Flash vs. Boca

http://www.prlog.org/11441829-san-diego-boca-defeated-21-by-last-minute-goal-by-sd-flash.html

Results ahead! Looks like the Flash won on a last second goal making the final 2-1 in favor of the Flash. The link is obviously written from Boca's POV and they seem none to happy about losing the innagural derby.

 

I am not in San Diego but wanted to know who do you guys root for?

Seems that Boca has a bigger fan base then the Flash am I right?

 

I think it is pretty even. I consider myself a Flasher. Oh MY! won't my Mom be so proud of me.
Boca played in the league last season versus Flash starting their first year.

 

I used to support the flash back in the day when i lived in san diego. Have any of you guys went to see the Sockers play?

 

I root for the Flash. As for whose fanbase is bigger... I think that's open to alot of interpretation. Particularly since Boca's attendance analysis seems to be from the early MLS school of attendance gathering (in other words, they over inflate their numbers something fierce). In reality I think both team's have a similar level of support (with Boca likely having a small edge due to an extra year in the league and a better location).

 

According to another thread it was around 500-600 (fan estimate, not team PR) with about a 1/4 of that being away support. Seems like it was a good atmosphere overall. Definitely a good sign for soccer in the region that an effectively 4th tier fixture can get that kind of support when some NPSL matches barely get out of the double digits.

 

There was between 500-600 with about 150 on the Boca side. I think the North County is perfect for one team, as there is a lot of youth clubs to pander to. Balboa is centrally located and should get good results.
The atmosphere was fun. Everyone is new at this and I think over time each group of fans will develop an identity. Both need a cheering section like the 7th man at sockers.
Chants and songs would be great but will take time.

 

Any particular players for us to keep an eye on? I remember when Hercules Gomez was playing for the Gachos, seemed like he was destined to break out.

 

Nice video by the Flash about the game. Shows all 3 goals and shows the crowd which is a great turnout for an NPSL game. Barton also references some "things that have been said by their side" referring to Boca which didn't please him and you can tell. Guess Boca still see the Flash as beneath them which doesn't shock me with Santos running their outfit.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbRDaf0Hga8"]YouTube - SD Flash beats SD Boca - Final 2 - 1[/ame]

 

Nice video. Thank you for posting it.

 

I haven't been able to watch the video yet (darn work internet doesn't allow YouTube...), but look forward to seeing it later.

As far as the "things that have been said by their side", the past (and current) history between the management of the two clubs has sure added an interesting dynamic to what would have been a rivalry anyway (based purely on geography). You can tell in public statements from both sides that there's some real enmity there, even if they tone it down a bit for the press releases/interviews.

Speaking of press, it was nice the NPSL site had a Week 3 Western Conference Recap on their site, but I thought it was unfortunate that they used Boca's press release as the official game story. Both the Soccer Nation and the Demotix Wrap-Ups they linked to at the bottom seemed like more objective summaries of the game.

 

Agreed. Reading the Boca press release they made it sound like they were dominating the game and the Flash got lucky. Watching the video footage, it was a apparent the teams were much more evenly matched, with the Flash appearing slightly better on the balance (their keeper is far better based on the saves I watched).

But you're right, both sides have been fairly hostile toward one another, but Boca appear to be pushing their "hate" on the Flash more than the other way around at least in my view of it.

 

Level of play is much better then what I expected.

 

"Speaking of press, it was nice the NPSL site had a Week 3 Western Conference Recap on their site, but I thought it was unfortunate that they used Boca's press release as the official game story. Both the Soccer Nation and the Demotix Wrap-Ups they linked to at the bottom seemed like more objective summaries of the game".[/QUOTE]


Npsl will post what is sent to them from the teams. Boca beat flash to the website. Boca is good when it comes to PR. Flash can submit their response.

 

Yeah, I don't mind them posting teams' press releases on their site; I think it's great that they post stuff that the teams send them (although I'm not convinced it's a good idea to post team-written game re-caps; more on that below...).

The issue I had was that they used the Boca press release as the main article, while only putting in links to the other two re-caps (both of which were written, as far as I can tell, by people with no connection or allegiance to either team). It just made more sense to me, since they had access to the two independent re-caps, to use one of those as the main story, and link to Boca's press release at the bottom.

Maybe it's just a personal preference, but I'd rather read a game re-cap written by an independent party rather than by one of the teams involved. (Just a quick note, in case you think I'm being too harsh on Boca, it would have been the same problem had they used a Flash press release).

Maybe I'm being too picky, but in my mind, team's own re-caps of their games belong on their own website, not on the league site. The league site should post press releases promoting the teams, press releases giving team news, and articles from independent journalists summarizing the games. The teams' own game re-caps are generally biased in their favor (it's human nature, everyone has their own version of "what happened", especially over the course of a 90+ minute soccer game). The league site should be as free of those biases as possible. If people want their team's version of the story, they can go to their team's website and read about the game from that perspective. I know we're talking MINOR league soccer here, and there aren't a whole lot of journalists running around covering NPSL games, but there are a few, especially in SD (seems like Soccer Nation does a decent job getting out to both Flash and Boca games, and they covered the Sockers during their season as well). So there may or may not be 3rd party re-caps of all the games, but I think they should be used whenever possible. Doing so will only add to the league's professionalism and credibility. I just can't imagine visiting mlssoccer.com to read a re-cap of a Galaxy game, only to find that the re-cap had been written by their opponent's PR director (or their PR director, for that matter).

 

They can, and I'm sure the league would post it, but I don't think people want to visit the NPSL site to read dueling press releases about every game. I don't, anyway.

 

I totally agree with both of your posts. Would you consider reposting your thoughts about the league in the NPSL general thread. I know that the board members do read it and respond. They are always looking for ways to improve their league and your ideas are very important. I would like to hear their response too.

 

Good idea. It will be interesting to hear what other folks think about the issue.

I didn't repost the whole discussion over there, but gave a Reader's Digest version, and linked to the thread here.

 

Good job.
At least they will know that someone cares about what is printed.

 

Has either team started to develop any form of a supporters group yet? Or are we still too early in the process of having teams?