NCR: Pro Soccer Coming Back to Cleveland

Discussion in 'Columbus Crew' started by CCSUltra, Feb 7, 2011.

  1. CCSUltra

    CCSUltra Member+

    Nov 18, 2008
    Cleveland
    Club:
    Hertha BSC Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I wasn't sure where I should post this, so feel free to move it.

    Anyway, Cleveland will once again have a pro outdoor soccer team. The team is called AFC Cleveland and will start play (supposedly) in the NPSL. I know most of the Green Army were Crew supporters and that there are Cleveland folk that post here and not in the Cleveland board.

    With the creation of the American Outlaws Cleveland branch I think we'll actually have a supporters group (not that the Green Army was bad, we just never had any real numbers).

    http://www.facebook.com/afccle
     
  2. TheUltra

    TheUltra Member

    Mar 23, 2008
    2.4 Miles from home
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Fantastic news!

    The crest looks pretty cool as well. Any word on where the team will be playing their games?
     
  3. Sirk

    Sirk Member+

    Apr 25, 1999
    Cleveland, OH
    Wow....we go from "City" to "AFC."

    Once again, Cleveland brilliantly goes Anglo traditional in a city full of Slovenians, Croatians, Serbs, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Lithuanians, Germans, Irish, and Italians.
     
  4. THOMA GOL

    THOMA GOL BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 16, 1999
    Frontier
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    hahahahaha
     
  5. CCSUltra

    CCSUltra Member+

    Nov 18, 2008
    Cleveland
    Club:
    Hertha BSC Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Rumor is there's an English team that the Cleveland team will be affiliated with.

    But that's just a rumor.
     
  6. Lt. Dan's New Legs

    Jan 13, 2011
    Westerville, Ohio
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Only good news to come out of Cleveland in a while. Looking forward to someday having Cleveland in the MLS.
     
  7. Bill Archer

    Bill Archer BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 19, 2002
    Washington, NC
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So it's your contention that the soccer loving masses will assemble at NPSL games and become a solid and raucous supporters' section of singing and chanting fanatics for a team in what amounts to a PDL-clone league?

    And that the AO crowd consists of true fans of the game who wil religiously assemble to get crazy for an amateur team? Really?

    I wish you luck with that.

    Otherwise, I heartily endorse what that "Sirk" fellow (if that is his real name) says above. These people, God bless their sincerity, apparetly have no clue as to the makeup of the local soccer market. Hint: it's not the Shaker Heights and Gates Mill crowd you're looking to attract.
     
  8. C-Bus20

    C-Bus20 Member

    Mar 1, 2009
    Everywhere
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I guess you can call me an MLSnob for this....I really have little interest to go watch NPSL or PDL. If it were USL or better I would be all over it.
     
  9. cam5fc

    cam5fc Member+

    Sep 23, 2008
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Snob. :D
     
  10. Bill Archer

    Bill Archer BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 19, 2002
    Washington, NC
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    As luck would have it, while working on something totally different I came across this description, part of an NPSL media release from last year, on who, exactly, this "pro" league will field:

    This highly competitive league helps all the teams gain access to elite players to fill their team roster, including but not limited to National Team, former and current University and College, foreign, amateur, former professional and youth players. All current NCAA players will be able to play soccer at an elite level and continue to maintain their eligibility, while incoming NCAA players can impress college scouts and coaches alike.

    I'm offering 1000-1 odds on the over-and-under for the number of "National Team" players you'll be seeing on an NPSL roster; I'll set the number at 1/2 and you can have the over.

    Look, I'm not saying there's anything bad about this thing. Really. In fact, in the past I was heartily on their side vs. the PDL since it was founded primarily for clubs who were sick of putting up with USL bullshit and extortion.

    But calling it "pro" soccer and anticipating a bigassed supporters cadre is entirely unrealistic. It will undoubtedly be enjoyable and showcase some very talented college kids who'll be fun to watch.

    Let's just not make it out to be something it isn't.




     
  11. pettyfog

    pettyfog Member

    Jan 30, 2000
    Enon OH Exit 49
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Well, I have the feeling that when they say 'National Team' they're talking about the junior teams. Probably thought it was cute to do that.

    OTOH: I posted elsewhere: WTF would you want an MLS team when you got the Zips?
    Can you imagine watching the Zips play in the afternoon then going to watch NPSL?
     
  12. ClevelandCrewFan

    ClevelandCrewFan New Member

    Aug 24, 2010
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Thanks, this is brilliant news! I love all the haters that come out whenever an American team takes an English style name. Stop hating! I don't care what the team is called or what league they are in. If you are from Northeast Ohio you should support you're local team. That is all.
     
  13. C-Bus20

    C-Bus20 Member

    Mar 1, 2009
    Everywhere
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Its not so much the English style name that bothers me but its hard for me to take seriously if they are called a "pro" team playing in a high school football stadium in Bedford Ohio(i.e. Cleveland city).

    There is no way that your average joe soccer fan will take this team seriously playing in the NPSL. As for most die hard fans like most people these boards then yes people will go because its live soccer.

