Nice Touches

The IFK Mariehamn website carries the unhappy news that the club lost 182,000 euros last season (roughly equivalent to a $250,000 loss), an amount nearly six times the loss experienced by the team in 2009. The club attributed the significant decline in its financial performance to a precipitous drop in attendance and the loss of a subsidy from the Aland Islands government which would have covered over 15% of the shortfall.

I'm surprised that the club does not lose more money in insuring its stay in the Veikkausliiga, as it is remarkable that the team can punch so far above its weight while maintaining a close eye on the enterprise's purse strings. My meager contributions to the club fell in the 2011 financial year, so hopefully those few euros portend even more found revenue streams for Mariehamn.

Other Americans will play a far more important role in IFK's fortunes this season. The club's website now also features two short pieces profiling D.C. United alum Josh Wicks and Real Maryland alum Joe Funicello.

The main takeaway from these short postings would be, I think, that Joe Funicello can cook and that both seem to enjoy the family atmosphere of the Finnish club. Or that Real Maryland alum Mason Trafford wishes he was an American and not cursed with Canadian citizenship or that Josh Wicks donates his chest hair to cancer patients... which is an incredibly selfless thing to do ("Mason är att han hellre skulle vara amerikan än kanadensare. Sen kan jag också berätta att Josh Wicks donerar sitt brösthår till cancerpatienter").

I hope that IFK's supporters get as many opportunities as possible to get to know and love Funicello, Trafford, and Wicks. Earlier tonight, I was in the basement picking something out for a charity auction next month and stopped in front of a soccer ball on a shelf that features the autographs of both Joe and Josh... a reminder of how both made the time (and in Josh's case, went well out of his way) to entertain a baby girl amused by the act of handing a pen and her toy over to an adult in uniform. I'm also reminded of sitting in the stands at Richard Montgomery watching Mason play and noticing that Josh was there as well, taking in a sport he obviously loves with a few dozen others, or running into Josh at Ludwig when he'd come out to support DC United teammates being honored by their alma mater. Best of luck to all three.

As much as I enjoyed seeing the profiles of Wicks and Funicello up on IFK Mariehamn's website, I enjoyed this bit of news on D.C. United's site much more: D.C. United has partnered with the Northern Virginia Majestics to bring women's soccer back to the Maryland Soccerplex as part of the W-League.

The loss of the Washington Freedom was depressing, but remains (at least to me if to no one else) a much preferred alternative to losing the WPS altogether. The addition of a D.C. United backed club to the women's second division resident at the Soccerplex certainly softens the blow.

It will be interesting to see how the Freedom's ardent supporters react and if the environment that made Freedom games such a joy to attend will be replicated when the season kicks off in June. The club, currently dubbed "Washington FC" on the USL web-site, will play five home games in June and July, with three of the five coming on weeknights and four of the five starting at 7 pm.

What is even more interesting to me is D.C. United's willingness to back the venture. Women's soccer is usually fodder for easy shots taken at the struggles of the professional league and brash claims about the lack of quality in the game. Outside of specialty sites dedicated to the sport, there is not a lot of positive press that surrounds it.

I think that the better view is that developing women's soccer is incredibly important to the future of the sport in this country. The women's game creates more fans for the sport generally and enhances interest in soccer for girls. Although my daughter is only learning how to articulate herself and her ideas, she has fully internalized the fact that we watch both women and men play soccer. When she wanders off by herself to dribble the soccer ball in another room, I know that this is a product of seeing women do the same thing on the field. When she tells me she wants to go to a soccer game, it is without regard to whether women or men will be playing -- she just wants to see it played.

Going out to cheer for women playing in D.C. United shirts will, I believe, cement her support for the club. I would hazard a guess that our experience would not be unique in that regard.

For all of these reasons, I'm very grateful that United's management has decided to take this step and I look forward to supporting the new venture in any way possible.

Dropping Like Flies

I took a late lunch today and dropped by the Elephant and Castle to watch the Barcelona-Arsenal Champions League tie. I walked out of the restaurant two hours later elated -- it was a game I plan on trying to watch with my daughter again this weekend, just to try and give her a sense of why I love the game.

