NOVA clubs with clubhouse

[Ender]

Are there any clubs in Northern Virginia with a field with covered stands and a clubhouse that serves it's members? In the philly area there are several such as United German Hungarians, Ukranian Nationals and VE. Is there any such thing here, or are we going to have to get a hundred of us together to start a club ponying up 2500 dollies a piece and buy some land in Warrenton and make the house the clubhouse and make some stands on a field?

[TCompton]

Originally posted by Ender
... or are we going to have to get a hundred of us together to start a club ponying up 2500 dollies a piece and buy some land in Warrenton and make the house the clubhouse and make some stands on a field?

As much as it would suck to have to do that, it would be cool if the supports group did something like that and really started to put their stamp in the area... Warrenton doesn't sound that good to me though.

[Ender]

Originally posted by TCompton
Warrenton doesn't sound that good to me though.
I would expect it would take a few more people than just the supporters groups, but other than warrenton, where can you find 5 acres and a house for under 300,000? It WOULD be amazing, just a place you could go and hang out at the clubhouse during the week or on weekends. there would be events and outings. There might even have to be a dress code and *gulp* decorum?! If enough people showed interest, I would spearhead the effort.

[Ender]

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Ok here is our new clubhouse. We should be able to put several fields on 22 acres. At 320,00 we need 80,000 to put down on it and then dues should pay for the mortgage. That means that 100 of us need to come up with 1000 dollars each and then we need to pay annual dues of about 300 dollars. the rest is elbow grease. We will sell the club into trustee ship and create a payment plan for people who invested. Who is in?

[Sanguine]

Originally posted by Ender
[img]

Ok here is our new clubhouse. We should be able to put several fields on 22 acres. At 320,00 we need 80,000 to put down on it and then dues should pay for the mortgage. That means that 100 of us need to come up with 1000 dollars each and then we need to pay annual dues of about 300 dollars. the rest is elbow grease. We will sell the club into trustee ship and create a payment plan for people who invested. Who is in?

for what it's worth, a 110x75yd field is 1.7 acres. The question is, does anyone here have knowledge of/access to the equipment needed to properly grade and level a field?

[Ender]

Good point. As I understand it, non profits, which is what this club would be in trusteeship, can use internships as labor. I am sure that a fair amount of help could come from grads and undergrads with faculty supervision. But your concern is valid. What we would need is a fairly large state school with a technical curriculum. Where, oh where could we find that?

http://www.admiss.vt.edu/infosheets/DATA/C_AgricultureAndLifeSciences.html

[owendylan]

Originally posted by Ender
Are there any clubs in Northern Virginia with a field with covered stands and a clubhouse that serves it's members? In the philly area there are several such as United German Hungarians, Ukranian Nationals and VE. Is there any such thing here, or are we going to have to get a hundred of us together to start a club ponying up 2500 dollies a piece and buy some land in Warrenton and make the house the clubhouse and make some stands on a field?
The answer is no. Many years ago I was on the board of a local men's league who teamed with a local women's league and applied for a grant from the US Soccer Foundation to try and do exactly this. The big problem of course is land costs in NOVA for an area that was accessible in a reasonable amount of time for the members of the league to actually want to play at the fields. There is a developer called Batman who owns most of the land in the Rte. 28 corridor and we had approached him to donate or cheaply lease some of this land that was less desirable for us to use. While he was generally in favor of the idea we still needed a few million dollars to develop the land into 3 fields, one which was to have stands, a clubhouse with bar and changing areas, showers etc. . . and parking. This was around 10 years ago and the cost was about 3 to $400,000 per field to grade and sod it correctly. Lastly maintenance probably would have killed us or it would have meant a huge increase in fees for the players in the league and we weren't sure they would go for it. The Maryland Soccerplex is running into a lack of money for maintenance of their 20 some-odd fields and this is the one thing that people don't seem to take into account when looking into putting fields in somewhere. The Washington International Soccer League has been looking into doing this and even started a field fund that teams could contribute to. I think they have a couple hundred grand but that won't even buy them land. It might be cheaper to find an existing complex of fields and try and improve them by adding stands and a clubhouse maybe in partnership with the county. The Kinchloe fields in the Clifton area would be a pretty good site. I thought at one point they were privately owned by the Vista club but I think Fairfax county may have taken them over, not entirely sure. That place has 4 or 5 fields and with some rearranging stands and a clubhouse could probably be put in.

Now that you have me thinking, I believe there is a club in Leesburg that has 2 or 3 fields with no clubhouse or stands off of Rte. 7 just as you come into Leesburg behind a furniture shop.

Just as an aside to this the Bretton Woods Country Club which is open to employees of the World Bank/IMF has 2 fields and a locker room that at one point their respective teams used for games. I know they still use the fields just not sure about the lockerroom. They also used the club there as their clubhouse, it is a hike to get out there and of course is a private club.

