NYC Footy Neighborhood Spotlight: Baruch Playground Field In LES
Hey Footy Family,
As part of an effort to be more useful in our emails, we will be regularly featuring field and location "spotlights" that give you a bit of the cultural surroundings of a particular footy field.
Plus, now that summer registration has been unleashed to the masses, we thought it might be wise to parse through the admittedly long list of fields and give you some of the highlights so you can find the best field (and watering hole) for your team.
Up First: Baruch Playground on the Lower East Side
Footy Players at Baruch Playground
The Field:
A quiet field wedged in an alcove with the Williamsburg Bridge and the East River as your backdrop. Right off the main strip of E Houston ST, the field is one of the locations where we run both Footy Leagues and our partner BetterPlayer practice program.
Having been recently renovated, the field is in excellent condition, with enough space for two 6v6 or 7v7 games to run simultaneously.
Since the field is tucked away from the crowds, with the pair of regulation goals always on site, Baruch Playground is an excellent place to grab some friends for a practice and a picnic over the weekend. Or grab your team's goalie and just take shots at them for an hour. Trust me, they love it.
Fun Fact: The field is located where NYC's first public bathhouse and pool was built in 1901. Some say, you can still hear the spectral whispers of lifeguards long past yelling "No running!" to this very day.
The Neighborhood:
Whether you’re looking for a sunny patio, a string lit garden, or a bustling dive, you’ll find all of the above within a short walk of the field, including one of my all time favorites.
The Summit Bar Patio
The Summit Bar is an absolute gem that maintains a quaint but upscale environment through a balance of great food, excellent cocktails (I recommend The Matador), an incredibly endearing staff who all happen to be soccer fans, and most importantly, freshly popped popcorn at every table. What more do you want. They have space in the front as well as a cozy (heated in the Winter) back-patio, which you can reserve if you DM them on Instagram.
Royale Bar back patio
Royale is only one block further North, which has a busy dive bar vibe, but with a massive back deck that spans two floors and can covered and so it’s even enjoyable in the rain. Don’t be fooled by the laid back vibe, Royale was featured in The Infatuation for having one of the best burgers in town.
Ace Bar
Ace Bar is another great spot on 5th street that has darts, pool, pinball, and plenty of other games. If none of these fit your fancy, just head West from the field on E Houston St. and by 1st ave you'll have run into more bars than you will know what to do with.
Directions:
Subway: The closest stop to the field is the Delancy St - Essex St stop, where both the F and J trains stop. The other best bet is coming off of the 4, 5, and 6 trains, which stop at Bleeker St.
Bus: The M14D, which you can catch along 14th street and is your best bet if you're taking the L train. The M21 runs all along E Houston St from West to East and will get you just a block away from the field.
Bike: The bike path that runs up and down the East River is only one block away from the field, as is the Williamsburg bridge, which will let you out only 3 blocks from the field if you bike or walk over it. As always, you can take a Citibike, as there is a station literally at the field.
Thanks for listening.
- James
Get Kicking!
As always, we'd love any feedback you have about the fields, how to get there, or any hidden gems in the area. We promise to keep your secrets safe within our email blasts.
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Neighborhood Spotlight: Bedford Armory
The Skinny on NYC Footy's Newest Indoor Turf Location
We want to take advantage of this rather quiet week to feature a few of our winter locations and the surrounding area that offers up a bit more than footy.
Today, we are excited to feature only our second ever indoor turf location: Bedford Armory, a brand new facility that is quickly becoming the talk of the town. Just take a look at the photo below.
BEDFORD ARMORY: CROWN HEIGHTS
For its opening season, NYC Footy is going to host a couple of programs, including two 5v5 leagues and one training & development class.
Available NYC Footy Leagues:
Tuesday Night 5v5 Coed (9 Teams Currently. 1 Spot left.)
Sunday afternoon 5v5 Coed (5 Teams Currently. 3 Spots left.)
Location:
Just to the left of the visible area of the above map is the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and the NE entrance to Prospect Park. The facility itself is situated right off the 2/3/4/5 trains, as well as major bus routes.
Photo Credit: Timeout.com | Brooklyn Botanical Garden
The Neighborhood
If you're looking for some insights into the neighborhood, first take a note that if you fancy a lazy Sunday after your game, you not only have bars & restaurants to choose from, but you're just 2 blocks from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and the rest of Prospect Park.
If you're interested in the bar and restaurant scene, be sure to click the links below, which will take you to a map of the top rated spots nearby.
Featured Restaurant: Ix
Guatemalan fare + coffee, tea, baked goods and the like.
Photo Credit: The New York Times | Ix
Here's a list of top restaurants nearby
Featured Bar: Branch Ofc.
Fully equipped with cocktails, pinball and, thankfully, a patio out back.
Photo Credit: USA Restaurants | Branch Ofc.
Here's a list of top bars nearby
That's the feature for today. We'll be back later in the week with Sunset Park and our two winter locations.
For all other leagues, visit www.nycfooty.com!
COVID-19 UPDATE: An important message about NYC Footy leagues
TO SEE OUR MOST UP-TO-DATE LIST OF NYC FOOTY’S COVID PROTOCOLS, CLICK HERE.
January 2022
NYC Footy’s 2022 COVID-19 Protocol
Effective January 1, 2022 thru TBD
Our goal, ever and always, is to create soccer experiences that are fun, safe and memorable. COVID-19 has been a formidable adversary in such efforts, but by planning ahead and staying consistent with our policies, your life will be easier and we can keep the Footy show running.
NYC Footy will operate in compliance with state and city guidelines. As guidelines from the CDC and local authorities shift, so will NYC Footy's. It goes without saying, but we deeply appreciate your patience and flexibility. In the end, we hope we’re all stronger for it.
In preparation for what may be a rapidly changing environment at the beginning of 2022, below is a framework that we have built to best manage the turbulence:
Indoor Activity Protocol
We are committed to you playing soccer during the winter. Our protocol is in alignment with city rules, and in compliance with our venue’s rules.
Plan A: We will move forward, as planned, with all of our indoor and outdoor winter leagues.
Plan B: In lieu of canceling games whenever a facility is temporarily closed due to precautionary reasons, we have paired our indoor facilities with a “sister” outdoor field/facility. This will allow us to keep our community active and leagues running on time. Sister leagues are paired as follows:
Current Indoor Field <> Sister Outdoor Field
Brooklyn Heights (St. Francis College) <> Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5
Crown Heights (Bedford Armory) <> Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5
Williamsburg (The Post) <> Sternberg Park
Astoria (Upper 90) <> Astoria Park
Sunset Park (Socceroof) <> Bush Terminal Field
West Village (Greenwich House) <> Pier 40
East Village (Settlement House) <> Pier 40
COVID-19 Safety Guidelines for Active Players
At the Facility/Field:
Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination at Indoor Facilities Only: According to city mandates, all indoor league participants will be required to show a proof of vaccination in order to participate in indoor league play. Some facilities will require that you fill out a form in advance of arrival. Others will need you to present your proof to the front desk at the facility.
Masks: All indoor facilities as of now, require masks be worn upon arrival and while not on the active field of play.
Social distancing: NYC Footy asks that all players keep proper social distance upon arriving at the facility and as much as possible throughout the game whilst not on the field of play. NYC Footy supports teams that decide to avoid post-game handshakes.
Hand Cleaning and Sanitization: NYC Footy encourages all players to clean their hands prior to and after participating in league play (both indoor and outdoor).
We encourage players to not share anyone else’s equipment or belongings, including food or drink.
Post-game: Players must exit the indoor facility immediately after their game concludes.
COVID-19 Exposure Protocol:
We believe in the agency of our players and in a system that relies upon the honor of our members. Thus, participants/staff are responsible for notifying others, self-quarantining and thus not attending their game.
Health Screening Form: Every participant, staff member and player will need to fill out the health screening form that is automatically sent to you hours before your scheduled game(s).
Players or staff that do not pass the health screen will not be able to participate in said game/class.
If someone tests positive for COVID-19: Players and/or staff must stay at home if they have tested positive for COVID-19, show COVID-19 related symptoms or had contact with someone infected with COVID-19.
Those having tested positive, who have shown COVID-related symptoms or were exposed to an individual that tested positive are required to produce a negative test a minimum of 3 full days after exposure (or when a positive test was received) or return after 5 days of quarantine if asymptomatic, 10 days if with symptoms.
Fully vaccinated players that have not tested positive and/or are not exhibiting symptoms need not provide a negative COVID test.
If a participant exhibits symptoms during an NYC Footy event: they will immediately be separated and sent home or to a healthcare facility depending on the severity of the symptoms.
We ask that players follow up NYC Footy on their health status so we can follow proper contact tracing protocol. We will require the participant to provide a negative COVID-19 test and present no symptoms to return to play. Alternatively, the player must sit out for 5 days if asymptomatic, 10 days if with symptoms, in order to return to play.
Contact Tracing: If a player tests positive, shows COVID-related symptoms or was exposed to an individual (player or otherwise) during their gametime, and later tests positive, said player must notify NYC Footy immediately at [email protected].
NYC Footy will notify all players that were in contact with said player.
In accordance with privacy laws, said player’s name and identity will be kept confidential.
If you suspect a player or staff member is not following NYC Footy COVID Protocol, please email [email protected] with details.
NYC Footy Credit Policy
We very much pride ourselves on being a fair operation. We know that paying for soccer requires you to receive soccer. This is why we are working so hard to make sure you do not miss games this season.
Our policy will be as follows:
If guidelines allow us to play at the primary facility or the sister facility, then we will proceed as normal and not process refunds or issue credits to league players.
If we are unable to use a sister field and guidelines do not allow us to play, then players will receive 110% of their prorated value in credits.
As always - Thanks for reading til the end.
Here’s to a safe, fun, and memorable winter season ahead.
February 2021
In anticipation for a full spring season, head on over to our registartion page to see which leagues are available.
November 2020
After a successful fall 2020 season, winter league registration is open. Most of our leagues will be outdoors and all leagues follow strict COVID guidelines.
August 25, 2020
Hi,
We have some very important updates to share about Fall soccer.
Registration for Fall will begin very shortly (details below), but we will not have nearly as many available leagues as we previously thought.
Why Less Fall Leagues?
In short, we've received recent news from Parks that is, to keep with the theme, "against the run of play".
After the Parks Department opened up registration for permit renewals, private facilities began opening up to league play. In reduced capacity, bowling alleys are open, museums are open, schools are opening and many offices are welcoming people back to the office.
