Richmond Strikers and Kickers Merging

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys. I’ve already told you all the plan.

There will no longer be Richmond Strikers or Richmond Kickers. From REC through ECNL.

It will all be Richmond United. There will be 2 ECNL teams at the top and 2 regional league teams below. Trust.

Seems like an odd thing to do with the Strikers building a new $5.5 million headquarters.

https://richmondbizsense.com/2025/01/09/richmond-strikers-underway-on-5m-upgrades-at-pouncey-tract-complex/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHwtnlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYjfXQF2Qqo45Yy1IfTedHJ6noXlR-GQRcrgU763cYx-ADnln4VaQ7KB-g_aem_Y9e7rOuL8l-pSwV5kK641w

[Anonymous]

So Richmond strikers are essentially the marquee club since the HQ is there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys. I’ve already told you all the plan.

There will no longer be Richmond Strikers or Richmond Kickers. From REC through ECNL.

It will all be Richmond United. There will be 2 ECNL teams at the top and 2 regional league teams below. Trust.

Since you’re spreading the truth, is anyone from either of these 2 clubs connected to ECNL Headquarters in Richmond?

This just goes to show people don’t really know what’s going on and who is helping create things.

Enlighten us

[Anonymous]

So, more scuttlebutt is that not only will the Strikers and Kickers merge their youth soccer operations, FC Richmond is also being pulled into mix as well. FC Richmond was approached when United first formed and they declined at that time to participate.

So, there will be just (1) youth soccer organization in Metro Richmond. IDK if that a good thing or not.

The Strikers have some other sports as well, but not sure of how much participation there is in them - Rugby and Cricket per their website.

2 weeks is the big announcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys. I’ve already told you all the plan.

There will no longer be Richmond Strikers or Richmond Kickers. From REC through ECNL.

It will all be Richmond United. There will be 2 ECNL teams at the top and 2 regional league teams below. Trust.

What would be the advantage of this? The NC clubs that have 2nd teams are usually bottom of the table and not competitive.

We are at one of these clubs and it's painful, decent top team, wretched 2nd national team, two maybe competitive RL teams. The problem it creates is a disincentive to move up and an absolute leave the club before moving down barrier.

I can't imagine any scenario where these clubs would voluntarily relinquish the slot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, more scuttlebutt is that not only will the Strikers and Kickers merge their youth soccer operations, FC Richmond is also being pulled into mix as well. FC Richmond was approached when United first formed and they declined at that time to participate.

So, there will be just (1) youth soccer organization in Metro Richmond. IDK if that a good thing or not.

The Strikers have some other sports as well, but not sure of how much participation there is in them - Rugby and Cricket per their website.

2 weeks is the big announcement.

this will certainly keep mlsnext at bay in the 804. Unless someone has the $$ to startup something new….
And maybe thats the pt. Cant mutiny and go to ga

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So Richmond strikers are essentially the marquee club since the HQ is there?

All clubs bow before the mighty Strikers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's interesting that they would pull up from the -RL clubs to make another NL club.

Just wondering if the player pool across boys & girls and all age groups is strong enough to do this...

They probably think it is because of the success both clubs have had in the ECNL-RL and NPL. Both have had teams that play up, been in Nationals etc for the last few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They both currently have their own RL teams. Strikers has the best RL teams in Virginia. Moving forward, Richmond Strikers and Kickers RL teams will merge to make a second ECNL team in Richmond. Like Courage / NCFC.

But isn't what they already did to create their first ECNL team?

But with so much success from Strikers in RL, sounds like they’re doing it again.

It’s because of their elite RL director, PM. You gotta get to know this guy.

He's a great guy tbh - I am apart of the RS ECRL teams and we're better than 50% (approx) of the ECNL teams. We beat the mid tier teams regularly and thats with RU taking our top end talent. My son's team has made the ECRL regional finals in back to back years and winning last year to advance to the national finals. He beats/competes with ECNL teams at all tournaments we attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, more scuttlebutt is that not only will the Strikers and Kickers merge their youth soccer operations, FC Richmond is also being pulled into mix as well. FC Richmond was approached when United first formed and they declined at that time to participate.

So, there will be just (1) youth soccer organization in Metro Richmond. IDK if that a good thing or not.

The Strikers have some other sports as well, but not sure of how much participation there is in them - Rugby and Cricket per their website.

2 weeks is the big announcement.

this will certainly keep mlsnext at bay in the 804. Unless someone has the $$ to startup something new….
And maybe thats the pt. Cant mutiny and go to ga

That will fall on Justin Grove (GU) or Sascha Goerres (Velocity) - both are year round alternatives to the local clubs and Grove has a head start with his youth academy and teams in the middle school and high school ages. He's got big visions for his club and I'll bet it will be MLSN in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys. I’ve already told you all the plan.

