Monthly Archives: July 2024

Know Your History, Washington Soccer

Soccer Stories of Old Seattle: Something to Chew On

Some 40 years ago, while at the University Book Store, I crossed paths with a book like none other. After consuming many a book about soccer tactics, skills and history, The Soccer Tribe was about the game’s rituals, its participants and its followers. Written by noted British zoologist Dr. Desmond Morris, it studied human beings through the footy lens.

The Soccer Tribe took a macro approach to observing people who surround the game. In Soccer Stories of Old Seattle and Around the World, it is a more nuanced, micro examination by author and Seattle native Phil Davis and co-contributor Bob Smith.

From July 23 through July 27, 2024, electronic copies of Soccer Stories of Old Seattle and Around the World will be available free of charge from Amazon. Davis asks that in lieu of a payment during that period, readers consider making a donation to Washington State Legends of Soccer, either for its scholarship fund or ongoing initiatives.

Davis shares tales of places he’s visited, people he’s met or discovered – all at the intersection of soccer and life.   

Asked about his newly published book’s message, Davis writes that in a country and world that often presents itself as deeply divided, “Friendship between different kinds of people is possible. So is world peace, or at least the end of long wars,” he added. “We practice every four years with the World Cup. All that is needed is a sporting attitude, a few rules developed by Thomas Aquinas 850 years ago, and the beautiful game.”

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FC Seattle, Know Your History

FC Seattle, 40 Years On – Part 1: Setting the Scene

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Forty years ago, the best young players in America were choosing scholarship offers over signing bonuses. Whereas three years before there had been 33 clubs paying a living wage, by 1984 there were 21.

It was an Olympic year, and the United States would play before huge home crowds – upwards of 78,000 – in California during July. But by the fall, the number of professional teams would dwindle to 12 and none of them would play outdoors, 11-a-side. Instead, the fog and lasers and thumping soundtrack of Major Indoor Soccer League showmanship ruled the day.

“Back then, soccer was imploding all over the United States,” former Seattle Sounders coach Jimmy Gabriel said in 2007. “There was no real soccer league at that time. Everything was going in the wrong direction.”

Into this bleak landscape came a wind of change: Football Club Seattle.

Once a Sounders captain and head coach, Jimmy Gabriel conceived the FC Seattle approach to development. (Frank MacDonald Collection)

One of the First FCs

Rather than sit and stew, Gabriel got busy. He and others hatched an idea to flip the script on a foreign-dominated domestic game and convinced a new convert to fund a new enterprise. In the summer of ’84, FC Seattle would go against the flow, develop their fair share of followers and, within a year, start a new league that has since morphed into the USL.

In terms of a name, FC Seattle came from the future – and the old country. It would be 21 years until FC Dallas became the MLS Burn’s rebrand, ushering in a slew of FCs and SCs. In truth, FC Seattle had been a few senior amateur teams (two men, one women’s). It also had an over-30 league entry, featuring Gabriel, the Washington Youth Soccer coaching director, and a handful of ex-Sounders, plus Cliff McCrath, then the storied coach at Seattle Pacific. Another teammate, new to the game, was Bud Greer.

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FC Seattle, Know Your History

FC Seattle, 40 Years On – Part 2: Seattle’s Sons

They were fearless from the first kick. And 45 seconds later, they began making believers of fans and foes alike.

If footy supporters around Puget Sound feared the Vancouver Whitecaps would wipe the Astroturf with the amateurs of Football Club Seattle, they were at least given pause when the local lads stormed in front in their inaugural match at Memorial Stadium.

Forty-five seconds into its challenge series versus Vancouver and two other NASL clubs, plus the U.S. Olympic Team, Bruce Raney bulged the west end netting. His former college coach, Cliff McCrath, climbed a railing and thrust his first in the air as fans, some yet to find their seats, screamed in delight.

Off and Running

FC Seattle was off and running. A win would come, and crowds would grow, albeit modestly, before that first season was finished. Soon after, a feeder system and league play, and a senior women’s team would be launched. Big name players would arrive, two overseas trips taken, and a trophy would be lifted.

Yet it was that belief may have been the biggest biproduct and most enduring legacy.

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FC Seattle, Know Your History, USL Sounders

FC Seattle, 40 Years On – Part 3: The Legacy

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When the Sounders marched alumni out onto the Lumen Field pitch on June 15, among them were men who never cashed a paycheck or played for any team playing under that name. They played for Football Club Seattle, arguably the most ‘Seattle’ team ever, stocked almost entirely of local players.

Yet FC Seattle is largely unknown to the average fan. It falls through the cracks between two Sounders iterations, the NASL and A-League. It never played before a home sellout crowd. It lasted just even seasons and was semipro, paying players for only two of those years.

Had FC Seattle adopted the Sounders name, it would fit neatly into the narrative. Instead, it opted for ‘Storm,’ developed the next wave of players for critical roles in two championship teams and kept the lights on around Puget Sound when most of American pro soccer was going dark.

FC Seattle’s original crest. (Frank MacDonald Collection)

Forty years ago, in 1984, when 11v11 professional soccer was in its death throes, FC Seattle was the future. It encompassed youth development plus women’s and men’s teams. It helped usher a new league. Without it, there would be an 11-year gap in our heritage and a few less trophies to squawk about.

What’s In a Name?

Stitching together a 50-year history in North American soccer ain’t easy. The graveyard of clubs since the first coast-to-coast league is littered with names ranging from obscure (Apollos) to flavorless (Team Hawaii) to iconic (Cosmos).

FC Seattle owner Bud Greer had at one time contemplated rescuing the NASL Sounders. After it folded and his new club took shape, he chose the name of his men’s premier league side. “The Sounders was a damaged name; it didn’t have a good reputation (in 1984),” noted Greer. A nickname was added after the second season.

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