However, we received news from parks that, in a decision made alongside city officials, they were going to hold the release of permits for Fall, for the time being.
This suggests that they may approve permits at a later date in September, allowing for a shorter Fall season. But we honestly do not know. There has just been very little information for us to plan accordingly.
In alignment with the Parks decision, Brooklyn Bridge Park, our primary location, will be shutting down their fields this Fall to anyone (not just league play). The good news, however, is that their team has already initiated plans to completely renovate the field. This renovation was otherwise planned for next Spring or Summer, which would arguably have been more disruptive to league play.
The good news: Spring 2021 will see a brand new Brooklyn Bridge Park Field.
What Are Next Steps?
We have already joined a large number of organizations (in the hundreds) petitioning Mayor De Blasio and other city officials to reverse their decision and immediately issue permit renewals for youth and adult leagues to resume play. A move that we all believe is in the best interest of safety and control (currently NYC parks are packed in a disorganized and, presumably, less safe fashion).
There is a lot of momentum behind this right now, with a number of council members supporting the cause.
We have joined their petition, which now has over 7,000 signatures. Please add to that with yours by clicking here (this is different than our petition).
In addition, we have begun a coalition that currently has 7 adult leagues representing tens of thousands of players, all working to get us back on the pitch as soon as possible.
Registering for Available Fall Leagues:
We will be running a handful of leagues this fall at private facilities, although demand will far surpass availability.
This week, we are going to open registration for two facilities:
Thursday nights at Upper 90 Soccer Center in Astoria/LIC.
Sunday afternoons at Upper 90 Soccer Center in Astoria/LIC
Friday nights Hudson River Park, Pier 40
Soon, you may be receiving an invite to register at one of these two facilities. We are going to handle registration in as fair a manner as possible, knowing we are going to leave far too many players without league play this Fall.
Who Is Eligible to Register for Fall Leagues?
The order of invites will go out to people in the order in which they reserved a spot for Fall on our Fall reservation form. Only players and captains who were originally registered for Spring will be eligible.
If there are still spots available after we have invited this group, we will begin inviting non-Spring players that have reserved a Fall spot on our reservation form (in the order in which they reserved).
Each team that is invited will have 48 hours to reserve their space with a deposit. After that 48 hours, a new wave of invites will go out.
What Happens to My Credits?
If you received credits, they will never expire. So, come winter (outdoor, likely) and Spring, you can roll right on into a season.
In addition, you may transfer your credits to another NYC Footy member at any time.
What's Next:
If the Parks Department does issue Fall renewals, you will know immediately of our availability. At that point, if you already registered for one of the 3 leagues above, we will consider transfers.
In addition to fighting for new fields and permits, we are going to use this time to strengthen our programming and hopefully find ways to offer value outside of our leagues. We welcome any and all ideas.
In the meantime, we will expand our weekly soccer fitness & skills program, Footy Fitness. Sign on up for 4 or 10 classes, if interested (you can apply your credits, if you'd like).
Thank you for listening,
Tarek, Gerardo & Joe
_________
July 11, 2020
Hi there,
I can only hope that you are safe, sound and doing everything you can to make the most of the unique time we find ourselves in.
Today, we have some very important updates to share and I'll do my best to be brief about it.
Here we go:
All Credits Have Been Applied!
It took me all week, but I finally got through every single credit applied to captains and free agents.
If you are a team captain or a free agent player, you will now have a credit applied to your account.
Individual players who joined a team paid in full by a captain will not receive a credit from NYC Footy. Your captain will have received the full team credit for all players on that team.
You may use this credit whenever you darn well feel like it. We are not going to put a time limit on them.
To see your credit, you must login to your account.
BBP P1-P5 are the only leagues that had already begun. We have applied a pro-rated credit that only reflects the cost of jerseys to those teams that received them. Week 1 games are not deducted (we'll eat the permit & staff costs for that). Any team that did not receive jerseys will see a full refund applied to their account. If you register for Fall and bring your jerseys, we'll waive the registration balance.
Fall registration will have a two-week window exclusively for Spring teams/players to reserve a spot before the open public.
Please note, we have completed special request refunds for folks severely impacted by COVID (e.g. permanent job loss or permanent relocation). As we look and move forward, in preparation for Fall, we will no longer process Spring refunds. However, we will honor a transfer of credits to a friend through August 15th, for those severely impacted by COVID (e.g. job loss or permanent relocation).
If you are a captain or a free agent player and do NOT see a credit that you feel you are entitled to, please send us a note.
If you are a captain or a free agent and you noticed that I accidentally added a zero to your credit (e.g. 1500 instead of 150), I only ask that you let me know!
Saturday Outdoor Footy Fitness is Back Next Saturday!
In compliance with Phase III restrictions, and after waiting for the completion of a successful week in Phase III, outdoor Footy Fitness will officially restart NEXT Saturday, July 18th at 9:00 am at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Starting July 18th and for 7 weeks thereafter, we will be hosting outdoor Footy Fitness on Saturday mornings. If you have a COVID CREDIT in your account or your are a registered player whose captain has a team credit on their account, you are also entitled to one (1) Footy Fitness class which we ask you to use during this 7 week window.
If you purchased Footy Fitness classes for Spring, you may start using your class credits immediately. We will honor any balance through Spring 2021. You will also get one additional class for free, but it must be used within the same 7 week period mentioned above.
Each class will have limited capacity will have a sign up form shared prior to each week's class.
All players will be at least 6 feet apart from the nearest player. We ask that you bring your own water bottle, hand sanitizer and a mask (which will be optional during drills).
Fall Registration Starts This Week!
We are going to open Fall Registration "reservations" next week. Because the City Parks, BBP and others are waiting for the final go-ahead from the city before giving out official permits, we will not be accepting payment in the form of credits or credit card during this initial reservation window.
The reservation system will allow us to be prepared to convert all reservations once we get the go-ahead. If, for unfortunate reasons, we do not get the go ahead, then there will not be a need to refund or reissue credits (which would probably send me to the graveyard, after spending all week doing just that!).
Once again, Spring registered players who have a credit will have a two-week window where they can reserve spots prior to any new players or teams.
Stay tuned for the official announcement next week.
The Governors Cup is September 19th!
We have been working with Governors Island and have successfully reserved Saturday, September 19th for the annual Governors Cup. As of now, we are a go. Stay tuned for any possible changes.
Thank you all so, so, so much for bearing with us throughout all of this. We promise to give it our all when we get back out there.
I'm sure I'm missing something in the above. But in the meantime, get out and about and we'll see you soon!
Best.
Tarek, Joe, G
_________
APRIL 28, 2020
Hi Footy Family,
TLDR: Suspension extended, NYC Footy financial situation, future credits being applied to Spring registrations, additional discounts, free Footy Fitness classes, possible FIFA tournament.
I hope that you and your loved ones are quarantining as safely and soundly as possible.
It's been a month since we checked in. Many of you may be grateful for that, after the inbox invasion you received during the ever-changing landscape last month.
Deep down we hoped that we'd be able to pick up again come May. That thought now seems absurd to have ever entered our minds. It's been made clear that the earliest we might see the field is in a month's time. We speculate it will be later...
As such, we are going to suspend the league indefinitely, returning only when we get word from local and state authorities that we are okay to take the field again.
From what we know now, that's an easy decision. What follows is less so.
It's probably stating the obvious that organizations and businesses like NYC Footy have been hit particularly hard during the crisis. Read: the business has been at a complete standstill. No play, no registrations, no income, no outlook. We have also paid in full for our Spring & Summer jerseys & permits.
Collectively, we find ourselves in a very vulnerable financial situation.
I'm sure many of you are asking yourselves if it's appropriate to ask a business like ours for a refund. Of course it is. You've parted with your money and have not received what you've paid for.
When we started NYC Footy, we never expected it would turn into what it is today. That's not an exaggeration or some "look where we are now" sob story. One of the benefits of this outcome is that we've done our best to treat it as a community and not a business. When players got a season ending injury, we'd refund them the balance. If someone had to move unexpectedly, we'd refund their balance. If there were reasonable reasons to request a refund, we'd process the refund (hating your teammates was not one of them).
In light of current circumstances, not actually being allowed to play qualifies as reasonable when requesting a refund. Unfortunately, the situation is far more complicated than any one of us could have predicted. A situation where every single player can feasibly request a refund at the same time and there's no new revenue coming in to support the refunds.
And to top it off, in the middle of writing this email our largest cash sponsor just withdrew their support citing similar financial issues (we have yet to receive any 2020 sponsor dollars).
THE BRASS TACKS
Our truth, unfortunately, is we can't afford to refund everyone for Spring. And having one policy for some players/leagues and a different one for others is not equitable.
As a result, we are going to provide all registered players with a credit for a future league. We know this is the second choice for many of you and thus it's only fair that we provide extra value as a result.
In addition, our original plan was to offer 10% off any additional future league (on top of the one you are credited for), but managing the comms for everyone would be a large administrative undertaking. Instead:
we are going to reduce our league fees for the next two seasons by 10% across the board. This will be in addition to any loyalty discount you've earned as part of our recently released discount program.
we will also provide every player with one free Footy Fitness class when classes return (single classes are $40).
we are going to book our Footy Fitness instructor, ex semi-pro soccer player and certified personal trainer, Josh Osborne, for 10 online Footy Fitness classes, accessible for free by anyone via instagram. Details to follow.
a possible FIFA tournament, if folks want us to organize one. Just click here to say "Yes" or "No". There's also an open-ended question encouraging you to share other COVID-inspired ideas with us.
We've already received so many thoughtful emails about understanding this situation. These notes are beyond encouraging.
We know everyone (well nearly everyone) wants to see NYC Footy kicking about in the future. By keeping your money invested in the league until we can confidently deliver on your investment goes beyond helping us out. It means so much more and we are ever grateful for it.
That said, NYC Footy's survival is not nearly as important as the survival of any one particular member. If your welfare is at stake and a refund is critical, please reach out immediately.
Thank you all so much for being part of NYC Footy. If you feel we could handle any of this in a better way, I hope you know we welcome this feedback (so long as you're nice in your delivery).
We'll all be back on the pitch together again soon.
All the best,
Tarek, Joe, G
_________
MARCH 25, 2020 | 8:30pm
Dear NYC Footy Community,
The uncertainty and anxiety that has riddled my home (and the homes of my friends and family) has most likely found itself living rent-free in your own home as well. The phrase "we are all in this together," has never found a more appropriate setting than this world over the past 2 weeks or so.