    I will still go some games but my Crew season tickets are priority over NPSL even with the drive to Columbus.
     
  14. pettyfog

    pettyfog Member

    Jan 30, 2000
    Enon OH Exit 49
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Well, somebody has to pick the low-hanging fruit in this thread
    :D
    {and no, I aint gonna explain that}
     
  15. clevelandstoker

    Aug 12, 2004
    Youngstown, OH
    Club:
    Stoke City FC
    If it's not connected with Christian missionaries it already has a leg up on the mess that was City Stars.
     
  16. C-Bus20

    C-Bus20 Member

    Mar 1, 2009
    Everywhere
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    This is very true
     
  17. Bill Archer

    Bill Archer BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 19, 2002
    Washington, NC
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wow! It's, like, we're even dude! Awesome!

    See, I think that people who insist that anyone who disagrees with them about something is a "hater" ought to be hung up by their thumbs from a large tree where passersby can beat them with large sticks.

    I cannot imagine. This is about as good as it gets

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6EPboGnEgY"]YouTube - Akron Soccer vs. #2 Tulsa, AK-ROWDIES I believe and Choir[/ame]
     
  18. Timon19

    Timon19 Member+

    Jun 2, 2007
    Akron, OH
    I'm guessing this is true, too. Hell, UA does this a lot - they say they have National Team players all the time. No one bothers to make the distinction that they're age-group teams and not the Senior team. And really for the sort of crowd and audience that makes up a big part of UA men's soccer games, it's something they're not likely to know, nor know the significance of. The rest of us know better, so we filter it out.

    That would be a good point, but as popular as the game is in NE Ohio and as much awareness as has been raised by UA (and trust me, it's been huge), there's still a major resistance to 1. all things soccer, 2. all things Akron (for Clevelanders), 3. college soccer specifically, 4. all things not professional sports (except the Buckeyes).
     
  19. Timon19

    Timon19 Member+

    Jun 2, 2007
    Akron, OH
    This. So much this.

    It's like "racist".

    God, I hope that the AK Rowdies keep their momentum up. The main driving force behind them is graduating this semester and he has already ceded leadership, from what I've read. Seems that since he's come to the school, he's helped lead a huge transformation in the UA soccer supporter culture, sort of like Ampai did with the team. They've borrowed extensively from the Nordecke (it's pretty clear when you go), but have held on to and started from whole cloth many traditions that are absolutely fantastic. The above-linked clip is the best. I never get there early enough to watch the March from the fieldhouse (I think?), but I hear that's a great tradition, too, which has had the effect of scaring the pants off of some opposition who weren't expecting it.

    I always stay to listen to them do "I Believe". It's almost as awesome as Carmen Ohio, applying appropriate scaling factors.
     
  20. C-Bus20

    C-Bus20 Member

    Mar 1, 2009
    Everywhere
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That would be a good point, but as popular as the game is in NE Ohio and as much awareness as has been raised by UA (and trust me, it's been huge), there's still a major resistance to 1. all things soccer, 2. all things Akron (for Clevelanders), 3. college soccer specifically, 4. all things not professional sports (except the Buckeyes).[/QUOTE

    This is very true for the most part IMO except for #2...I have no clue what you are getting at there.

    Where NE Ohio soccer fans will have resistance is labeling it "professional soccer" when it clearly is not.
     
  21. Timon19

    Timon19 Member+

    Jun 2, 2007
    Akron, OH
    Many Clevelanders look down on Akron and UA. I'm not sure why. Saw lots of comments in newspaper comment threads (yeah, I know - that's the worst of the worst, but still...) saying "it's just Akron U" and "it's soccer" and various disparaging crap about Akron in articles about the national championship.
     
  22. kgilbert78

    kgilbert78 Member+

    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    United States
    Dec 28, 2006
    Cowlumbus, OH
    Club:
    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If, as Bill noted, college players can play and keep their eligibility, then it's not professional, no matter how you slice it. Period. The NCAA takes a dim view of that. Ask Jim O'Brien.
     
  23. ClevelandCrewFan

    ClevelandCrewFan New Member

    Aug 24, 2010
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Archer, calm your ass down. Honestly, I appreciate you even responding to me as big and important as you are. You can hang me by whatever you want and beat me with whatever you might, I'm just happy soccer is coming home.
     
  24. Sirk

    Sirk Member+

    Apr 25, 1999
    Cleveland, OH
    The name doesn't really matter as we're basically talking about a high-level summer rec league, so I'm not really worked up about it. Certainly not enough to be "hating." It's more bemusement than anything. Anglo-slurping is trite enough in American soccer, but in Cleveland, it's laughably out of touch with the market. In this case, it surely doesn't matter much.

    While I may roll my eyes at the name, I am certainly not discouraging anyone from supporting the team!
     
  25. Timon19

    Timon19 Member+

    Jun 2, 2007
    Akron, OH
    Dude, haven't you heard? Criticism is hate. Disagreement is eliminationist rhetoric.

    One more moment of silence for the once-useful word "hate", please.

    It better be Partizan Ljubljana by tomorrow or I'm torching their offices - with my steely gaze!
     

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