New Amsterdam FC and the Silliness of Existence
New Amsterdam FC burst onto the NISA scene with a cool look. Turns out, running a soccer club is a little harder than just getting that right.
In 1626, a Dutchman named Peter Minuit paid a Lenape band, on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, in exchange for the island of Manhattan, a sum equaling 60 guilders, which is a currency named after the warring neighbor country to Florin in The Princess Bride. For nearly 40 years, the place would come to be known New Amsterdam, a small colony that surrendered immediately when the British showed up with troops. The most the Dutch had to fight back with was a small force of colonists and a twelve-foot high wall that became the present-day Wall Street. Director-General Peter Stuyvesant looked at what he was working with, looked at the English forces, and said “yeah, better not.” No colonists died. The English renamed the place New York. And several centuries later, a lower league soccer team decided to name themselves after the short-lived Dutch colony that surrendered at the first sign of war.
Why is this important information? I feel it’s necessary to get the historical stuff out of the way before unleashing this on you:
Ok! There’s a lot going on here. And before you ask about that ban…
Yeah. It’s deserved. The buried lede in all that zaniness is, of course, the fact that New Amsterdam subbed their owner on as a goalkeeper at halftime of a tied game. New Amsterdam went on to lose the game 3-1, despite the Cosmos losing Sembroni here for what looks like a polite curb stomp. The owner in question did not cover himself in glory.
I know what you’re thinking here, besides thinking “Adam, why the hell did New Amsterdam use a sub to put their owner in at goalkeeper?” You’re probably thinking “Adam, that’s not just the goalkeeper’s fault. His defense clearly left him out to dry with that high line. Do we have any ideas as to his actual goalkeeping credentials?” And the answer to both those questions is “well, their owner played goalkeeper against Lionel Messi and Argentina’s national team.” Kind of. Maybe.
Laurence Girard, who is the owner of NAFC, is a former New York Red Bulls academy goalkeeper, spending nine months in 2010 and 2011 with their U18 team, according to his LinkedIn page. That is long enough to rub elbows with future first-teamer Sean Davis, but with the scant data on games and minutes played by a U18 team a decade ago, I can’t determine how much Girard actually played. I’m going to guess “not a whole ton,” considering he was only with the academy for nine months. BUT, I did find that during that nine month stint, the Red Bull U18s played Argentina. Seriously.
So, theoretically, Girard might have experience playing goalkeeper against Messi.
Not to say that made him a good goalkeeper. And also not to say that the conflict of interest of subbing your goalkeeper at half time so your owner can get some minutes in goal isn’t as glaring as the imperialist vibes the club is giving off with their name and brand. That’s just to say there’s at least one reason they subbed him in, which is apparently something they’ve done before, as well.
Hey! All I have is a two second gif of him getting scored on. He could really be a decent keeper. Still feels weird and a little icky that he’s involved in the ownership of the team and also playing in it without, like, Tim Howard credentials. It certainly does not make NISA feel like a viable soccer league in the United States, either.
This comes on the back of noted Soccer Guy Eric Wynalda being head coach of New Amsterdam for approximately four seconds. Despite being possibly the foremost Soccer Guy in all of American Soccer, Wynalda decided to head back to Las Vegas for family reasons.
Starting a lower league soccer team in the United States is difficult. Starting a lower league soccer team in New York City is nearly impossible. Throwing a pandemic on top of it surely doesn’t help matters, either, and now you’ve got this weirdness to deal with. It’s certainly been an interesting start to life for NAFC.
I’m admittedly torn about most things involving this club. I love new clubs. I whole-heartedly welcome anyone trying to make it in lower-tier American soccer, and hope for the success and prosperity of lower league teams. I think New York deserves a bunch of teams. Some of this stuff, however, feels very bush league, and I can’t help but wonder how long the club can keep it up. It’s that push and pull between wanting something to succeed and questioning whether it’s actually a good thing for it to succeed, just the same as I love the way their branding looks while at the same time thinking to myself, MAN they went ALL IN on the “Here come the colonizers!” imagery.
Any thoughts from our favorite front office member/second half goalkeeper?
Uh, sure. Daring very greatly by subbing on for the team you own. Ok. I think I’ll fall back on a classic millennial hymn, because it seems to fit well here: can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all.
The NWSL Is DRUNK Drunk
What is even going on? We going to get Julie Ertz to Sky Blue? Mia Hamm comes out of retirement for Angel City? Racing Louisville signs Alex Morgan and a literal horse as her strike partner? I’ll believe any of it at this point.
Mbappe In Pink
I love this story AND I love that Nike is resurrecting these boots. Releasing these things was a defining style shift for soccer. Sure, we had white boots, gold boots, bright colors before, but nothing quite like this pink. I loved how mad it made old “classy football” types back then, and I still love them now.