I hope you are finding some semblance of peace in this new normal, despite the uncertainty of not knowing how long it will last. For us, an organization that literally brings folks together, we're a bit stir crazy being benched for the foreseeable future. But we are making moves.
On the TMI side of things, we have already paid the majority of our expenses to operate the Spring season, so we will continue to work diligently with our vendors, partners, and parks for flexibility to ensure we are 100% fit & ready to serve our members with the same experience you've come to expect (hopefully it's been a great one) as soon as we are allowed.
Luckily, most of our permits run through the end of August, giving us time to complete delayed Spring leagues.
A few key updates:
Suspension Extended: We are going to extend the suspension of operations at least until the end of April, understanding that, should little change, the suspension may be extended again.
Spring Seasons Will be Completed Before Summer Starts: As was decided with the Premier League, the current season is more important to us than future seasons. Spring leagues will see their completion before starting Summer, even if Spring carries into Summer.
Gov Cup Moved Out: To be extra safe, we are moving The Governors Cup, currently scheduled for May 16th out 8 weeks, to July 11th.
Relive Pleasant Memories: We will begin posting fond memories of BBP Week 1 on our Instagram feed.
Footy Fitness At-Home: If you would like soccer activities to practice on your own, Josh Osbourne, our Footy Fitness instructor, has created a 4-week, 5-days-per-week, written program + a suite of videos for purchase ($200 total). He is also conducting one-on-one ($75) and group ($25) fitness sessions online. As a professional trainer, his career has traditional practice is on hold. So, during this period, NYC Footy will contribute 100% of all revenue earned through Footy Fitness Online (newly coined) to Josh. Hit reply if interested.
Future Tournaments: We are going to prepare more ways to engage the soccer-hungry community once we get the go-ahead to resume activities. This includes a potential charity tournament with our partner, South Bronx United, as well as a coed tournament in Scotland (in partnership with Celtic).
Thank you all and keep stretching (now more than ever)!
Tarek, Gerardo, Joe
_________
MARCH 15, 2020 | 10:00am
Hi everyone,
TLDR: NYC Footy league games are suspended for a minimum of two weeks effective today, Sunday, March 15th (not tomorrow, March 16th).
As expected, more information has come our way. I've been overseas since the start of last week and had I known then what I know now, I would never have traveled (for those who may be wondering, should I get back this week, as scheduled, I will be in quarantine, as advised).
The distance has made it even more difficult to get the sentiment on the ground in NYC, but luckily we've had wonderful players emailing me with excellent intel and strong suggestions. This, coupled with the expectation that the constant changes coming out of our government bodies will continue to happen, has informed an immediate suspension of all scheduled league play, effective immediately.
Our initial decision to begin the suspension effective Monday was to prevent mass confusion across leagues that had only Friday received communication that the games were scheduled (which was based off of the information we had at the time w/r/t government guidelines of no gatherings over 500).
The new news arrived and our notification went out at midnight last night. We know from experience that most folks would simply not get this email and show up. Knowing it meant people would be relatively close to one-another, we still felt that the best decision was to begin the suspension on Monday. We knew this would split opinion. But we felt it would create the least confusion in an already confusion and anxiety-ridden time.
In addition, it appears from the mayor's directive that DoE restrictions will take effect Monday (there was no mention of a date or time or use of the word "immediately"). The next school day however, would be Monday.
Please note, because we expect numerous players to show up at their scheduled times, we will have staff there to facilitate an informal scrimmage for any members of our community that would like to.
Thank you for your understanding. I only ask that if you disagree with our decisions and/or our choice to respond to government directives the way we have, knowing many believe they are too slow to react, that you share those disagreements with us in a polite way.
I don't think disagreements should inform a loss of humanity, especially during a time of incredible anxiety and confusion.
Thank you all,
Tarek, Gerardo, Joe
_________
MARCH 14, 2020: 11:59PM
Hi everyone,
Well, this has felt like the longest week of my life. On Monday of last week, I traveled overseas to attend a close friend's wedding in Ireland, where I am at this moment. If I know then what I know now, I would never have traveled. Information changes at an astonishing rate and we’re all trying to get our heads around it.
Unfortunately, all of my headspace completely consumed on any new information coming out of the U.S., and NYC in particular, that may inform changes to NYC Footy as well as changes to my own ability to get home.
Just this morning, we notified players registered for Spring leagues that we will be postponing the start date for all upcoming leagues to the first (1st) and second (2nd) weeks of April.
However, with news this morning that the city is expanding their guidelines to include any Department of Education extracurricular activities, "such as athletic games and practices, school-wide assemblies, school plays, and recitals until further notice," we've concluded that this new restriction translates to leagues like NYC Footy as well. Thus, we've decided to suspend all active indoor & outdoor leagues for a minimum of two (2) weeks, beginning Monday, March 16th.
Note: Any league play for tomorrow (Sunday, March 15th) will be played as scheduled.
We are beginning effective Monday for two primary reasons.
First, everyone already received communication on Friday that weekend games were on as scheduled in accordance city and state guidelines. We quickly received feedback from a number of teams, sharing whether or not they could make it. Plans were made and sending a midnight email Sunday morning changing all that was just communicated felt like a recipe for mass confusion. I am intimately aware that many players do not check email on Sunday.
Secondly, it appears the city will begin effective Monday as well with their new DoE guidelines.. No date was given. The phrase "effective immediately" is also absent from the directive. Thus, our best guess was extracurricular activities will be suspended beginning Monday.
We will continue to report back to the community with updates, should new information coming out of local, state and federal bodies become available. Things are changing extremely fast (just hours before this most recent announcement, the statement coming from Mayor DeBlasio's office continued the previous narrative around minimizing large gatherings of 500 people or more).
We will, however, make our permitted spaces available for registered league players to use informally.
Be smart, stay safe and please keep in mind that there will be countless communities affected by this pandemic indirectly.
We are privileged to be able use extra income to pay for physical wellness activities like NYC Footy. But there are many marginalized members of our community that will not be directly affected by COVID-19, but whose lives will fall apart by loss of work and the subsequent financial duress that is so successful at tearing apart families and homes. There will be thousands of members in our community out of work, struggling to put food on their table and falling into mental and physical illness as a result.
We are all fearful of COVID-19 spreading to members of our community and it's inspiring to see so many folks come together to do their part. But please do keep in mind that fear has a way of leading towards irrational decisions that have compounding consequences. Consequences that almost always fall on poor and vulnerable communities.
Please keep these thoughts in your mind as things continue to develop.
Until next time (probably in 30 minutes from now),
Tarek, Gerardo, Joe
_________
MARCH 13, 2020
Dear NYC Footy Players,
Like all of us, we are parsing through all of the new information arriving from every outlet in on a daily basis concerning the COVID-19 virus that continues to spread throughout New York, the U.S. and the rest of the world.
We do our best to over-communicate (I know we don't always nail this), so this is a particularly long email, and we'll do our best to separate it into parts.
PART 1: THE CURRENT STATUS OF NYC FOOTY LEAGUES
As founders of NYC Footy, Gerardo, Joe and myself have a responsibility to each and every member of our community. That responsibility is keeping all of you safe, healthy and happy with your experience.
Most often, when significant league-wide decisions are required, we leverage our own expertise and domain knowledge. On extremely rare occasions, events occur whereby we must lean on external expertise to help us make informed decisions that will affect our community. The current circumstances related to COVID-19 are taking such rare occasions to the extreme, and we are leveraging the expertise of scientists, public officials and the agencies responsible for the safety and health of its constituents to make decisions pertaining to NYC Footy.
The following quote sums up NYC Footy's approach to making decisions for our members:
"Since threats like COVID-19 can lead to the circulation of misinformation, it’s important to trust information only from reputable health organizations and government sources" - Yale Medicine (3/12/20)
In getting to the big point fast, as of right now, small gatherings of people outdoors appears to be a a reasonable activity for folks that aren't at-risk or those not exhibiting symptoms. Brooklyn Bridge Park as well as the City Parks, following guidelines from the NYS Department of Health, the CDC, and the Mayor's office, will remain opened to the public. Thus, as of right this very moment, all games are to proceed as scheduled.
We are monitoring this on a day-by-day basis and will make adjustments in line with the city's guidelines. We will communicate with you regularly as new information develops.
We know that not every player in our league or every league in the city would make the same decision. We must take in and respect all opinions and arguments from experts and players* alike, and make the best-informed decision possible. This is what we have done.
*Note, to date we have received only two (2) emails from over 1,000 active players expressing immediate concern over playing.
PART 2: MORE DETAIL INFORMING OUR CURRENT DECISION
As for the dangers of getting your information from non-expert sources (e.g. where false information can spread, like like the subway system shutting down, which, until now, is not true):
"Because the situation is constantly changing, make sure you get your travel advice from credible sources, such as the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO)...There’s a lot of misinformation out there fueling unwarranted fear and anxiety." - Syra Madad, senior director of the System-wide Special Pathogens Program at New York City Health + Hospitals. - AARP (March 12, 2020)
We know that many very high-profile postponements and cancelations have recently occurred, including the temporary suspension of both the NBA and NHL as well as the cancelation of the NCAA basketball tournament. It's extremely important that we separate the impact of such news (extraordinarily large gatherings of players and fans, usually indoors, multiple days a week) from our reality as a small recreational league that brings a handful of people together to play soccer, mostly outdoors.
We do expect that restrictions will increase and may include gatherings like recreational sports, which, according to both public officials and medical experts, remain a low-risk activity. Currently, as most of you are aware, intimate indoor gatherings and very large outdoor gatherings remain a much higher risk. We have yet to discover a reputable publication asking folks showing no-symptoms and haven't traveled to at-risk countries or been in contact with folks exhibiting flu-like symptoms to avoid outdoor activities involving less than 100 people (NY restrictions remain 500 or above).
We are aware that there is growing fear related to COVID-19. We also appreciate that fear quickly accelerates. In response, Governor Cuomo said this: "the facts do not justify the fear in this situation and the facts here should actually reduce anxiety." Whether you (or I) believe him or not, we've already made the commitment to trust our elected officials with respect to this decision.
Even with the increase in cases, and shy of a complete city-mandated lockdown, a gathering the size of our outdoor games, usually with zero or minimal spectators, remains in the spirit of activities folks should continue to enjoy. And until instructed otherwise, we are committed to delivering this service.
PART 3: WILL WE CHANGE OUR DECISION?
