Welcome to The Philly Soccer Page, a new site we hope will become a must-read for soccer fans in Philadelphia and the surrounding Delaware Valley. With two top-tier professional teams starting play here in 2010, this seemed the right time to assemble our own team to follow the game in our back yard.
So we did.
Our plan is to write about the world of soccer from a Delaware Valley perspective. We won’t be so myopic that we’ll only follow the sport as it’s played within our region, and you can expect to see plenty here about Major League Soccer, the major foreign leagues, and next year’s World Cup.
We won’t forget where we come from though, so expect plenty of hometown content. Philadelphia has a long soccer history, dating back to the 19th century. Today, the sport’s popularity is growing in the city and the surrounding area, from Cape May and Wilmington up to Trenton and Allentown. Youth leagues flourish, and adult leagues are growing. Soccer pubs draw plenty on game days. You can find pickup games every day of the week, despite a shortage of good public fields in the city.
As for us, we play in the Casa Soccer League, the Delaware Valley’s largest adult league, and pickup games around the area. The Philly Soccer Page’s nine contributors include three current and former journalists, the author of a popular soccer newsletter who’s writing a book about Philadelphia’s soccer history, and a coach of one of New Jersey’s best high school soccer programs. Most have played the game all their lives. Fredo Silva is our designer, I’m the editor, and the other seven guys carry our water by contributing great content. We all have our different interests and approaches, as you’ll find out soon enough.
Our opening today is a soft launch, and we expect to stay lean and stripped down in this beta stage until we build enough readership to take this site to the next level. We chose to start today because we’re at the beginning of a new era in Philadelphia soccer: Next week, our city’s Major League Soccer team will acquire their first players through an expansion draft. In January, MLS holds its college draft in Philadelphia. Come March, we’ll have two new home teams: Philadelphia Union and Philadelphia Independence.
Today, you have someone else to sound off about it, as well as spread the word about soccer happenings around the area. We plan to post new content daily, so feel free to check in regularly. If you know of interesting soccer-related events worth publicizing here or have suggestions on things to write about, email us at phillysoccer3@gmail.com. Weigh in on our comment boards, and generally give us a shout whenever there’s something you think we should know.
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