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Harpo’s FC are back at it and better than ever, if their work with New York creative collective Roos Brothers is anything to go by. The video is emotive, and far from what you would think an amateur team could ever pull off. The Roos Brothers' portrayal of Harpo's FC captures the allure of the club and what it offers: the chance to be a part of something bigger.
The video is the result of a degree of separation. Landon Roos, a former Harpo’s FC player and a brother of the Roos Brothers, reached out to Johnny Freeston, the owner and manager of Harpo’s FC. Landon said that his brothers wanted to make a video, and that Harpo’s FC was the perfect subject. Freeston agreed.
Harpo’s FC made international headlines last year with its incredible run in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, and is attempting to do so again this year. They have a chance to do something special, and their first big test is right around the corner.
After coming in first in the Rocky Mountain Division of the Premier Arena Soccer League, the team is about to participate in the PASL national championship tournament on March 11 through 12. If they can make it out of the group stages, they will have to win just two more games to win a title that eluded them last year.
“We fell a bit short [last year] in a penalty shootout 2-1. We had been up 1-0 up until 39 seconds, so to have that kind of a gut-wrenching setback was horrible for us,” says Freeston. “But, it gave me…personally, the added motivation to have another go at it.”
Freeston was debating leaving the team last year, a tough decision for any coach, but especially for Freeston. He is the heart of this team, and walking away proved to be a step too far.
As Freestone alluded to, the championship loss changed his mind. He and his team spent the night after it together, soul searching and drinking beer. That night ended with a revival (“LET’S DO THIS,” he remembers yelling) and now the team has come full circle to where it was last year, and it hopes to go further.
The PASL and a PASL national title are just the first steps of what Freeston says will be a very busy 2016 for Harpo’s FC. On the agenda are an outdoor season that immediately follows the PASL season, (hopefully) a corresponding first place finish, and of course, the US Open Cup, which begins its first round on May 11.
Freeston thinks he has some idea of who Harpo’s will face in the first round of the US Open Cup, the drawing for which takes place on April 6. The three teams he talks of all pose major challenges, but this is par for the course at the Cup. The tournament has been pitting the best amateur, semi-pro, and professional teams against each other for its entire 101 year history.
The Albuquerque Sol are a strong representative from the PDL Rocky Mountain League, built of former and aspiring professional players.
San Francisco FC just moved to the PDL themselves, a “massive” step up in the words of Freeston, involving a step up in structure, finances, level of play, and recruiting.
FC Wichita won South Central Conference of the National Premier Soccer League last year, a competition that Harpo’s may consider as a next step for itself. Like SFFC and the Sol, Wichita has players who have been paid to play as well as younger athletes from local schools.
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Harpo’s FC has good players as well. They may be outclassed by their opponents at the Cup in terms of infrastructure and the overall organization they represent, but they have a chance to turn that into a point of strength.
Photo: Vimeo
“We really figured out and determined that there is a void out there between how folks see, and what there opinions are on, amateur soccer.”
“So we decided for all the right reasons, and because it’s what we believe in, to embrace the kind of moniker — the hashtag — of the community club. We’re your community club. We play for all the right reasons.”
“We’re never going to give up. We’re always going to give our best, and there’s always tomorrow. So what tomorrow brings isn’t just about what we’re doing, but it’s about what you’re doing.”
That sense of community is one of the most apparent things about Harpo’s FC. It permeates the team. It scintillates off of the Roos Brothers’ video. It gives Harpo’s players a satisfaction that they can’t get anywhere else, a community that is worth more than infrastructure or finances.
We will have to wait and see how well that sense of community translates into on-field success. But watching them, hearing Freeston, you can’t help but think it might take them all the way.
Follow me on Twitter: @yetly