We are all extremely aware that this could change overnight and we will stay on top of that. For now, the current statewide mandate is that there should be no gatherings of 500 people or more. The mayor has also said that he intends to keep the subways and buses operating. Most schools will be remaining open as well. So, taking in all of the facts and factoring in the steps our city and state have taken, NYC Footy, as of right this moment, will keep all games operating as scheduled until new information suggests otherwise.
If it turns out that the suggestions coming from experts and state & local government bodies inform postponing our league for an indefinite period of time, we will react immediately to do so and provide all of you with as much information as possible regarding options.
There is uncertainty about the future that we all share. And I'm talking the immediate future. Like tomorrow. But we cannot remain frozen in uncertainty and indecision. We need to continue living, building, creating, surviving, and thriving. It's extremely important to remain active and healthy and do our part as responsible citizens to help us get past the current crisis.
Locking ourselves in our homes may ensure an accelerated decline of COVID-19's impact, but it may mean far more significant consequences elsewhere. So, until the time comes where we are instructed to take greater restrictions, we want to be here as a low-risk outlet for our members.
PART 4: WHAT CAN PLAYERS DO TO MINIMIZE RISK
By now you are fully aware of the CDC recommendations for minimizing risk. In short, please take daily precautions to prevent the spread of disease by practicing excellent hygiene and remaining at home for a number of days, should you exhibit any flu-like symptoms. All admin & staff at NYC Footy are instructed to do the same. Wash your clothes & gear regularly as well.
If you have additional concerns about your safety or those you spend time with, please reach out so that we can do our best to work with you on an individual level.
PART 5: SOME EXCERPTS FROM RECENT ARTICLES
I want to end with some useful facts I've dug out of very recent articles (I'm considering anything before March outdated when it pertains to the COVID-19 virus):
This out of Yale Medicine (3/12/20)
“First, COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza, from the data we have so far,” he says. “With influenza, people who are infected but not yet sick are major drivers of transmission, which does not appear to be the case for COVID-19.”
The disease is believed to be most contagious when people are the most symptomatic, and there may be some spread before people with the virus exhibit symptoms, although this is thought to be minimal
Since threats like COVID-19 can lead to the circulation of misinformation, it’s important to trust information only from reputable health organizations and government source
Some useful quotes that also helped inform our decision:
Because the risk of COVID-19 spreading throughout the U.S. community is still relatively low at this time, there is no reason to fear or halt domestic travel plans, said public health expert Syra Madad, who serves as the senior director of the System-wide Special Pathogens Program at New York City Health + Hospitals. - AARP (March 12, 2020)
I think we’re humans and we need human interaction; I think that’s important for our sanity. It’s important to focus on [avoiding] large crowds and indoor activities where you have lots of people touching the same surfaces. - Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
Thanks for listening, and by all means, feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
-Tarek, Gerardo, Joe
The Best Footy Presents From Christmas Past
As we are approaching Christmas, I have been thinking about the best football related Christmas gifts I’ve received in my life. As I was a football nut as a kid, football gifts were a large part of my childhood.
Here are a few that stuck out in my memory.
1. Subbuteo Set
Do you know what Subbuteo is? Do you know what Subbuteo WAS, is probably the better way to phrase that question. When I was a kid, Subbuteo would take up a huge amount of real estate in any self respecting toy shop. Subbuteo was a game that involved flicking these teeny plastic figures at a ball.
The branding of Subbuteo was fantastic and you could buy any team you wanted. What’s more with Subbuteo you could buy stands, floodlights and build your dream football stadium. It was so popular that there were vast Subbuteo tournaments that people took very seriously. I must be honest - the game itself was not too much fun to play. But it didn’t matter. It just looked great.
2. Footy Books
I had a library of football books as a kid. Two that stick out were -
The Times Illustrated History of Football
By most people’s standards I think I have a pretty strong knowledge of the history of football. Why? Well one Christmas I got The Times Illustrated History of Football. The book dedicated about 4 pages to newspaper stories telling the biggest football stories of that season, along with a couple of pages with every league table for that season. I poured over that book like it was the Bible.
The Comic Book History Of The World Cup
Another absolute beauty of a book - The Comic Book History of The World Cup brought to life the history of the world’s greatest sporting event through beautiful illustration. The book isn’t particularly big, and has an unconventional shape, but it feels so unique in your hands. You don’t get bored going through it again and again. Between World Cups, the book has short interesting profiles on the greatest managers and all the results from that particular tournament. Sadly, the comic book only goes up to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and as far as I can see has never been updated. If you can get a copy of this on Amazon if will make a unique item on your coffee table.
3. Premier League Trading Cards
For a few years of my youth, collecting and swapping Merlin’s Premier League stickers was as addictive as crack cocaine - not that I have any experience with the later mind you. Building onto the frenzy kids had in the mid nineties for football stickers - Merlin brought out a far more expensive trading card set. I managed to collect all the cards at great expense, but I needed to find one to finish the collection. My poor old grandmother would buy tons of packets of cards hoping I would find it, to no such luck. The particular card I was looking for was known as a Laser Cut card, and there was something like a 1-in-a-million chance of finding it. One Christmas, with my aunt light on funds, she asked me what I would like as a gift. I told her to just get me a couple of packets of cards. That Christmas, when she gave me the two packets, I wasn’t expecting to get the elusive card. But like Charlie Bucket himself… I did. I celebrated the find like scoring the winning in the last minute of a World Cup Final.
Here is the card in question which I see you can now get on Ebay for about 8 dollars. Had I known the value would climb so poorly, I could have saved my family a lot of money had they just waited 20 years.
4. Footy Videos
Back before the days of YouTube, I was a huge collector of football videos. You could buy all manner of videos on the beautiful game. I particularly liked goal-compilation videos. Those videos would have imaginative titles like ‘500 Great Goals’ or ‘All the Goals of USA 94.’ I wore those videos out like the footy geek that I am.
Around Christmas time it was often common in the UK for videos to come out featuring the best of footy bloopers. The videos would be marketed on TV as the ultimate Christmas gift. These productions always seemed thrown together - and were often hosted by some b-list TV presenter. Now, of course, you can find them all on YouTube. So without further ado… enjoy Danny Bakers Own Goals and Gaffs:
5. Footy Kits
I was only really into getting football jerseys when I was young. My best jersey memories included getting the Ajax shirt from around 1995, and the Brazil 98 jersey. That was a classic. But I suppose my all time favorite kit memory was when I got the Irish goalkeeper jersey after the 1990 World Cup.
6. Footy video-games
There were so many football video games that I loved as a kid. The first one I remember having was simply called Soccer for the NES. It was made by Konami and was ultimately a precursor to PES. After that, there was Super Soccer on the Super Nintendo. That was dodge, even if it did allow you to run the field and score with the goal keeper.
My friends loved Sensible Soccer with its top down visuals. Apparently, that was the thinking person's football game. But I never got into it. FIFA Soccer came out around 1993 but was all style and no substance. I preferred Striker and World Cup Striker. Me and my friends would all gather around have have high stakes tournaments on it. No jammy goals allowed. But in hindsight, the football game I played more than any other was International Superstar Soccer on the Nintendo 64. After that, there really was no point in playing a footy game ever again.
That was a good trip down memory lane. Get writing your Santa wish lists kiddos.
9 Great Cup Runs
Back in September I had a great day out at the inaugural NYC Footy Governors Cup on Governors Island. It was an all day tournament culminating in some glorious trophy lifts. The day got me thinking about the best cup runs in my living memory. I’m sure I have left plenty of good ones out, but the following spring to mind.
1. Ireland Make It To The World Cup Quarter Final
I am a broken record in these articles talking about Ireland in the 1990 World Cup in Italy. But as it was Ireland's first appearance at a World Cup, not so much was expected from us in the tournament. First we had to get out of a tough group that included The Netherlands (fresh from winning Euro 88), England (who would go on and reach the 1990 World Cup semi finals) and the unknown quantity of Egypt. Not only did we get out of the group, but then overcame Romania in the round of 16, before ultimately getting knocked out by a solitary goal from Italy in the quarter finals in Rome. The team came home to a hero's welcome of 800,000 people on the streets of Dublin. Can you imagine if we won the thing?
2. South Korea Make It To The World Cup Semi Finals in 2002
Pressure is always on for host nations of big tournaments. The same was true of South Korea ahead of the World Cup they jointly hosted with Japan in 2002. But under the management of great Guus Hiddink, the team topped a tough first round group that included Portugal, USA and Poland. The South Koreans then sensationally beat both Spain and Italy in subsequent rounds before losing by just one goal in the semi finals to Germany. Granted the run to the semis was marred in all manner of controversy and suspicious referee decisions. But you can’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
3. USA Make It To The Quarter Finals in 2002
For me, USAs run to the quarter finals of the World Cup in 2002 is the greatest achievement in US soccer history. It is also one that is strangely forgotten in recent history. Perhaps it's because soccer's popularity in the USA has only really bloomed in subsequent years, and the new fans and media attention that has came with it only have a football memory that goes back so far. Nevertheless, the US came out of a group by gloriously beating Portugal 3-2 and then beating permanent rivals Mexico 2-0 in the last 16. Yes, folks, the US beat Mexico when it really mattered. In the quarter finals, the US got knocked out by just one goal to Germany who would go all the way to the final. USA! USA!
4. Celtic Reach The UEFA Cup Final In 2003
Another personal choice for me. Playing in the Scottish Premier League, little is ever expected from Scottish teams in European competition. But in the 2002-2003 season under the management of the inspiring Martin O’Neill (who also had legendary cup runs with Leicester City), Celtic made it all the way to the UEFA Cup final, only to lose to the then unknown Jose Mourinho's Porto in the final. On the route to the final, Celtic beat both Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool. Both ties were dubbed a ‘Battles of Britain’ with English pundits giving Celtic little chance. I went to a number of games on that famous cup run, and was behind the goal in Anfield when John Hartson scored a screamer that knocked out The Redmen.
5. Ajax Reach The Champions League Semi Final In 2019
Ajax have always been one of Europe's greatest clubs. But sadly, in recent years with TV finances being stacked towards the big leagues in Europe, their power to compete on the biggest stage appears to have diminished over time. That was until last season when an exciting crop of young players took Ajax all the way to the Champions League semis. I could argue that Ajax's run was the biggest surprise in Champions League football since Porto won the competition in 2004. Ajax’s run is made more impressive by the fact the Dutch giants had to overcome three qualification rounds just to get into the competition proper.
