Richmond Strikers and Kickers Merging

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bad move. This helps FCR and other thorny new clubs surrounding Short Pump United

Unlikely..FCR is so bad and devoid of any real youth soccer talent that it will not matter for U13-19. Previously, any decent left for Strikers/Kickers well before the U13 group. Now, even if after the pull the top 5-8 kids off Strikers and Kickers, FCR is still a distant 3rd in the region. I'm betting FCR will be gone in a few years bc they won't have the market to compete anymore based on the success of Strikers, now RU.

Grove United will get a few stragglers as evidence of his persistent marketing and social media presence. Mostly parents who are annoyed at how little attention their child gets but willing to spend MORE $$$ on youth soccer as GU is a year round commitment.

Lastly, the ECRL teams for each age group will be among the better teams in VA; hence, the 3-5 projection of RU getting 2 ECNL teams for the club. They are modeling this after NCFC's merger and using their success as the barometer for future growth.

That's a good summary of things overall.

I don't know what happened back in the day that led to the animosity, but FCR never wanted to really participate in anything to do with the Kickers and Strikers. They didn't want to do it when RU was first formed in 2014 and were completely left out of conversation this time around.

Will be interesting to see if Grove United has any success with its girls program as an alternate or what Virginia Velocity can do on the boys side as well. They seem to be pushing to grow. For the girls, the only game in town now really is Richmond United and maybe this will allow some easier movement from -RL teams to the top -NL teams.

Finally, agree, the goal is to certainly get the -RL Blue club up into the NL level in the next few years for sure. Going from 10 teams at Richmond United and 200 players to 10,000 players and IDK how many teams is a pretty big boom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bad move. This helps FCR and other thorny new clubs surrounding Short Pump United

Unlikely..FCR is so bad and devoid of any real youth soccer talent that it will not matter for U13-19. Previously, any decent left for Strikers/Kickers well before the U13 group. Now, even if after the pull the top 5-8 kids off Strikers and Kickers, FCR is still a distant 3rd in the region. I'm betting FCR will be gone in a few years bc they won't have the market to compete anymore based on the success of Strikers, now RU.

Grove United will get a few stragglers as evidence of his persistent marketing and social media presence. Mostly parents who are annoyed at how little attention their child gets but willing to spend MORE $$$ on youth soccer as GU is a year round commitment.

Lastly, the ECRL teams for each age group will be among the better teams in VA; hence, the 3-5 projection of RU getting 2 ECNL teams for the club. They are modeling this after NCFC's merger and using their success as the barometer for future growth.

That's a good summary of things overall.

I don't know what happened back in the day that led to the animosity, but FCR never wanted to really participate in anything to do with the Kickers and Strikers. They didn't want to do it when RU was first formed in 2014 and were completely left out of conversation this time around.

Will be interesting to see if Grove United has any success with its girls program as an alternate or what Virginia Velocity can do on the boys side as well. They seem to be pushing to grow. For the girls, the only game in town now really is Richmond United and maybe this will allow some easier movement from -RL teams to the top -NL teams.

Finally, agree, the goal is to certainly get the -RL Blue club up into the NL level in the next few years for sure. Going from 10 teams at Richmond United and 200 players to 10,000 players and IDK how many teams is a pretty big boom.

Will be interesting to see if Richmond has the demographics to support two ECNL teams. The last thing the league needs is another uncompetitive team getting blown out every week. The 2nd teams from the NC clubs run from mediocre to plain bad.

[Anonymous]

^^^^^This. That’s a concern - is there a big enough player pool to support this across all ages group. Some of the 2nd NCFC teams aren’t very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^^^This. That’s a concern - is there a big enough player pool to support this across all ages group. Some of the 2nd NCFC teams aren’t very good.

Great question and I'd have to say no. Yikes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^^^This. That’s a concern - is there a big enough player pool to support this across all ages group. Some of the 2nd NCFC teams aren’t very good.

It is a challenge across most teams in ENCL and probably non-academy MLSN. There are 4-5 really good players and a big drop-off after the starting 11. No depth. Need to increase the number of kids playing or reduce the number of teams in the top tier. It's bad for development to play on bad teams or against bad teams.

[Anonymous]

So per their player pathway, the Blue RL team is above the Red and Orange RL teams, but all three will play in the VPSL/RL league. Someone said the Blue will play in North division and Red and Orange in the South. Since the top 2 in both North and South make the VPSL playoff for spots in the RL playoffs, can't wait for the first time a Red or Orange team finishes Top 2 in the South and makes the playoffs when the Blue team finishes third or lower in the North and does not qualify.

[Anonymous]

Considering they will be pulling the best players from the Orange and Red team that will likely not happen and the Red and Orange team will be bottom feeders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering they will be pulling the best players from the Orange and Red team that will likely not happen and the Red and Orange team will be bottom feeders

Well now that FCRICHMOND is leaving for MLSnext…this is more likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering they will be pulling the best players from the Orange and Red team that will likely not happen and the Red and Orange team will be bottom feeders

Well now that FCRICHMOND is leaving for MLSnext…this is more likely.

Is it me or are they going MLSNext2

https://www.fcrichmond.com/news_article/show/1333606

While pretending they aren't. This all reads really slick and underhanded.

I like this
"Prior to expanding, MLS Next executes a rigorous application process for potential new clubs across the country, evaluating facilities, training plans, coaching expertise, player pathways and more. Our selection underscores the success of our club’s mission to produce young athletes who reach their full potential on the field and beyond the game and is a testament to the hard work of our players, coaches and staff."

But really they decided we weren't up to par and are taking our money to play better Clubs second teams and other Clubs that didn't have teams that deserved their rigorous first tier.

Nothing wrong with MLS Next 2 but in a Club without the first tier it's just a name.