Home » Community » How SOPFC Started from Good Conversation and the World Cup

SOPFC got it's start a little over four years ago. It didn’t happen on a pitch like you might imagine, or grass, turf, or even a rooftop. In fact, our club grew out of good conversation on the couch in my living room.

The 2014 World Cup was right around the corner, and the news had just broken that Atlanta would be home to a new MLS team. Under normal circumstances, those two things would have brought someone like me nothing but happiness--but my wife could tell that wasn’t the case. I knew that the success of an MLS team would attract investors--businessmen who would see a new market for soccer. I imagined a bunch of suits and ties starting the league I had always dreamt of. These guys wouldn’t be like us--they wouldn’t love the game like us or understand it as a foundation of community and culture. 

So my wife asked what had I done to start my own league. I told her that aside from going to a couple of SBA meetings, nothing really--I didn’t have the money. I had only told a couple of my closest friends, hoping I could raise the funds necessary.

“Tell everyone!” she replied. “And do it now while everyone is excited about soccer!”

She was right. I kept the idea of intown leagues a secret. The original plan was based on opening up rooftop soccer facilities, since we had previously played pickup on the parking decks of City Plaza, a group of apartments located downtown next to GSU. Like many people with a thought or idea, after a quick Google search we realized we weren’t the first people to think of playing soccer on rooftops--but I still hoped that we could be the first to bring rooftop soccer to Atlanta. I worried if I talked about “the idea” too much, someone might beat me to the punch. Let this be a lesson...

Ideas mean nothing. Execution is everything.

What did it matter if someone else took the idea? I was never going to be able to accomplish it on my own, so I told everyone, hoping to find like minds. Two friends answered the call: Alex Henry and Chris Pozzi. Pozzi had an awesome idea of how to create brand awareness through World Cup games. We just needed a replica World Cup trophy and polished photos for Facebook; and wouldn’t you know, Alex was a professional photographer. 

Oh, and we needed a name drunk people at a bar would remember…

SONS OF PITCHES! 

Yes, that’s one lane of Moreland closed down by celebrating Colombians!

We took the momentum we had created with our photo campaign during the 2014 World Cup and started to inquire about rooftop space. After a couple of calls, we soon realized we were never going to be given access to a rooftop to run leagues if we didn’t already have experience running traditional leagues successfully.

It just so happened that we lucked out getting access to a neighborhood high school field, and so with the little savings I had, we were off to Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy the equipment necessary to kick off our first league. We knew what we liked and disliked about other leagues we had played in, so we went right for the good stuff: $125 for match balls like the one pros play with, so what! 

...Until you have to Shawshank Redemption 20 feet of storm drains to retrieve a match ball.   

Little did we know that merely by providing kick ass soccer leagues intown, we would start attracting a lot of interest from teams and players around the city. As we started growing we knew we needed some help. So we found someone in our leagues just as passionate about soccer, but also really knowledgeable about running a business. Enter Court Sullivan, aka Lord Business: Court helped us scale our leagues and technology to spread our club and community mission.

We also realized that by partnering with schools in the community we could be more than a league: we had the opportunity to be a proper club. 

The main mission of the high schools where we play is to create a positive experience for students and prepare them for a successful life. Beyond the funds we provide to their athletic programs, we created programs to help students directly, including free pickup and leagues, employment opportunities, and mentorship through soccer/life coaches.

Four years on it's crazy to think of the road we’ve travelled from a pickup crew of about 20 players, to Atlanta's largest soccer club with over 400 teams and thousands of pickup players every year, not to mention hosting three rooftop soccer tournaments along the way, Atlanta’s first and only such events. But watching the current World Cup brings it all back. It’s truly amazing what good conversation can do for your life! And at it’s best that is what soccer is about: a healthy excuse for good conversation among friends. Things like, “Pass the f**king ball already!”

Fall 2015 Rooftop Tournament in Downtown Atlanta.

This is just my SOPFC story--I hope every club member has an SOPFC story to share.

If you’d like to share yours, email it to wedge@sonsofpitchesfc.com!