6. Denmark Win Euro 1992
Denmark winning the 1992 European Championship was truly a fairytale story. The story is made fully incredible by the fact that Denmark hadn’t even qualified to compete in Euro 92. But, due to the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia a team was needed at the last moment to replace the war torn country. The story goes that many of the Danish players were on their summer holidays when they got the phone call that they were needed to play. The Danes beat France in the group stage, The Netherlands in the semis and Germany in the final.
7. Greece Win Euro 2004
It always upsets me the way the Greek team of 2004 is spoken about. Their glorious win in 2004 coupled with Leicester City winning the Premier League are arguably the two biggest football surprise stories that I can think of. I think the Greek team is thought of unfondly because their whole team were unknown with awkward to pronounce names and also because their football was tough and pragmatic. To put some perspective on Greece’s victory - before the tournament Greece were 150/1 to emerge victorious. Personally, I don’t care how you get the job done, as long as you get the job done.
8. Wigan Win The FA Cup in 2013
Although it’s prestige has been severely diminished in recent years - The FA Cup is still the most famous domestic cup competition in the world. It is also the oldest national football competition in the world. The romance and myth of the competition suggests anyone can win it on their day. But in truth the winners, certainly in my time are the usual suspects - Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and recently Man City. So with that in mind, the most glorious winners by far were Wigan Athletic in 2013. In truth they had a favorable draw to the final which included ties against Bournemouth, Macclesfield, Huddersfield, Everton and Millwall. But they did then have to beat the big spending Manchester City in the final. Despite the glory of winning the cup, Wigan were also relegated from the Premier League in the same season
9. Iceland Reach The Quarter Finals of Euro 2016
With a population of just 330,000 people - Iceland's very qualification for Euro 2016 was considered remarkable. For their first qualification game at home to Turkey, only 7,000 people turned out in the 15,000 capacity national stadium. That was the beginning of an incredible story which captured the hearts and minds of people the world over. Iceland ultimately made it all the way to the quarter finals of Euro 2016. Along with the thunderous Viking Clap, for me the greatest moment of Iceland's story was when they knocked England out, beating them 2-1 in the second round. And this video reaction by former England manager Steve McClaren to Iceland’s 2nd goal is priceless:
If you feel I’ve missed an obvious one, leave a note in the comments…
A Footy Fest Diary
I hadn’t slept the night before. I had to wake up at 6am to watch Ireland in the Rugby World Cup Quarter Final v New Zealand (The All Blacks). In the end I didn’t really sleep at all. I tend not to sleep very well when I know I need to get up so early. I’m too worried about not waking up. Suffice to say game was an unmitigated disaster for Ireland and I would have done well to sleep right through it.
I took a hastily arranged car ride to Footy Fest with the kid, Adin. Adin was quite a character and together we made for an unlikely buddy cop movie duo on the way to the fest. I thought Adin was a NYC Footy regular initially, but it turned out it was his first time taking part. I was excited on his behalf to see the Footy Fest set up.
Before we hit the road proper we stopped into a gas station. He grabbed two meat pies, and a bunch of the most random confectionery - Ferro Rocher as a pre footy snack… nice.
On the ride we got acquainted by talking about everything and anything - break-ups and music tastes. Nothing was off limits. We had philosophical conversations about kids and tattoos while I bored Adin with my love of U2, and gave him a crash course in the best of Irish music - Van Morrison, The Boomtown Rats, The Waterboys and Thin Lizzy.
I am not the best passenger in a car ride. I am a nervous passenger. And I am not immune to car sickness. This kicked in particularly during the last 30 minutes of the ride to the fields in the Catskills. Those windy country roads do nothing for my stomach - not helped by the meat pie I decided to join in on.
By the time we arrived, I pretty much fell out of the car - gasping for air and trying to gather myself.
I confess we arrived so late that we had missed our first two games. Nevertheless I couldn’t wait to have a game. The weather was particularly glorious in the Catskills. I was half expecting an icy chill and a mud field this time of year, but in truth I could have done with bringing some Factor 50 rather than a wooly hat.
I was put on team, Pre Malone. The Green Team - rather appropriate for the Irishman. I love the shirts that NYC Footy give the teams. The designs are always great.
As excited as I was about playing - my first game was an utter disaster. We lost what felt like 9-0. We were all quite frustrated with each other by the end of the game. I made the decision then, that in the next game I was going to be diligent to the task of defending and maintaining some kind of team shape. I always feel when a game goes badly, it’s important to focus on the basics of your own game - stay in a good useful position, and make sure to give passes to feet. I think I did that pretty well… but we still got hammered in our last run out.
Shaking off the blues of our team performances I dived into the pizzas that were on offer. I also had a couple of Red Bulls. Usually, I would be very against such an energy drink, but as I was working on about 30 hours without sleep I needed a good kick up the arse - especially as my main task was to make the weekly NYC Footy video.
When I make my videos, I like interacting with people and bringing out some level of colour and humor. But sometimes you need to dig deep to find the right energy to do that. I am actually shy at heart, so going up and talking to random people you barely know requires you clicking into somewhat of an alter ego. Red Bull helped in this case.
My main strategy when making a video is to circle the fields and try to find interesting moments and shots. I like to come up with a certain theme of questioning for the people as well. It amazes me how often I have no clue what I will ask them, and then out of nowhere something pops up in my head to save the day. For the day’s video, I thought simply I would ask people what was on their mind. That worked well to get me going as I got a few wacky answers.
The great thing about NYC Footy and the Footy Fest is seeing the regular faces. Everybody seemed in great spirits overall. Tarek and Gerardo (two of NYC Footy’s founders) were well on top of proceedings. I was only thinking last night how those guys need a medal. As a former founder myself, I understand what it’s like to be taken for granted despite the huge amount of work and stress that goes on behind the scenes to make an operation go off well. The guys do a stellar job. I salute them.
The footy moment of the day for me was during one of the semis, the game was tied 0-0 going into the last two minutes. Then one team (the New York K(n)icks - the ‘n’ is silent), went on top, only to give away two goals in the subsequent 60 seconds to lost the game 2-1. It was the most glorious of comebacks and I am happy I caught it on camera.
From the Footy Fest we headed to the bar. I was under-dressed for the evening - Still in the footy gear I had wore all day. An icy chill have finally arrived. Meanwhile some had been able to squeeze in a shower and get changed allowing them to show up looking sparkling. It’s amazing how people can look totally different when spruced up, as opposed to when they are wearing their functional footy gear. Mind you, shout out to the girl who wore the fashionable woolly Nike leggings.
Sadly, I had to get back to Manhattan that evening as I had a video shoot the very next morning. I hitched a ride with Danny Ospina - the photographer for the day. I didn’t know Danny at all but we had great chats on the way back that made the 3 hour drive go by in no time.
By about 11 I was back in bed for some much needed sleep. It had been a while. But it was a great day. Looking forward to the next NYC Footy Fest outing already.
5 Training Ground Bust Ups Caught On Camera
In my recent NYC Footy video I took in one of the new NYC Footy Fitness sessions held on Saturday mornings at Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Chinatown. It was a great run out for all involved - stretches and technique training capped off with a good old game of ball.
Despite Footy Fitness being free from controvery (to date), things can actually get quite heated on the training pitch. I’m sure it happens more often that anyone cares to admit, so I did a bit of research and found some high profile training ground bust ups for your amusement:
1. Paul Pogba vs. Jose Mourinho:
In present memory there was last season’s training ground confrontation between Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho at Manchester United. The two didn’t seem to hit it off since Pogba’s arrival at Old Trafford with the Frenchman’s continued bad form sinking The Special One into the mire. In this training ground run in not much seems to happen. But if you look closely you can see words are exchanged followed by a glaring stare by Pogba. The writing was on the wall for one of them. Player power won out.
2. French National Team World Cup Meltdown
During the 2010 World Cup nothing seemed right in the French camp. There’s too much to outline to give this spat any good context but I recommend the documentary Les Blues to give you the full background. The training ground meltdown happened in-front of live TV cameras, smack bang in the middle of a disastrous World Cup for the French team.
3. West Ham’s John Hartson vs. Eyal Berkovic
This one is straight up nasty. In 1998, a video leaked showing a training ground altercation between West Ham teammates John Hartson and Eyal Berkovic. It was Tarantino level violence from Hartson on Berkovic. Berkovic said of the incident “If my head had been a ball, it would have been in the top corner of the net”. Hartson would later say the incident was the biggest regret of his career.
4. Mario Balotelli vs. Roberto Mancini
All these bust ups seem to be between big egos. Another such confrontation happened between the consistently tempestuous Mario Balotelli and Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini in 2013. In the pictures of training ground argument you can see Mancini trying to grab a hold of Balotelli - something no manager has appeared capable of since with the Italian strikers career going into steady descent since. He currently plays for Brescia in Serie A.
5. Barcelona’s Neymar vs. Nelson Semedo
The final major bust up that comes to mind was between FC Barcelona’s Neymar and new recruit Nelson Semedo during a pre season training camp in the USA ahead of the 2017-2018 season. Neymar at the time was about to depart Barcelona for PSG. Since then Neymar has had his fair share of problems and is now begging to get back to Barca. Semedo beware.
Comment below with any other legendary training ground sparring sessions that I may have missed.
8 weird, wonderful, and not always real, football grounds
In this week’s video I went to cover some NYC playoffs on the rooftop of Upper 90 in Astoria - a brilliant unique football environment in NYC. It got me thinking of some other unique footy locations. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are some great alternative places you might find football being played.
1. Indoor Mode In Striker
OK, granted, my first example isn’t even in the real world, but it was too much fun not to mention. Striker is a Super Nintendo soccer video game from the early 90s that me and my friends would play endlessly. The game had a unique mode that allowed you to play indoor. It was certainly unique at the time, and was particularly fun because the ball could bounce off the walls, making the gameplay lightning fast.
2. The Pontiac Silverdome
Speaking of indoor football, the Pontiac Silverdome hosted the first ‘indoor’ game in World Cup history when the USA played Switzerland in the 1994 World Cup. Having a roof over a stadium is now much more common, but in 1994 it felt very unique. In its heyday, the Silverdome hosted all manner of high profile sporting events, but sadly now has been left to crumble.
3. The Colosseum in the Good v Evil Nike ad
In writing this article, I have just realized hat unique football locations in the world of make believe are more fun. And there are few better companies at coming up with makey uppy football theatres than Nike. In the Good v Evil ad from the last 90s - Eric Cantona, Paolo Maldini and a raft of other superstars take on Satan’s footballers in a far away colosseum where the pitch lines are marked by flames. It’s a classic.