[Ender]

Interesting......That has me thinking. What percentage of the fields we play on now are properly groomed? I mean if you could get the fields "relatively" level could you play on them? I understand that it isn't ideal, but certainly would be a start. I really have a hard time with "no". Also, I think the club should only have one senior team, as opposed to a league. Now that I have been told no I will be pushing this. Obviously I am preaching to the chior here, but does anyone else feel that if this were pee wee football, it would be built already? Also, you put your finger on the magic word...BAR. I think the key is to just find the land. Shi'ites and Muslums, if we just played pickup on weekends and shared a few beers afterwards it would be a start! I must have been spoilt as a kid, cause I hate hearing "no". None the less thanks for the dose of reality.

[revelation]

Leesburg does have a facility. I don't know about a club house (IIRC they do but I could be very wrong).

Cleveland like Philly has ethnic clubs with "clubhouses and stands". However, the soccer fields are generally secondary to the main action of the club which is to keep the ex-Pat community together. So clubs like Concordia (German), Serbian (they are built on a complex which has an Orthodox Church too), Croatian, and several other German all have community centers with soccer fields attached.

The issue in DC is that these community organizations don't seem to exist in the same way. The ex-Pat community here seems to be more transient and filled with people who are not immigrants but diplomats and other temporary workers. As for any field around this area - too many teams would seek to play on them so it would have to be a large facility like Germantown's Soccerplex, which requires a ton of maintenance. If you could have a field for each team or even 3 or 4 teams, then they would not be overused each weekend. But when you are talking about 5 games per day on weekends and 2 games per night during the week - fields get destroyed quickly...

[owendylan]

Originally posted by Ender
Interesting......That has me thinking. What percentage of the fields we play on now are properly groomed? I mean if you could get the fields "relatively" level could you play on them? I understand that it isn't ideal, but certainly would be a start. I really have a hard time with "no". Also, I think the club should only have one senior team, as opposed to a league. Now that I have been told no I will be pushing this. Obviously I am preaching to the chior here, but does anyone else feel that if this were pee wee football, it would be built already? Also, you put your finger on the magic word...BAR. I think the key is to just find the land. Shi'ites and Muslums, if we just played pickup on weekends and shared a few beers afterwards it would be a start! I must have been spoilt as a kid, cause I hate hearing "no". None the less thanks for the dose of reality.

Well I would say that the majority of the fields are level, whay they aren't is smooth. By that I mean the grass is clumpy or non-existent. In Fairfax County there are 3 levels of fields A, B and C. A fields are the "best" and get the most treatment (i.e. mowing, re-sodding, fertilizer etc. . .) There aren't many of these around, probably less than 10. The rest are in varying stages of repair. The country does let a club or team adopt a field. Basically if you agree to the upkeep of the field you get first priority in scheduling. You can't keep anyone off the fields if they have a permit. My wife's women's league basically adopted 3 fields along with Braddock Road Soccer and they do a good job in keeping them nice, the problem is they couldn't keep anyone off the field when there weren't games going on so everyone and their cousin was using the fields which upped their maintenance costs. They did finally get the county to put up a permit required sign so that if someone is on the field without a permit that cops can be called to remove them. Hopefully this will cut down on the wear and tear of the fields they use. It may seem a little harsh but I completely understand and agree with it.

If it was peewee football you'd still have the same problem, I don't know of a single football field not at a high school that has stands and a clubhouse. Now baseball is another matter. Having been to the field allocation meetings for Fairfax county baseball far out represents any other sport at these meeting where some decisions are made and they have a lot of political pull.

I don't see a real lack of fields as being the problem but a lack of quality fields. Also many of these fields are only reserved for games or you need a permit. They don't have many that are kind of out there for people to play pick-up. You can find a patch of grass here or there but that's about it. Schools are usually good for this but the quality is crap. My objection is these fields are so bad as to be dangerous to the players.

What you want to do is not impossible, just expensive. If it was so easy DC United would have already done it, but since they lost the old Redskins Park they have been looking and it seems that no one really wants them. The last issue you may have to deal with in getting something like this done in NIMBY. If you are anywhere near a residential area be prepared for opposition from some vapid, bored people who are too shortsighted and selfish to look beyond their own interests.

[TEConnor]

The proper subsurface drainage system alone will cost $500,000 to $1,000,000. Add in irrigation (and water rights, which you might need) and the prospect is double the figure above.

Yearly maintenance is a bitch on 2 acres. The watering costs are stiff, and necessary for 2 out of 3 summers. You'd likely need to hire that out, as maintenance and storage of the maintenance equipment is pretty much out of the question (note, field maintenance is FAR more than simply mowing and a Crapsman riding mower wouldn't suffice). So, look at thousands a year (I'd say $10,000 would be a good ballpark) for proper maintanence with chemicals, etc.

Lights? Forget about it. Just getting the electrical work done (not even considering the cost of the towers or fixtures) would be $25,000. Add in the proper light system and its maintenance and operation, you're talking cash. I'd think that this would be an absolute necessity, too.

Next, consider financing. Even if you could find enough folks that are willing to get together and put in a certain amount of money as down and on a regular basis...you will no doubt have to have a bank provide some form of loan. I don't really see a lot of banks jumping in line behind this kind of venture without it being fully planned and licensed.