There will no longer be Richmond Strikers or Richmond Kickers. From REC through ECNL.

It will all be Richmond United. There will be 2 ECNL teams at the top and 2 regional league teams below. Trust.

What would be the advantage of this? The NC clubs that have 2nd teams are usually bottom of the table and not competitive.

We are at one of these clubs and it's painful, decent top team, wretched 2nd national team, two maybe competitive RL teams. The problem it creates is a disincentive to move up and an absolute leave the club before moving down barrier.

I can't imagine any scenario where these clubs would voluntarily relinquish the slot.

It definitely will not be a "wretched" 2nd team. ECRL RS teams routinely play and compete with ECNL teams in tournaments; hence the driving factor for the decision. Merging just makes that second team more competitive. Now the issue lies in where will they practice and whether or not you want to go north or south for 4x a week for practice...

[Anonymous]

I can only speak for Strikers, but they have consistently resisted bumping their clubs up a level for years, even when certain age groups are strong. They’d rather have their teams be in 1st in weaker leagues for the chance at a national title than grow these kids by having them play tough competition week in and week out, even if it means they lose some games. I’m not saying this because I think Strikers is the end all be all, but highlighting that Strikers puts their egos and priorities ahead of the kids they say they want to develop. Maybe combining Kickers and Strikers for more teams helps ensure success at that next level, but at what cost? I’m with Strikers because it’s in my backyard. I have no interest in driving 40 minutes to practice 3 days a week because someone decided combining travel was a good idea.

Also, all of this assumes that the Richmond United model is a good one. The RU families I know can’t stand the organization. I’ve seen a number of kids leave the club for other non-affiliated teams and others quit the sport all together because of how toxic it is. I hate the thought of someone thinking that making everything RU is a good thing.

If they do combine travel, I think this helps all of these smaller clubs that are continuing to attract players from Strikers/Kickers/FCR. Kids move because they don’t feel they are getting a fair shake with a certain club, so if everything is just one club, then the only options are these newer clubs like Grove and Velocity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The VA Beach MSA has 400k more people than the Richmond MSA. Maybe they should be first in line to get a second ECNL team.

Except - competitively, they are well below the ECRL teams from RVA. Beach FC has substandard coaching and as a result, relies on dirty tactics to compete. VAB in ECNL is barely competitive in most age brackets. This is why VA Rush was kicked out of ECRL because they had quality control issues in admin and coaching. Same kids, new team name...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys. I’ve already told you all the plan.

There will no longer be Richmond Strikers or Richmond Kickers. From REC through ECNL.

It will all be Richmond United. There will be 2 ECNL teams at the top and 2 regional league teams below. Trust.

What would be the advantage of this? The NC clubs that have 2nd teams are usually bottom of the table and not competitive.

We are at one of these clubs and it's painful, decent top team, wretched 2nd national team, two maybe competitive RL teams. The problem it creates is a disincentive to move up and an absolute leave the club before moving down barrier.

I can't imagine any scenario where these clubs would voluntarily relinquish the slot.

It definitely will not be a "wretched" 2nd team. ECRL RS teams routinely play and compete with ECNL teams in tournaments; hence the driving factor for the decision. Merging just makes that second team more competitive. Now the issue lies in where will they practice and whether or not you want to go north or south for 4x a week for practice...

Hope you're right. The worst part about ECNL is the travel to play a game that is objectively non-competitive. The 2nd teams from metro's bigger than Richmond are almost always below .500 and bottom of the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can only speak for Strikers, but they have consistently resisted bumping their clubs up a level for years, even when certain age groups are strong. They’d rather have their teams be in 1st in weaker leagues for the chance at a national title than grow these kids by having them play tough competition week in and week out, even if it means they lose some games. I’m not saying this because I think Strikers is the end all be all, but highlighting that Strikers puts their egos and priorities ahead of the kids they say they want to develop. Maybe combining Kickers and Strikers for more teams helps ensure success at that next level, but at what cost? I’m with Strikers because it’s in my backyard. I have no interest in driving 40 minutes to practice 3 days a week because someone decided combining travel was a good idea.

Also, all of this assumes that the Richmond United model is a good one. The RU families I know can’t stand the organization. I’ve seen a number of kids leave the club for other non-affiliated teams and others quit the sport all together because of how toxic it is. I hate the thought of someone thinking that making everything RU is a good thing.

If they do combine travel, I think this helps all of these smaller clubs that are continuing to attract players from Strikers/Kickers/FCR. Kids move because they don’t feel they are getting a fair shake with a certain club, so if everything is just one club, then the only options are these newer clubs like Grove and Velocity.

Not sure about the driving distance for practice in Richmond but ECNL is usually 4 days a week.