Although it is a pale vestige of today's spectacle at Emirates, the match got me excited for the seasons of local soccer to come. I finalized an expansion of our season tickets to DC United so that our toddler would have her own seat. I tried to figure out how to increase my support for Real Maryland FC for its inaugural season in the PDL (while, at the same time, getting a little excited about the prospect of seeing Julia Arjona and others at Richard Montgomery). And I am trying to temper my expectations of what seems to be another strong recruiting class for Coach Cirovski -- including three products from the NY Red Bull Academy and U-17 phenom Alex Shinsky.

But that will likely be the extent of our opportunities to follow the sport in the region. Freed of his contract by the collapse of Crystal Palace Baltimore, the gem of the squad, Korey Veeder, has now joined the Columbus Crew for the upcoming MLS season. Howard County's Maryland Red Devils, which had played their inaugural season in the National Premier Soccer League (4th Division) last year were not amongst the teams announced today by the NPSL as populating the league in 2011. The club has announced that:

The TSC MD Red Devils be sitting out for the 2011 season and are planning to be back in 2012.

And so much for my hopes of taking my daughter to see women's professional soccer. Our Game Magazine confirms what everyone who is not an idiot could have foreseen (I, being an idiot, did not) -- Washington Freedom is no more and the team will be playing all of its home games in Boca Raton this season. I hope that Dan Borislow is able to make his vision work down there, because the women's professional game is going to need a lot of help to survive, but it is a shame that the WPS will proceed without a DC-area presence this year.

What does that leave? It is now absolutely imperative to support those teams that are here -- DC United, Real Maryland, and the Northern Virginia Royals. United's signing of Charlie Davies makes the team immediately more interesting. The folks at Real Maryland are doing a great deal to try and make the club relevant to the local soccer scene. Whether the club will be able to draw people and get support remains to be seen, but they are trying. Whether I can convince anyone to trek out with me to Manassas also remains to be seen.

Being There

The first professional soccer games that I attended featured the Chicago Sting. As a boy, it was impossible not to notice that the atmosphere at Sting matches was muted in comparison to the city's enthusiasm for the Cubs, Sox, Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks.

After leaving the city, I didn't venture to another professional soccer game until dropping by RFK to take in a Washington Freedom match in the wake of the Women's World Cup in 1999. By 2001, my disdain for the sport had waned, but in that inaugural season, getting to the occasional Freedom game helped transform me into a fan (both of soccer and of women's sports generally). The energy at RFK during matches was incredible and unlike anything I'd previously experienced at a stadium. The cheering and noise from fans was non-stop and unremittingly positive.

Although I enjoyed going to the matches, I failed to become a season ticket holder or to regularly show up to games. I took the team and the league for granted and the WUSA folded after three seasons.

Now, with my daughter, I have come to appreciate the Freedom again as part of the WPS. But it may be too late.

Last Friday, the new majority owner of the Freedom, Dan Borislow, gave an interview to The Equalizer, indicating that he intended to rebrand the team and implied an ultimate plan to relocate the team in South Florida or, at a minimum, to split a home schedule between Montgomery County and somewhere around Miami-Palm Beach.

I have no complaints. Mr. Borislow may have unconventional ideas that do not seem to have a high likelihood of success, but he put his money on the line where no one else would. In this vein, The Equalizer's interview with Nancy NeSmith, the former owner of the defunct FC Gold Pride is instructive. While the general reaction to Mr. Borislow's thoughts has been derisive and dismissive, the vast majority of people offering opinions are not terribly interested in actually helping the team with anything beyond the benefit of their superior intellect.

DC-area soccer enthusiasts have, in the span of a few months, lost Crystal Palace Baltimore, seen Real Maryland drop from a professional team to the USL PDL, and received a last minute reprieve on the collapse of the Freedom following Mr. Borislow's intervention.

Yes, the Freedom may still be gone. And although they may leave the area sooner rather than later, I think that the belief that these developments are somehow worse than the complete collapse of the franchise is wrong.

If people in Washington want to see the Freedom or magicJack FC/SC remain in the area, the gauntlet has been thrown down -- unless fans show up and buy tickets, there is no reason for the club to remain here. The attendance for games last season was impressive (a 3,422 average for 11 games at the SoccerPlex), but with an overall capacity of around 6,000, the club obviously has room for improvement (as former GM Mark Washo acknowledged in October).

I had waffled before on committing to season tickets, but Mr. Borislow's willingness to openly discuss his plans following his significant investment in the team is the final push I needed. Hopefully, others will also be willing to meet the challenge.