I sometimes still hesitate to play against people wearing white cleats. Back in the day white cleats = football (pointyball) player, using his football cleats to play soccer. Hence, toe cleat and increased likelihood of getting kicked in the first place.
Do refs still do cleat checks before games? I remember having several kids sent off for having toe cleats.
Yes they still do. And I remember one time having a guy ask to play pick up with us and he had on old school baseball spikes. we said he could play, but not in those. Still makes me shudder.
I was a trialist with the Sting in 1991 (or was it the beginning of '92, can't remember) right before they folded. Coach Valery scared the daylights out of all of us. He was brutal in practice, he kept saying, "you cannot do this, go home." I almost did a few times. I signed a contract and the team folded... didn't make one penny out of my 2 months stint with them. That's the last time I played soccer competitively. I've since put on 30 pounds and can't walk around the stadium without huffing. Ah, good memories...
UPDATE: I found time to circle back to this research. I found the owner of the team, Garry Cole but unfortunately he passed away in 2014. I did get in touch with his lovely wife Ellie and she gave me some solid information. Here's what I have ... Flamengo SC started as a youth team (Under-12, Under-14 etc.) around 1980 and later evolved into an adult team. The amateur team would fold shortly after their 1995 Open Cup run. Here is what I have, and what I need to confirm: 1995 US Open Cup - Round 1 June 14, 1995 - Haws Field (BYU) in Provo, UT Colorado Foxes (A-League) won 6-1 vs. Flamengo SC (USASA Region IV) SCORING SUMMARY COL: Jeff Hooker (Carsten Siersbaek) - 10th min. COL: Jeff Hooker (Unassisted) - 44th min. COL: Carsten Siersbaek (Unassisted) - 45th+ min. COL: Ted Eck (PK) - 45th+ min. FLA: UNKNOWN FLAMENGO GOALSCORER (UNKNOWN ASSIST) - TIME??? (2nd half??) COL: Jeff Hooker or Bryan Haynes (ASSIST?) - 2nd half?? COL: Jeff Hooker or Bryan Haynes (ASSIST?) - 2nd half?? * Who scored Flamengo's only goal and when was it scored (roughly)? * Which player scored for the Foxes and when were those last 2 goals scored? (before or after Flamengo goals?) * Colorado scored 2 goals in the second half and I *BELIEVE* the Flamengo goal came in the 2nd half, but I'm not 100% sure. I just don't know what order the goals were STARTING LINEUP (players CONFIRMED are in BOLD) 1. John Ragsdale (GK) 2. Rick Jensen 3. Steve Sengelmann 4. Matt Wooley 5. Mauricio Frascino 6. Todd Miller 7. UNKNOWN PLAYER 8. UNKNOWN PLAYER 9. UNKNOWN PLAYER 10. UNKNOWN PLAYER 11. UNKNOWN PLAYER SUBS * Who replaced Matt Wooley at halftime? * Any other subs enter the game? Players who may have played: Vu Tran Dzung Tran Tien Tran Dominic Militello Chris Watkins Chris Dorich Tom Skousen Gary Allen Tracy Burnett * HOW DID FLAMENGO QUALIFY? I have no record of the USASA Region IV Open Cup tournament from 1995. Ellie seems to recall that Flamengo defeated the Denver Kickers in the Region IV championship game.
I recommend hitting up Chris Watkins for more info. He coached BYU during their PDL days and know is Associate Head Coach for the BYU Women. Because Ted Eck is with RLS, he's probably a good guy to reach out to. Interesting piece of trivia about him: Do you know he was named to the US 1990 World Cup team and his indoor team wouldn't release him for the Cup?
Chris Watkins didn't remember much and Ted Eck also didn't remember much. And no, I didn't know that story ... that's really interesting. That's a story that probably needs to be told if no one has.
Agree. Ted is a super chill dude that is happy to fly under the radar and be an integral part of RSL management, but you know he'd be cool to hang out with.
Me too for different reasons. When I started high school everyone had black cleats. Partway through, some of the really good kids started wearing white boots. You had to bring serious games to rock kicks like that. Now, everyone wears anything, but when I see a guy with white cleats, my high school brain kicks in and I think "Wow - white - that dude is probably good."
Matt Woolley is a youth club team coach for Apex, I believe. Whatever the old Inter club turned into. Dorich was with Westminster. I have his contact information if you want it
When I was 10, my dad bought me cleats for soccer. They were white. I didn't think anything of it, other than I was the only kid with white cleats on. Everyone else was wearing black Diadora or Lotto (with that really cool neon green color for the logo). I had on Puma. Again, thought nothing about it. Before the match started, the ref (as is usual) made us all show the bottom of our boots for verification. He stopped when he got to me, shook his head, and motioned for the coach. My dad came over as well, and was told I couldn't play with cleats on the toe. Turns out they were baseball cleats... My dad pulled out his pocket knife and sliced off the rubber toe studs. I put them back on my feet, the ref carried on and I played in my first youth league soccer game. Interesting how your comments stirred up that memory so vividly.