4. Airport 98
The next great football location in the Nike cannon is Rio airport which was used for a television ad pre-World Cup 1998 in France. The ad which was directed by legendary action director John Woo features a bored Brazilian national team deciding to have a kick about around the airport. The spot has been described by FourFourTwo as the greatest ad ever. The music really makes it for me.
5. The Secret Tournament ships hull
The last of the 3 Nike ads that spring to mind was made in advance of the 2002 World Cup. The location - a cage inside a cargo ship’s hull. The commercial was directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame and featured a kicking remix of the Elvis track ‘A Little More Conversation.” The track went on to reach No.1 in 20 countries on the back of the ad’s success. It was all a bit convoluted if you ask me, but it stuck in the head.
6. AS Monaco's training field
I was actually going to reference AS Monaco's football stadium, Stade Louis II, which has always stood out to me watching TV as having a unique look and feel to it. But, upon just a couple of minutes research it appears to me that Monaco's training field may be an even greater footy location. Have a look.
7. Estadio Hernando Siles – La Paz, Bolivia
This one on the list is more of a good trivia piece than having any particular resonance with me. Estadiou Hernando Siles in La Paz is always referenced as being one of the highest stadiums in the world at 3,601 metres (11,932 feet) above sea level. The stadium is so high that Lional Messi got sick on it during a game, and Neymar described the conditions as inhuman while wearing an oxygen mask at the arena.
"Inhuman to play in such conditions. Pitch, altitude, ball... everything bad," he wrote on Instagram.
Did we mention, it’s apparently home to paranormal activity as well?
8. Estadio Nacional, Lisbon
A nostalgic final choice for me. Estadio Nacional in Lisbon in where Glasgow Celtic won the European Cup (Champions League) in 1967. I recently took a pilgrimage to the stadium and had a walk about inside. You can see the video of that adventure above. What is interesting about this Estadio Nacionals characteristics is that it hasn’t really changed much since its look and feel in 1967. The stadium is surrounded beautifully by greenery and is close to the beach. It has a great retro feel to it in an era of soulless modern stadium development.
Estadio Nacional still hosts the Portoguese Cup Final if you are curious.
That's all folks.
Next play: Moving past bad performances
In this week’s moody NYC Footy vid, there is a moment where I point out that I had a bad first half in goal for my side. To say I had a bad game was an understatement. And the attempt I made in the video to add some levity to my abject performance was nothing other than a desperate attempt on my part to mask what was horrifying internal embarrassment and crushed confidence.
Now I will admit, the game was the first proper game I have played in goal for almost two decades. As a kid, and up to about the age of 14, I played in goal regularly. I was a pretty good keeper, always picked for my local team, and also playing regularly for my school in Gaelic football (a kind of soccer / rugby hybrid sport).
My school got all the way to the Gaelic cup final which took place in Croke Park - the most famous and historic stadium in Ireland. Even though we lost that final, it didn’t stop The Irish Times from writing - Only a fine goal keeping display from Stephen O’Regan prevented the winners from scoring more.
Considering how long its been since I put on the gloves, perhaps I could be forgiven for having to dust off some cobwebs. Perhaps I was naive to think that I could simply turn back time and expect to be the agile shot stopper I once was. Regardless the excuses I or anyone else could have, the embarrassment and humiliation I was feeling was real.
The bad vibes creeped in early. An inoffensive ball was floated into the box. It was a simple catch by anyone's standards. But as I looked up at it, terror overcame me. What if I don’t catch this? Don’t mess this up whatever you do.
Suffice to say, I completely misjudged the flight of the ball, taking my eye off it as the panic overcame me. Instead of falling into my hands, it fell into the goal, with my hands flapping pathetically. When you make a mistake like that there really is no one else you can look at but yourself.
Sometime later a similar ball was floated in. This was one of those that had the potential to just go wide, or over the bar. A braver and more confident keeper in that moment would have not taken that chance and simply caught it. Instead I watched the ball as it got closer and closer to the goal in the hope that it would miss the target. But no. To my skin crawling embarrassment the ball hit the bar, bounced back and hit my arm and went in. And this was just as a bunch of NYC Footiers passed by the goal in the background.
I made about 3 or 4 other glaring mistakes in the first half alone. I have no idea what my team must have been thinking.
But how does a keeper or any player for that matter recover from an embarrassing moment? The super elite have such intense focus and determination to be the best that they simply manage to dust themselves off and even come back with renewed vigor. Ronaldo, Messi, and even David Beckham have had very high profile bad moments but they all came back fast and strong. Those type of players are in the minority though. Confidence can be shattered easily even at the top level, and it is incredibly hard for most to come back from that.
In the last few years, I have found that goalkeepers’ confidence to be more brittle than I remembered as a kid. David De Gea at Manchester United, for example, has been the best United player of the past 5 seasons. But in the past few months he no longer has seemed as reliable as he once was. When he concedes a goal he may previously have saved he now has a look of bafflement. So much of goalkeeping is instinctive. You just react and save. But when something in that instinct goes and you end up letting in that goal at the near post, you just wonder, What did I do differently there than what I usually do? You begin to second guess yourself.
Look at Liverpool. They have been blighted by shaky keepers for years. When they made the Champions League Final a couple of years ago - the grandest stage of them all, Liverpool keeper, Loris Karius, was already walking on ice with Liverpool fans. The fans knew he was capable of mistakes. His confidence I would suspect was already delicate. But nobody could have expected the mistakes he made in the final which gifted the trophy to Real Madrid.
The mistakes were too much for Liverpool to accept and soon after, The Redmen broke the bank for a new keeper. It has been a very public ordeal for poor Loris Karius and one which he will be reminded of for the rest of his days.
Confidence affects player performance all over the pitch, of coarse. Strikers seems to be either on form or off it. There are countless examples of players who were at one time incredible, and then for no reason that anyone can understand suddenly are a shadow of their former selves.
Fernando Torres was a world superstar until his 50 million pound move from Liverpool to Chelsea when he suddenly couldn’t hit a barn door. Most recently, much was expected of Alexis Sanchez after his big money move from Arsenal to Manchester United. But he has been a shadow of the player he was prior to the move. I don’t think anyone can understand his drop in form.
So, how does someone recover from embarrassing performances? How does one avoid it sinking into one's psyche and leading to prolonged bad form? Well, if I had the exact answer I might be a better player. In fact if I had the right temperament I might be an all round better person. Temperament is the word of the day here. It’s either in your temperament to overcome setbacks fast, or it’s not. If like most of us, it’s not and you’re relegated to those sorry souls that buy various self help books in a bid to improve yourself.
The key piece of wisdom that I might give comes from any other bad moment you have in life. Think of a failed relationship, for example. Or a failed business effort. The advice your usually given is to dust yourself off and get straight back up. You need to just move forward. Quickly learn the lesson from the mistake you made, and then speedily move forward. Avoid wallowing in the past at all costs.
But if you are like me , a nostalgist - as these articles have demonstrated, moving on bravely is not so easy.
2 Feature Films That Focus In On Individual Soccer Players
In this week's NYC Footy video, I decided to focus on just one player’s movements during a game - the talented, and poetic Dexter. I actually followed him through the whole game in order to make the video.
Afterwards, it got me thinking of a couple of noted films that take the same approach.
The first film that comes to mind is Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait. Part documentary film and part art installation, the film focuses on Zidane through a full match for Real Madrid v Villareal in 2005.
The film used 17 cameras to track Zidane through the game in which he would ultimately get sent off. Funny that.
To add to the esoteric nature of the film was a soundtrack by the Scottish band Mogwai.
Another more obscure film in the same vain was the 1971 German film, Football As Never Before (Wie Noch Nie)
The film used eight 16mm cameras to track the legendary George Best during a game for Manchester United v Coventary. As the Guardian writes:
For 45 minutes each way and at half-time, the cameras stay focused only on Best, who sports shoulder-length hair and a beard. There is a hypnotic sequence of him inside the bowels of Old Trafford.
The film was only recently resurrected with a new score by Irish composer Matthew Nolan.
Even though Football As Never Before was a pioneering piece of cinematic art by an experimental German film-maker, back in 1971 it had limited distribution options. I think if it had been made today it would have received similar exposure to the Zidane movie. It is a source of some annoyance that in all the press attention the Zidane film got, nobody seemed to acknowledged that there was a precursor in Best.
Here is a clip from the original film.
These films are for anoraks mainly. They both capture the player mostly walking around the field without the ball while observing and reading the game as it flows around them. The players are waiting and looking for opportunities. Only in very rare moments do the players come to life. As one online reviewer states -
The small segments of real action (especially Best's goal) are like Jekyll-and-Hyde transformations -- you can almost see the electricity going off in Best's head as the ball nears him.
Personally, as a film maker and football nut, I love what is attempted in both these films. But the question is, which current player do you think should get the same treatment? Messi? Ronaldo? Zlatan?
Hope you enjoyed this week’s video.
7 of the most memorable goalkeepers
After making this weeks video about goalkeepers of NYC Footy I thought it would be fun to make a list of 7 of the best goalkeepers (err, my favorite goalkeepers).
The list in no particular order, since it’s not really a “top goalkeeper” list. Well, except for No.1. He’s in that spot because I actually feel he is the best keeper of my lifetime.
