This weekend at the Haight Ashbury’s storied Kezar Stadium, San Francisco City Football Club plays the home opener of their inaugural Premier Development League season.
After playing last year in the US Club Soccer NorCal Premier Soccer League (the fifth division of soccer in America), SF City moved up to the United Soccer League’s PDL (the fourth division). The transition included taking on office space and increasing their full-time staff for the club.
SF City opened the season on the road in May traveling to Las Vegas, Fresno, Los Angeles and Utah. They currently sit atop the Central Pacific Division, having played four matches on the road (3 wins*, 1 draw).
Coach Coyne And The Players
Their head coach is Paddy Coyne. After leading SF City to the NorCal Premier League Championship and U.S. Open Cup qualifying, this is Coyne’s is first full season in charge. An U.K. transplant with Irish roots, Coyne previously coached in Peru, Argentina, South Africa, and Australia. Stateside, he’s been on staff at the San Francisco Elite Academy, Director of Coaching at Laguna Niguel Soccer Club, as well as Director of Soccer at Laguna Beach High School.
Coach Coyne’s right-hand man is Shaun Ramsden, who was with the club last season. A native of Keswick, Cumbria in England, Ramsden coached with South Kendall SC in Miami for seven years and is currently Director of Player Development at San Francisco Glens Evolution and CEO of Tekkers Elite Football Academy.
The SF City players come from all walks of life. Several have played abroad, in Norway, Belgium, England, and Croatia, while some have been with other PDL or USL teams, though many are still in college. Current collegiate players can play in the league during the summer months without forfeiting their college eligibility.
Bay Area schools have provided a wealth of talent for the club. Midfielders Ashley Watson, Armando Flores, Ashley Watson, Emmanuel Serrano, defender Robert Kelly, and goalkeeper Emmanuel Jimenez, all play for San Francisco State University.
The University of San Francisco has yielded midfielders Danny Kirkland and Jordan Hughes, as well as defenders Christian De Luna and Kamron Crow. While this is the latter’s first season with SF City, Kirkland and Hughes both played for the club during the 2015 season.
Midfielder, Max Mirner, currently at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, is also returning for a second season. Joining him are first-timers Dylan Caton, Andy Altamirano, Julien Melendez and Gabe Borges. Caton, a native of Sydney, Australia plays at Santa Clara University earlier this year, while Altamirano joins the squad from City College of San Francisco. Melendez from College of Marin, and Borges j from West Valley College in Saratoga.
Supporter Owned Model
One aspect of the club that sets them apart from most US soccer clubs is the fact that SF City is 51% supporter-owned. This model, while popular abroad, is extremely rare in the United States in any sport.
SF City president, Jacques Pelham, explains the decision behind structuring the club this way: “We wanted to build something that would literally be owned and led by the San Francisco soccer community, something that would remain a community asset for San Francisco in perpetuity.”
They took inspiration from Germany where fan ownership of teams, is the rule, and members hold at least a 51% stake in the club as a non-profit, democratic entity, while investors can own not more than 49%.
Pelham continues, “We looked at places like Germany, and then more locally at Clubs like Nashville F.C. and the Green Bay Packers. With the member ownership in those teams, there was a deeper connection between them and their communities. We wanted that for San Francisco”.
Mike Gonos, who served on the informal planning committee, helping to remake the club into its present form, believes the supporter-owned model is key to the organization’s success and longevity.
A longtime lover of the beautiful game, he found inspiration in the San Jose Earthquakes, and his time as a member of Quakes supporters group, the Ultras. He says, “That experience was not only joyful, but taught me a lot, and ultimately drove me to ask, ‘Why not here?’ when thinking about the club to represent San Francisco.”
Gonos was twice elected to its members’ Board of Directors, where he currently serves, and says, “For this sport to truly succeed here, it has to offer something different, and it has to provide a connection to the fans. We have members, not season-ticket holders. We have supporters, not customers.”
He continues, “We clearly stand out from other approaches. The model we’ve chosen gives us a huge advantage. Our concept of social responsibility appeals to fans and sponsors alike. Who doesn’t want to be seen as helping the community, rather than just being in it for profit? We’ve built a group of people who are emotionally and materially invested in the club, so we can just focus on our goals of success at our present level, moving up to the next, and fulfilling our mission of doing good for our City through the game.”
The Northsiders
No collection of SF City members embodies the club’s community outreach pillar more than their independent supporters group, the Northsiders, of which, Gonos is also a founding member.
The Northsiders spearhead many of the club’s charitable efforts, including volunteering for local organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Raphael House, Prisoners Literature Project, and the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. Later this month, they’ll partner with San Francisco Spikes Soccer Club in a community workday at the National AIDS Memorial Grove.
And of course you’ll find them at SF City’s matches. Another of the group’s founding members, Peter Bogdis, tells us, “We wanted to make sure City had a proper supporters group. One that would sing, chant, and yell for our guys all 90 minutes, win or lose.”
But for Bogdis and the other Northsiders, it’s much more than that. He explains. “It’s like being part of a family that looks out for each other, shares common goals, celebrates our differences, and always has a great time. I knew I was part of something special when last year during a US Open Cup match, I walked into Kezar Stadium and saw a banner the group had made, showing support for my sister, who was fighting for her life in the Cancer ward at UCSF. She could even see the banner from her room.”
Of course, we had to ask how the Northsiders came to have a pigeon as their symbol. Bogdis says, “At our first home game last year, an opposing player kicked out at some pigeons on the edge of the pitch, right in front of us. We immediately starting singing, ‘the pigeons are ours, get your own pigeons’ or some such. We’d already been discussing a possible logo or symbol, and in that moment, it seemed natural that it would be the Kezar Pigeon”.
As savvy local fans know, there’s a new North American Soccer League team planning to begin play at Kezar in 2017. They could do a lot worse than follow SF City FC’s shining example of building ties with the community. If you come out to Saturday’s game, say hello to the person sitting next to you. Who knows, they might be part owner of the team.
*SF City FC was retroactively awarded a win for their May 14th loss when the Fresno Fuego were found to have violated a league substitution rule during the match.
SAN FRANCISCO CITY FOOTBALL CLUB
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