Finally, there is liability. This will be the most important aspect of the whole project. Trust me...there will be a lawsuit over the life of the project and you will need liability insurance. I hate to even think what comprehensive insurance would cost for a sporting club (that serves alcohol, no less). I'd contact the various indoor facilities in the area to get a gauge on what they do for insurance. Don't let them know you might be a competitor though, they'd clam up pretty fast.

That being said. If you build it. They will come. So will I, and I would be willing to contribute, provided its a cooperative aggreement.

Cheers,
Tim

[TEConnor]

Originally posted by Ender
Interesting......That has me thinking. What percentage of the fields we play on now are properly groomed? I mean if you could get the fields "relatively" level could you play on them? I understand that it isn't ideal, but certainly would be a start. I really have a hard time with "no". Also, I think the club should only have one senior team, as opposed to a league. Now that I have been told no I will be pushing this. Obviously I am preaching to the chior here, but does anyone else feel that if this were pee wee football, it would be built already? Also, you put your finger on the magic word...BAR. I think the key is to just find the land. Shi'ites and Muslums, if we just played pickup on weekends and shared a few beers afterwards it would be a start! I must have been spoilt as a kid, cause I hate hearing "no". None the less thanks for the dose of reality.

Our good friend Kelly Riles is the man you want to talk with. MeridianFC, as he is fondly known, is the go to guy for the soccer social club known as Meridian Hills Nomads FC. They are what you seek at the end there.

Tim

[owendylan]

Originally posted by TEConnor
Finally, there is liability. This will be the most important aspect of the whole project. Trust me...there will be a lawsuit over the life of the project and you will need liability insurance. I hate to even think what comprehensive insurance would cost for a sporting club (that serves alcohol, no less). I'd contact the various indoor facilities in the area to get a gauge on what they do for insurance. Don't let them know you might be a competitor though, they'd clam up pretty fast.

That being said. If you build it. They will come. So will I, and I would be willing to contribute, provided its a cooperative aggreement.

Cheers,
Tim

I completely forgot about liability. A guy I knew used the fields at Lake Newport but Reston Soccer made him get liability insurance for $1,000,000. It was expensive.

[Ender]

Originally posted by TEConnor
Our good friend Kelly Riles is the man you want to talk with. MeridianFC, as he is fondly known, is the go to guy for the soccer social club known as Meridian Hills Nomads FC. They are what you seek at the end there.

Tim

So, I am clear that they don't have a website according to our friends at google. How would I learn more about this mythical band of footballing socialites? What are their rituals? Do they have a clubhouse, or at least a bar? What league do they play in if any? Where do they frollick without liability insurance...rebels. ;-P
Kidding...but seriously, where could I find out about them?

[revelation]

Meridian Hill Nomads FC:

http://www.mh-nomads-fc.com/

I play with them sometimes. They don't have a clubhouse but do like to frequent bars after playing... :)

BTW - his name in now Mr. Young...

[Ender]

As fun a group as they look, that is a 3 1/2 hour drive down 66 from Centreville. I have never seen anything as bad as DC area traffic. Maybe I am better of starting my own.

[Hedbal]

FYI, the man who built those fields at the World Bank's Bretton Woods golf club was Gordon Murray, the golf pro there who was also a youth soccer coach and father of USMNT player Bruce Murray. His youth team featured his son as well as John Kerr, who had some MLS time and is now coach at Harvard. His father was a Cosmos midfielder.

[Ender]

That helps me if I work for the world bank. Great trivia though. Here is an easy one: Bruce Murray scored one of the US's two goals in the world Cup '90. Who scored the other?

Secondly, i can't believe that there isn't a club in all of the DC area already. I also can't believe that it would be so hard to start one. They seem to grow on trees elsewhere. Here is a picture of the pitch at ugh and their link. It seems they have taken down some of their stands since I played a match there last. If anyone has other pics or links of clubs where people can go, have a beer and support their amature team, I would love you to post it here.

http://www.ughclub.us/images/club5.jpg

http://www.ughclub.us/

[JRstriker12]

Originally posted by owendylan
I completely forgot about liability. A guy I knew used the fields at Lake Newport but Reston Soccer made him get liability insurance for $1,000,000. It was expensive.

I know one of the youth coaches in Reston. He said they put a lot of work into those Lake Newport fields recently. It cost a couple million to level and re-sod. Those fields are sweet. They are so flat, it's almost like a pool table.

He also commented that their reston youth soccer club tried to do the same thing by creating thier own "club" with fields. I think they tried to work a deal out with Farifax County, but he said fairfax county would have required that the club turn the fields over to the county after 10 years.

A soccer club would be a great idea, but ultimately, you would have to charge some serious "county club" type fees to keep it going.

[Ender]

Originally posted by JRstriker12

A soccer club would be a great idea, but ultimately, you would have to charge some serious "county club" type fees to keep it going.
We need a sugar daddy.