Without further ado, “the list”:
7. Bruce Grobbelaar: Bruce Grobbelaar was a Liverpool keeper in the 80s and early nineties. He stood out for his cat-like agility. He would stop shots in a style I have rarely seen a goalkeeper do since. As a kid, I thought Grobbelaar had a funny look to him - he seemed small for a goalkeeper - round head and a stand out mustache to go along with that iconic green jersey. Grobbelaar’s life has been full of drama too. Here is a video on his story:
6. Packie Bonner: A proper emotional choice here and someone I have already referenced in previous articles. Packie Bonner became my first football childhood hero after his penalty kick save v Romania that put Ireland into the 1990 World Cup Quarter Final. After that moment I had to get the jersey and the gloves. I would then try to mimic Packie in every way - from his kick out style to angry gestures. In later years, Packie struggled with the back pass rule which only came into effect in 1992. Whenever the ball was passed back to him, I would almost have a heart attack in hope he wouldn’t mess up. Scroll forward to 11:40 here and relive Packies greatest moment:
5. Thomas Ravelli: An obscure choice. I first saw Ravelli play for Sweden in Euro 92, the first major tournament I could sink my teeth into. Ravelli had a peculiar scruffy look to him. He was a bit like a Swedish Grobbelaar in his movements. But what I always remember most about Ravelli was his curious and risky habit of juggling the ball behind his back before he would launch goal kick out of his hands. I’ve had to watch a lot of videos to try and find an example of him doing it. Here is a good doco piece about Ravelli, and you can spot his ball juggling at the 7:20 mark:
4. Rene Higuita: Top of the nutter list - Colombian keeper Rene Higuita. You know when you are playing 5-a-side, and your keeper decides to recklessly go on a run up field while leaving the goal empty? Well Higuita would do that during a World Cup match. Here is a fantastic montage of his antics (excuse the awful choice of music). But for me the stand out moment by Higuita will always be his ‘scorpion kick’ save he pulled off v England in a friendly in 1995. I was lucky to watch the save live. The next day the UK news was telling how kids were in danger of getting badly injured in attempting the stunt. It’s a classic football moment:
3. Andy Goram: As a Celtic fan in the mid and late 90s, Andy Goram of Rangers broke my heart over and over pulling off what seemed to be impossible saves. Rangers at the time were the dominant force in Scottish football. But Celtic were getting closer and closer to over taking them. And when things got so close, it seemed like literally only Goram was getting in the way. Goram was another keeper who didn’t seem like he had quite the right look for the role - short, stocky and scruffy - but despite this he got in the way of everything. As he played for Glasgow Rangers there really is not much more I wish to say about him.
2. Jorge Campos: Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos had a few claims to fame. Through his career he would often play as striker and scored a hatful of goals doing so. But what stood out most about Campos to me were his incredible jerseys. My friends and I were such football nuts growing up, that we would often draw our dream football kit designs. So due to this - Campos jerseys were the stuff of our childhood fantasies. What was even cooler was that Campos actually designed his kits himself. My dad would tell me the crazy designs were to put the strikers off during one on ones. Decent logic if true.
1. Peter Schemeichel: I first saw Peter Schmeichel when he played for Denmark in Euro 92. During that tournament he seemed taller and more impressive than any keeper I’d seen. With his blonde hair he brought back memories of Ivan Drago in Rocky 4. Schmeichel had unique attributes as a keeper in ‘92. He would come out far and fearlessly, and pull high crosses out of the air. He would then launch a long throw out. We would marvel that Schmeichel could throw the ball out as far as most other keepers could kick it. After Euro 92, Schmeichel moved to Manchester United where he had a sparkling career. Specialising in the starfish save, and with agility he got from handball, Schmeichel is the all round best keeper in my memory.
Till next time…
A Brief History of Soccer Injuries
My personal history with injuries
My worst football injury was a leg break that occurred when I was about 10. I’ll never forget it. Inspired by the goalkeeping heroics of Irish shot stopper Packie Bonner in World Cup Italia’ 90, I had already set my life's ambition - I wanted to be the man between the sticks - screaming at defenders, and marshaling the troops.
My budding career got off to a good start. In games at the local green, I would pull off miraculous save after miraculous save. I was Gordan Banks in the making.
Wanting to push forward I tried out for a local 11-a-side team - Cambridge Boys in Ringsend Park, Dublin. Cambridge Boys were a tough bunch. The players had a hard edge. But once I showed up, I immediately displaced the current regular in nets. He was not too happy being demoted to the sidelines. He would chew gum and look at me with dagger eyes which made me a tad nervy I’ll admit.
All was going well, until the fateful day arrived. It was sunny if I recall. The grass was green, the manager was shouting on the sidelines. I should point out that in Ireland, we played our u11 games on full adult 11-a-side pitches - with full size goals. Absurd really. But it might help you paint a picture - a bunch of diminutive kids chasing a ball around a giant field.
A ball was played through to an on-rushing striker. It was a classic one-on-one scenario. I knew instinctively what I needed to do. Come out. Make myself big. Narrow the angles. After that it was just a blur. All I remember next was screaming in agony. I wouldn’t be surprised if my screams are still echoing somewhere today.
My Dad came to pick me up, and brought me to a local hospital. I had broken my leg so severely I had to spend days in the hospital. If I recall, I even needed an operation to realign the bones in my leg which were verging off in different directions. To this day, my right shin can be a bit sensitive (or it could just be in my head).
After recovering from that ordeal I returned to the number one position undaunted. But no sooner was I back on the pitch when an older kid with a Roberto Carlos style thunderbolt managed to fracture my brittle wrist bone. I saved the shot, but damage was done.
I have luckily managed to avoid any significant injury since then. I suppose I should count my blessings. It’s been a good run.
I should be more sympathetic to others with injuries. But playing in a 5-a-side league with some of my best friends when I was 22 or so, I became hugely frustrated with my injury-prone teammates. These players were not going down after heavy collisions either. They were blighted by knee issues, joint issues… you name it. The would run, and next thing you know, they’d be on the ground.
I was the self appointed manager of the team, and took the job responsibility with that of the Champions League elite. So to see my players on the deck hobbling off with regularity began to drive me nuts. These players were useful. We needed them. But I began to wonder why they were going down so easily. When it becomes so repetitive, you begin to think that perhaps, just maybe the players are a bit ‘soft’ (this coming from the biggest scaredy cat in town, let me assure you).
Injuries in the world of football
Often real managers wonder about their injury prone players too. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp shared his feelings about the constantly injured striker Daniel Sturridge. When Klopp took over Liverpool in 2015, Klopp said the striker must learn "what is serious pain and what is only pain."
As a fan, nothing is as upsetting as when an important player of a team you support falls injured at a crucial time - such as in the lead up time to a World Cup. That time unfortunately always coincides with the most intense time in the football season.
England, in particular, have had its share of bad luck over the years. I recall both David Beckham and Wayne Rooney being stuck down by the dreaded metatarsal in the weeks preceding a World Cup. The metatarsal injury, it would seem, was fashionable in the nineties. Some blamed lightweight boot design for the reason so many metas were causing strain.
Becks and Rooney. were both were struck down in the prime of their careers, and when England expected more than ever. Both injuries came with inadequate time to heal for the World Cup. The updates on Becks and Rooneys metatarsal status was as prevalent in the UK then as Donald Trump is on CNN today, such was the desperation of the Three Lions.
With national pressure requireing both stars suit up for their respective World Cups, suffice to say both players returned in time for the competitions. But, certainly in Rooneys case, nowhere near the level expected.
Imagine the frustrations for players that wait their entire lives to perform on the global stage, only to succumb to a performance-reducing injury. Think Ronaldo in the 1998 World Cup Final. Ronaldo suffered a mysterious seizere the day of the Final, leaving fans bewildered at what was going on with El Fenomeno..
Speaking of phenoms, I always feel Messi is carrying knocks by the time each World Cup rolls around. He is constantly accused of under performing for Argentina on the biggest stage. But surely, after a 60 game season for Barcelona, the toll has been taken on him. For Argentina on the big stage he often looks like he has a ball and chain attached to his foot.
Avoiding Injuries
But how does one avoid injuries and mishaps? Well, ironically one would say that to best avoid disaster is to be fully committed. If you second guess yourself and look to pull out of a challenge you stand a risk of getting caught. It’s like crossing a road and changing your mind half way. The tiniest pause to check yourself might be the split second needed for disaster to strike. It’s also a bit similar to changing your mind in a run up to take a penalty. That rarely works out well. One must have conviction in their movements and conviction in their tackles or you risk coming off second best, and perhaps minus a leg. It’s all down to confidence.
But even with the best will you can find yourself in trouble. I’ll wrap this up by showcasing arguably the most famous collision in World Cup history -
A colorful evolution of the football boot
Back in my day everyone wore black boots. When watching football on TV at the beginning of the 90s you barely ever saw a player with boots other than the color black. When you did, that player stood out like a sore thumb. White boots running around a field just looked so unnatural. They screamed… look at me! It took a certain type of arrogance to make the decision to wear them.
To show how uncommon the trend was - look at this photo from the 1995 Champions League Final. In the AC Milan team photo you can see Marco Simone wearing white boots. A couple of the other players have flashes of red, and green which I think would even have came across a tad garish back then.
I can’t emphasize how much white boots stood out when watching football back then. When just one player out of 11, or 22 decides to go with a white boot, you notice.
Jumping forward to last years Champions League Final - in this photo of Liverpool lifting the cup, it’s hard to spot one player wearing black boots.
Funnily enough when watching football now, I personally notice the colors much less now everyone is wearing different colors. They don’t pop like that one player who went rogue wearing a pair of white boots.
What’s the point? Times change. Trends change. Individuality is in. Perceived individuality certainly. In a time when you can pick your color iphone, or Nintendo Switch, I suppose it makes sense that you can pick your color boots.
In saying that, if its a team game, where it is good to represent yourself as a team, is there something to be said for uniform? Lets talk about uniforms.
When I went to school in Dublin, we had to wear a uniform. Grey trousers, grey socks, grey shirt, grey jumper, black shoes, blue tie. Exciting right? I hated it, but in hindsight at least it gave you one less thing to think about in the morning. Also and pretty crucially kids couldn’t actually compete with each-other over who had the best grey shirt. Nobody cared. We all got our grey shirt from the same place.
Individuality in my school years was when a kid decided to go for the bleach blonde look. That was The Beatles mop top of my era. The individual trend didn’t last long, as pretty soon every kid started bleaching their hair blonde. I always found that a bit odd and slightly ironic that the way you end up being an individual is to not go along with a trend.
Attempting to mitigate peer pressure in school is surely a good thing? It puts huge pressure on parents when kids come home complaining that the others have the latest video game or the like.
What is clear is that the changing face of football boot color is less to do with us craving to express ourselves as we may like to think, but rather a clever way for manufacturers to market to kids. Where once upon a time a standard pair of black boots would have been adequate, I suppose a kid these days will want the exact boots worn by their hero. And if that hero changes his boot color every year/ every month, then it only follows that said kid will want the new boots too.
But why don’t people gravitate towards the classic black anymore? Outside of the fact that we are not being marketed black boots...it it because people no longer like black as a boot color? In what other situations might you choose illuminous orange over black? Would you wear an neon green suit over a classic black suit or dress?
Most people wouldn’t wear a striped pink outfit if they wanted to be taken seriously. Can you imagine James Bond in anything other than a classic dark suit?
It’s a matter of taste I suppose. Have we become tasteless?
Let’s look again at the classic black boot...
What does this say about me? Am I destined to become a crusty conservative - watching on as the kids go out of control with their freckled hair styles, sparkly iPhones and neon orange Pumas.
