value in terms of access things like BTS updates and insight into the club’s progression.

Inter Philly is really working to connect to the heartbeat of the city through slick design and meaningful imagery.

Designing a new team is really fun! How involved were you with the badge, name, and maybe kit designs? What merch or swag are you most looking forward to releasing?

Being a Designer for a living, this naturally was the first thing I decided to work on. The branding and the overall spirit of the team were inspired by one of the most memorable moments in Philly sports history, Allen Iverson’s Stepping over Tyronn Lue after draining a 3 in his face in the 2004 NBA Playoffs. It was such a powerful moment, and it was a moment that encapsulated what this city likes about their players. Players like Allen Iverson not only made you regret thinking you could beat him, but he would do it with all the flair in the world.This inspired me to go with the beloved mid-2000s era Sixers Black / Gold and find a way to incorporate a classic styled “P” that would look like it fit with the rest of the big 4 sports teams in the city.I have VERY COOL ideas that I want to collaborate with Robby and Icarus for our kits and have a few items of merch that I will be trying to backer goals.

It's a lot of work just getting one squad up and running, but has there been any thought to a women's side? 

I would love to be at a place where we would have both a men and women’s side and that is definitely something I want to happen for this club.

Club-related Links:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Newsletter sign up - InterPHLFC.com

Eugene Timbers FC

Continuing with our coverage of women’s soccer in the Pacific Northwest, we spoke with Director of Coaching Jurgen Ruckaberle of Eugene Timbers FC Azul, who was happy to answer a few of our questions. Azul, one of only two WPSL sides in Oregon, play in Eugene, Oregon and are about a two-hour drive away from their nearest conference opponent and their furthest conference opponent is a 14-hour, round-trip drive, away. We ask how they cope, how they transition local talent to the first team, and how the World Cup impacted their season.

Though your organization was established in 2006, Eugene Timbers have just recently founded the WPSL Azul side - what was the appeal to establishing an elite women's squad? What is the mission of the club?

We have had a number of very strong girls’ teams in our club and many of them went on to play college soccer. Many of them came home over the summer and had no place to play except with boys’ teams. We wanted to provide opportunities for our players who went on to college. Over the 7 years we have been in the WPSL we added each year players from local college programs, and players from elsewhere in the country. We also had international players from England, Mexico, Germany, and Italy. We are now providing good training and competition opportunities for our older players in the club, returning players from college and other non-club related players.

Eugene is a bit of a drive from Portland, Seattle, or even from the Bay Area; do you get many fans? Not parents, friends or significant others, but actual supporters? Do you have any relationship with the supporter’s group from Lane United, Echo Squadron / Red Aces?

We do have a few Echo Squadron who come to our games but for the most part it is friends and family from the players. There is a good number of fans that are not related but are interested in women's sports. We hope to grow that portion but we are realistic in our expectations.

The popularity of women's soccer seems to wax and wane with World Cup cycles, will any down-cycling of attendance affect your club? How dependent are you on funds from the turnstiles? 

We don't rely on ticket revenue since it is our smallest part of income. We do have a number of sponsors for jerseys, poster sponsor, and some smaller ones. We also charge a very small fee to our players to help with the cost. We use club resources to keep the rest of the cost down. The world cup this year has helped with sponsors.

Developing elite players is the dream of most soccer programs; after the development, how should clubs help players advance their athletic and professional goals? How does your organization help players at the end of their development funnel?

We believe that development does not stop. In fact, we believe that the age of 18-28 is also a critical age for players to develop. The WPSL is an opportunity not only for players in college or post college age to develop as players but we also often want those experienced players to become coaches. We hope to help those young women to transition in leadership roles either in our club or whatever professional career they chose. If they stay in athletics or soccer, we can directly help by providing opportunities for them within the club.

The Eugene Timbers FC Azul take on the Westside Timbers in a WPSL Oregon Derby

Some clubs are filled with kids who have come up through the academy while other programs don't have a youth program at all and fill their rosters through tryouts every year; how is Eugene Timbers built? Where do you draw your players from?

We continue to draw kids from our club or with ties to Eugene. We have a D1 program here in town and only a few miles away in Corvallis. We also have other college programs in Oregon whose players have joined us. We also have now ties to several college programs around the country that have had players play for us. Those ties also extend to other countries. the core of our players is from Eugene but we also integrate each year other US based players and international players.

What is the future of your organization? Will we see Azul in the WPSL in 2020? Any chance of a men's club in the NPSL or UPSL?

Yes, we will be back in 2020. We are already planning for the next season. With Lane United FC here in town our top-level players on the boy’s side have a place to play locally in the summer.

For more information about Eugene Timbers FC Azul: http://www.eugenetimbers.org/girls-teams/azul/

For more information about the WPSL: https://www.wpslsoccer.com/

Madison Dragons Soccer Club

The independent amateurs from Eastern Idaho, formed in 2002 by Peter Stilling, are now run and coached by Tikal Johnson. Playing their soccer outside of the normal lower league set-up, these players get their soccer fix by playing a season of matches against collegiate squads from within Idaho and surrounding states – and occasionally against club competition from leagues as well. We were really curious about their set-up, what makes them tick, and how it all got started—Tikal Johnson was happy to spell it all out for us.

