Söccer Röcker

The U.S. Open Cup is a rarity in the soccer scene in this country. It’s a tournament with rich history (something we’re short on with soccer here) that goes all the way back to 1912 when Sir Thomas Dewar bequeathed a trophy to spur interest in the sport on this side of The Pond. The tournament has survived leagues coming and going. It is one of the oldest knock-out domestic cups in all of world soccer. New England, in particular, has a big role in the history of the Cup with legendary teams like the Fall River Rovers, Fall River Marksmen (what a name, huh?), New Bedford Whalers, and Pawtucket FC having lifted it and the current defending champions being our very own Revs.

Major League Soccer, eager to not repeat the mistakes of the North American Soccer League, has always fielded its members in the competition. The NASL never took part in the tournament leading to rise of amateur powers in the Seventies and Eighties like Greek American AA, New York Pancyprian-Freedoms, and Maccabee SC of Los Angeles. However since MLS’s involvement only the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos have managed the wrest Sir Thomas’s trophy away from MLS’s grip. The main battles lay between Division One clubs of the United Soccer Leagues and MLS squads.

This isn’t to say English FA Cup or NCAA March Madness-style “giant-killings” don’t still occur. Lower-level teams like Dallas Roma and the Harrisburg City Islanders have pulled off some pretty impressive upsets over MLS teams in recent history. Of course, MLS teams haven’t always fielded “A” squads over the years until recently, with a few exceptions, although now that winning grants you a slot in the new CONCACAF Champions League that is likely to change.

So with all this great tradition and history, why haven’t more people heard of this thing? It seems tailor-made for American sports fans. It’s the ultimate David vs. Goliath set-up and alone in American professional sports in that regard. You’re not going to see the Long Island Ducks throwing down against the Arizona Diamondbacks anytime soon. The short answer is: nobody, not at US Soccer and not at MLS, is stepping up.

The USL, for what it’s worth, does a pretty good job of getting the Cup out there. As best it can with its limited resources, that is. There is no Nike or Adidas money behind USL or the teams that play within it. The onus here is on US Soccer and MLS. So what’s going on? Finger pointing. Major League Soccer claims the responsibility is that of US Soccer and you guessed it…US Soccer says the reverse.

However even that isn’t the whole story. MLS has no interest in really putting its weight behind the tournament for the simple reason that it doesn’t control it. This illustrates a sad fact in American soccer and shows the difference between the US Open Cup and what it is modeled on, the English FA Cup. MLS views USL as competition (which is kind of like Domino’s viewing your local pizza joint as competition) and sits back until the last teams standing are theirs. Then Don Garber shows up and throws his arms around the winner and says nice things about how great the US Open Cup is. US Soccer just doesn’t do anything unless someone confronts our friend Sunil Gulati, who directs you to Don Garber.

This criminally low profile has a ripple effect. The sports media, by and large, doesn’t understand what’s going on and generally ignores the whole thing. In discussions with long-time Riders I’ve heard stories of Cup games being described as friendlies. In turn, fans don’t really know what’s going, especially the casual fan and the all-important AYSO/youth market. So attendance isn’t going to be great which leads MLS teams to view the whole thing as competition to lose money. Teams like DC United and the Revs play their “home” matches at places like the Maryland Soccerplex and Lusitania Field, respectively. Last year’s match between the Revs and City Islanders at Gillette drew fewer people than “Ishtar” did in its second week.

In last season’s run to eventual triumph the Revs booked their “home match” against USL Division 1’s Carolina RailHawks at Veteran’s Stadium in New Britain, CT. The event drew better it would have at Gillette (around 5,000) and allowed the Revs’ to claim they were simply bringing the Revs to a different part of the region they represent. Which was cute, to be sure, and in a way sort of true but the real reason is of course economic. Opening up Gillette is expensive and the Revs aren’t exactly box office gold for regular season matches, let alone obscure cup ties against lower-league opposition.

For the second year running the team will again return to what the locals refer to as “hard hittin’ New Britain” and its Vet for a matchup against either the Richmond Kickers or Western Mass Pioneers on July 1^st. This year, like every year, MLS and its teams’ haven’t done a whole hell of a lot to promote the tournament. Economic necessity dictates Gillette remain closed and the Revs take their show on the road. Everybody knows why.

Or so I thought until I read the June 25^th issue of the Hartford Courant and it’s write up about the Revs (I’m sorry, “the Revolution soccer team”) return to the Nutmeg State. According to the Courant’s story, here’s why those wild and crazy Polish New Britain fans get to walk home after the tailgate. You might want to get seated.

“The major league soccer team [sic] plays home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., but the team will compete in New Britain to avoid over-saturating fans at Gillette, where the Revolution has several games lined up in a short time period, said Craig Tornberg, the team’s general manager.”

As my late Nana Mason would say, that is a whoppin’ whopper. Over-saturating? How can you over-saturate fans if you haven’t really done any sort of promotion? Has there been some big-time SuperLiga advertising I’ve missed? Is there an Open Cup radio ad pumping away on WEEI between Ernie Boch, Jr. spots? Have fans complained to the team that we’re playing too many games? Oh no, not MORE Revs’ soccer at Gillette. Big Frank and William Sunsing deliver us from such evil and let not Daniel Hernandez trepass against us!

In the end I don’t know what’s worse. The Lords & Masters of American soccer mistreating what should be their crown jewel or our team’s management telling big fat ones about why they’re playing in a glorified high school stadium in their very first championship defense campaign. Ugh.

Oh and before I go, here’s one more winner from the Courant article, “The game will give the Revolution the home-field advantage, drawing fans from New England, New York and New Jersey, and give New Britain international television coverage.”

There’s too much in that single line to address it all, so I’ll just say I hope the team told the promoter that this game won’t be on television. Oh what a tangled web we weave and all that…