The legendary football manager Alex Ferguson was known for being a strict disciplinarian. He didn’t want individuality getting out of control. But towards the end of the 90s superstardom of certain players began to go into over drive. There was the mercurial talent of Eric Cantona. His flamboyant style trend was to play with his shirt collar up. It seems harmless enough, but it stood out at the time.
But Cantona's collar was nothing compared to the constantly changing hair styles of David Beckham. I kid you not when I say a new David Beckham's barnet became front page fodder in the UK.
Ferguson eventually had enough with Beckham’s celebrity. Ferguson wanted players main focus to be on the game. And so in one of the last great examples of true managerial power Ferguson offloaded Becks - but not before ironically kicking boot at him as he made his way to the exit door.
We now live in an age of unparalleled player power. Using Manchester United as an example of where this has lead, see the example of Paul Pogba. A talented player who seems to have something different going on with his hair style every time you see him. Pogba, despite his 100 million price tag has been accused of not caring as he should. His characterful persona is perfect for a marketing man to latch onto. Pogba appears to be a better player in FIFA video game than in reality.
Here is an interesting video showcasing Pogba’s changing boots over the years.
You may notice in this video that in the early days Pogba went often with a classic black look. But as the years passed and his fame grew that the colors became more outlandish. I suppose it only makes sense from a marketing perspective that if you want to sell some boots, you need to stick the players in boots that stick out. But perhaps more it speaks of the time we are in. Perceived individuality is in. But is it any wonder with all this individuality that Manchester United have not been able to get it together?
This is becoming an Esquire article. Hope you enjoy this weeks video.
Where does soccer passion come from?
Where does soccer passion come from?
After seeing last week’s video where I asked players in Chinatown about their preferred 5-a-side formation, a friend of mine suggested I ask NYC Footy players how their love for soccer (well, being from Ireland, I said football) came about. So visiting the 11-a-side games on Saturday at East River Park, I was excited to hear what great soccer moments the players would recount. What soccer moments lit their passion?
But what quickly became apparent, is that, aside from a few select players, many of the American born and bred players didn’t have a moment that instigated their love for soccer. It was simply a case that when they were young they started playing soccer. They were brought up to play soccer. This created a slight issue for me making this week’s video, as the response “I just started playing when I was young,” didn’t really make for the video I was imagining.
This highlights what I think might be a cultural difference to other countries.
In the States (again, that’s what we Irish call the U.S.), what appears to be commonplace is that parent's enroll their kids to play organized soccer. Whereas in other countries, a passion for the game is passed down by elders out of a love for a particular club. Perhaps the kid is brought to a game, or perhaps they are made to watch it on TV. The kid has no choice in the matter. But they are often seduced by the loud crowd, the smell of the grass and the grand drama of it all.
Prior to the age of 7, I had no interest in soccer. I distinctly remember saying to other kids, rather pompously, “It’s just a bunch of people chasing around a ball.” In truth, I had absolutely no idea.
Then in 1990, the Republic of Ireland qualified for its first World Cup, which was taking place in Italy. I remember being made to sit and watch Ireland's opening game v England in my grandmother's apartment with my parents and various uncles and aunts. My family were not football mad in the slightest, but the country was all in on Italia 90 hysteria. Ireland saw that World Cup as one of the first times we were represented on a global stage. There was a huge sense of national pride for the Boys in Green.
During the course of the first three group games Ireland played, I quickly got swept up in the madness. I think I was surprised by how easy the game was to understand. “You mean it’s just about getting the ball in the goal? And whoever gets the most goals wins?” I mean what a simple (yet brilliant) concept.
By the time Ireland drew 1-1 with the Netherlands to progress out of our group, I was spending every waking (and most likely sleeping) hour thinking about soccer. Not just thinking. When I was drawing, I was drawing soccer pictures. When I was making Lego, I was making soccer stadiums. When I was reading, I was reading absolutely anything to do with soccer. And, of course, I was out in the garden endlessly kicking a ball against a wall. And too often kicking the ball over the neighbor’s wall, driving them nuts in the process.
After the World Cup I got sucked into following football in the pre-Premier League era. At the risk of sounding like an old man, it all seemed to carry more of a mystique back then. Less globalized. More exotic.
Watching soccer just made me want to play. Whenever something exciting would happen in the rare televised game (you might get one a week in the early 90s) I would run to the phone and call my best friend.
“Did you see that goal!”
Which would be quickly followed up by…
“Do you want to play.”
My feet would literally tingle with excitement to play when I watched games.
When we would play, we would just go out on the street. We would play till it got dark and we could barely see the ball. Our parents would have to demand that we come back inside.
Those were the days when there was no fear at all about letting your kids just go out and do their own thing.
Here is yet another difference between the U.S. and other countries. The U.S. is often frowned upon by foreigners for having such a heavy pay to play model. I think many of us would agree that this limits access and opportunity for people that might otherwise become soccer superstars. That said, while the rest of the world gets distracted by social media and the like, the US may just be ahead of the game in creating the next generation players. That’s another story.
For all my soccer passion though, I have to admit, the best thing about soccer, is that feeling of having a ball at your feet. And I think to truly love soccer is to know what that feels like. As the game has become commercialized to death in recent years, there is a lot to be said for getting right back to what it’s really all about - and that is simply the joy of playing.
In saying that, here is a great clip showcasing the action and national hysteria created by the Boys in Green at Italia 90.
Hope you enjoy the video. If you have any feedback, opinions, or ideas for future content just drop us a line.
The best formation for 5 a-side (5v5) soccer
On my way to NYC Footy’s Friday night games in Chinatown last week I pondered to myself what would be a good question to ask players during my weekly coverage of Footy happenings.
I confess that I consider myself as a bit of a diminutive Pep - that is a tactical genius. A wannabe anyway.
So the question that came to mind was simply - what is the best 5 a-side formation?
The response I got from most was the 1-2-1 formation. Not taking into account the goalkeeper, the 1-2-1 might otherwise be known as the diamond. The thinking with the diamond is that there is a defensive player, an attacking player, and then two players on the sides that can move up and down. These two wing players should, if they do their jobs correctly, get up to support the attacking player, and then they should get back to support the covering defender.
Without giving it much thought, this formation should work well. That is, unless the opposing team use all 4 outfield players to put the pressure on when they get the ball. If they do that well, especially on a quick counter attack, you can quickly find yourself easily outnumbered, especially should your attacking player be lazy getting back. And let’s face it, we have all been guilty of that at times.
See, five a-side tactics/ formations only work well if all players know and carry out their responsibilities well. But since many of us just come along for a kick about, things can become unwieldy pretty fast.
Things are thrown off even faster when substitutions are coming on and off with good regularity. In one of my games last week, my team literally got caught out as we were trying to work out positions in defense as a substitution was coming on. The question of when is a good time for a substitution might be a subject for a future article 🤔.
Other five a-side formations might include the 2-2. That is two defensive players, and two midfield/ attacking players. Again, if people adopt their responsibilities well, this is solid enough. It feels like it should be more solid than the diamond if the team plays together as a strong unit. But playing as a unit appears to rare enough in 5-a-side.
With the diamond formation there is a bit of an obsession with wing play. Which is rather impractical when you consider how small the fields are. Wing play even in the professional game has been a dying art for some years. The main idea of wing play - in the sexy sense - is that some player with great skill and speed goes by a player on the side before ultimately whipping a ball into the box for the striker to nod in. But if you go by a player on the wing on a 5 side field, your more than likely hitting the by line. Also, I rarely see crosses of any type in 5 a-side except at corner kicks. All a defensive player has to do in 5 a side to protect against wing play is stand back a bit from the attacking player. The attacking player will be forced then to come inside and shoot or pass inside. This can still be effective, but again, it makes the focus on wingers a bit futile.
Then there’s the ultra defensive formation, The 3-1. In practice, it should be good at preventing you conceding. But in the end I think it plays out the same at the diamond. Eventually you have to try go forward, sacrificing the wing backs in defense.
There are so many permutations that play into your success in 5-a-side. Quality of player with game understanding being the most key. An intelligent player should know the players around them, know when to cover back, and know when to step forward. Football intelligence is pretty rare actually. Some players may have the skills, some players may be great goal scorers, but that doesn’t mean they have any football intelligence.
At the Footy Fest this past June, I played alongside an incredibly skillful and powerful player. He blew my mind with what he was capable of. But he shared little in terms of responsibility towards his team. He was your traditional glory hunter. The type of player that infuriates managers in the professional game (5-a-side managers are more forgiving…because there are none). Anyway, they are often considered to be a luxury. A famous example of the glory hunter was David Ginola. Ginola was spectacular going forward but not much use to the team at large. Some say that Cristiano Ronaldo in his heyday was this type of player. Though he got away with it because of how extraordinary his skill was in attack.
Anyway, I went off on a little tangent there. Let’s get back to some Pep like thinking.
What everyone is discounting here is the goalkeeper. In 5 a-side the goalkeeper should be considered almost like an outfield player. Think about the Bayern/German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. When Germany had the ball he would come far out of his box , sometimes as far as the halfway line. The whole defensive line of Germany would push far up and and press the opposing team back into their last third.. The opposition team would be so hemmed in by 10 oppressive Bavarians. They would be suffocated. Often the best an opposing team could do was clear the ball long, in which case Neuer was often there to sweep it up with no one there to pressure him. Neuer was the classic sweeper keeper.
In 5-a-side what you really want then is the whole outfield team attacking together as a unit, and once you lose the ball, the whole team needs to get back and pressure the opposing team to get the ball back. Barcelona under Pep were masters at this. They attacked together, but when they lost the ball, everyone bust a gut to get the ball back as fast as they could. No one abandoned that responsibility, including Messi. Opposing teams never had time to breathe against Barca.
Peps Barca were marveled for their ability to attack, but in truth, it’s how hard they worked to get the ball back once they lost it that was their main strength.
This plan is the most courageous in 5-a-side. But any other formation usually takes two players out of the game itself, and sometimes 3 - the goalkeeper, the holding defender, and the sit up top striker. This only allows 2 players to be flexible. The question is, why take 2 or 3 players out of the game?
After interviewing players and pondering further, I’ve concluded that the most effective strategy is when everyone moves up together, and everyone moves back together. That includes the keeper sweeper. You must avoid getting spread out, avoid getting stretched. Short quick passes are the order of the day to unlock the opposing team.
It goes without saying that any of these formations only work if players know their responsibilities, especially when the team loses the ball.
Do you play 5-a-side? What say you?