What's your origin story? When and why did you start Madison Dragons SC? Why Dragons?

I grew up in Lehi, Utah where I started playing soccer at age 8. I played for Utah Arsenal S.C. and then went on to play for Lehi High School but I figured my "playing career" was going to be over after that. After high school, I went to college at BYU-Idaho where I started playing intramural soccer. After one semester, I took a two-year break from college to serve a mission in Spain. In 2016, when I came back to Idaho, I was told about a club soccer team, Madison Dragons S.C., by a former intramural teammate which I went and tried out for. After one year as a player, our coach/manager stepped down due to a career change and asked if I could take charge of the team. I started trying to balance playing, coaching, and managing in the Spring of 2017 and ended up tearing my ACL that summer, which led to focusing solely on coaching and managing.

I took over the team in 2017 but the team originally was formed in 2002 when the junior college in Rexburg, ID (Ricks College) was turned into a 4-year university and discontinued its collegiate sports programs. The members of the Ricks College soccer team wanted to continue playing so they put together a club team that would play against other university club teams. The team was managed and coached by Peter Stilling who had coached the Ricks College team. After playing a handful of games the players gathered together before kickoff and one player put his hand in and jokingly suggested they cheer for "Pete's Dragons." The name stuck and the county of Madison was added to the name to create Madison Dragons Soccer Club.

Tikal Johnson (left) runs the club and coaches the men, while Jacob Fagersten (right) is the women’s head coach.

According to the schedule on your website, you seem to only play college teams? And you don't seem to have any "home" matches--what's the soccer scene like in Idaho? Are there other non-MLS clubs within a reasonable distance? Have you played in any leagues before? Any Cup competitions?

We are part of the West Coast Soccer Association, and are made up of BYU-Idaho students so we mainly play against college club teams hence our schedule being mainly against other universities. However, we do play against UPSL teams Idaho Falls FC and Boise Cutthroats FC during our Spring/Summer season. We typically don't have any home games from November to April due to snow which is why we haven't had any listed home games in a little bit. We typically have around 10 home games throughout the year for the men's team and around 4 home games throughout the year for the women's team. The majority of those home games come in the Fall when we have our league season or in the spring before the semester has ended and all of our players have gone home for the summer. Currently we have not participated in any cups or tournaments due to travel costs but we are always evaluating our options to try to have more opportunities to play.

The soccer scene in Idaho is small but definitely growing, in the last 3 years the UPSL has expanded to Idaho by adding teams in Boise, Twin Falls, and Idaho Falls. The closest team to us is now Idaho Falls FC (about 25 miles South of us), but prior to that the closest opponents we had were in Utah. Beyond adult amateur leagues, youth soccer is growing rapidly with more teams being added each year.

The Madison Dragon’s men’s squad plays about 10 home matches a season, but have to get them done before the snow comes in late autumn.

Some clubs exist solely for the development of players, some are formed to extend soccer careers, but invariably fans find a club, no matter how small. What's your fan situation like?

We definitely fall under the extending soccer careers category but our fans come from the community and the university. For the last 17 years we have just played in a local park so anyone who wants to come watch can but I'd love to be able to get into a stadium so that we can create a full fan experience.

One of the hardest parts of running a club is keeping it running; for the benefit of other clubs who might be wondering, how do you find sponsors? Where do you look for the best deal on soccer kits? What advice would you give to fund a brand-new soccer team?

Sponsorships have come for us through business owners that my players have known in the area and business owners I have reached out to. Although we have a couple different sponsors, the majority of our funding is covered by player fees. For the best deal on kits, I've worked through Soccer.com but this year we are looking to try and switch to Icarus FC. We loved their designs and the price point! Advice for funding a brand-new team... I would say to tap into the community first. Reach out to local businesses and offer low cost sponsorship methods. It is definitely easier to get a lot of small sponsorships than to try and land one big one.

Omner Morelos of Dragons attacks Boise State University during a competitive match for the Squad.

You have a men's team and a women's side too, are you affiliated with any youth clubs? Do your men and women players spend any time coaching?

Initially when the club started there was a men's side and a women's side, but the women's side folded after a season or two. At the beginning of last year, a handful of BYU-I students approached me about starting up a women's team. A player from the men's team and a friend of mine, Jacob Fagersten, volunteered to coach and together we started up the women's program. Currently we aren't affiliated with any youth teams, but we have provided several youth teams with prep scrimmages before state cup during our offseason. In the future we would like to start up an academy and run a summer camp which would provide some opportunities for players to coach, but currently we don't have anything set up yet. Thanks for the opportunity to share a bit more about my club!

- Joshua Duder

Madison Dragons’ women’s side is back up and running, providing an opportunity to play for women athletes in their community.

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For more information about the Madison Dragons, check them out here: https://www.madisondragons.com/

If you’re interested in volunteering or following on social media, contact them here: https://www.facebook.com/MadisonDragonsSC/