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Edward Mass posted:If you live in a town with a club in one of these leagues, go to a match! Have a beer, sing a song, punch a child in the face (valid only in Orlando). You never know which guy playing soccer on a baseball field will sign a deal with a big club! Technically, that child was punched in St. Petersburg, Florida (at Al Lang Stadium), not Orlando, but it was Orlando "ultras" doing the punching; the guys arrested, IIRC, were also arrested a few years later for tearing up/destroying seats at Atlanta United's stadium. The one time Orlando City organized supporters came back to Al Lang after the punching incident (for Orlando City B, in USL, in 2017) they were given their own special fenced off area out where the food trucks now sit, next to the harbor. Nothing quite like the Rowdies last season in NASL in 2016, when there were four NASL teams in Florida (Tampa Bay Rowdies, Jacksonville Armada, Miami FC, Ft. Lauderdale Strikers); but at least this season we will have Miami FC in the USL Championship, so that's two Florida teams at least; the Rowdies have been the lone Florida team in division two these past two seasons. Oh yeah, and Al Lang is a (former) baseball stadium, too, but at least the grass pitch at Al Lang is top quality, unlike most of the other baseball stadiums in use in USL. sleepwalkers posted:Spring teams: California United Strikers FC, Chattanooga FC, Detroit City FC, Los Angeles Force, Michigan Stars FC (lol), Oakland Roots SC, San Diego 1904 FC, Stumptown Athletic Wow, so the Cosmos aren't even showing up in NISA until the Fall? That's exactly how they entered the NASL 2.0 back in 2013, in the Fall. Cosmos fashionably late. Some things never change. Gonna repost my effortpost from last year below, with a very few updates, since this is mostly a Rowdies history post and not an in-depth dive into the new Rowdies season; check out the Unused Substitutes podcast for that sort of thing. I'm not involved enough to keep up with the current roster or how it fits into the USL Championship overall. Ahem. Who are the greatest North American association football club not currently in MLS, and why it is the Tampa Bay Rowdies?  [Commence effortpost] THE NASLOZOIC ERA, AKA THE PREMLSAMBRIAN ERA . . . The original Tampa Bay Rowdies played their first match, an indoor soccer game, on Valentine's Day, 1975, at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, a short walk from where the new era Rowdies play at Al Lang Stadium. Fun fact: the Bayfront Center was imploded in 2004 and replaced by the Salvador Dalí Museum. The Dali is awesome and you should visit it if you happen to be in downtown St. Pete. The original Tampa Bay Rowdies played in the North American Soccer League, in Tampa, Florida, at Tampa Stadium, aka The Big Sombrero. The Rowdies were the first pro sports club to represent the Tampa Bay Area, a year before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When the Rowdies first started playing in 1975 at Tampa Stadium, the end zone seating had not been built yet, so it was not known as The Big Sombrero back then. The Rowdies had a sold out home game of 40,000+ when Pelé and the New York Cosmos came visiting in the early years before the expansion of Tampa Stadium was completed (once the expansion was completed, Tampa Stadium seated 72,000). The Rowdies had several 40,000+ home games circa 1975-1980, and one 56,000+ home game in 1980. Average attendance started at about 15,000+ in 1975 and increased to 28,000+ by 1980, IIRC, before starting a slow decline which culminated in the collapse of the original NASL. The original 1970s/1980s era Tampa Bay Rowdies were known for their very effective and witty marketing campaigns.  Original era motto (on the back of most Rowdies t-shirts, and on Rowdies bumper stickers): "Soccer is a kick in the grass." We had a kick-rear end theme song; I used to have this record, it's either in storage or long lost though, sadly ("SOLD - Tampa Bay Rowdies '45 record - available on eBay late October"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qrQ80oCcpo Get it? Kick in the grass? Kick rear end? No? Also, Rowdies fans were known as Fannies. We had a mascot named Ralph Rowdie, or was it Rowdie Ralph?  However, he was better known from this original NASL artwork, featured on tens of thousands of t-shirts worn by 1970s/1980s era Floridians:  Tampa Bay Rowdies got off to a good start in 1975, beating the Portland Timbers to win the first NASL Soccer Bowl, at Spartan Stadium, the then home of the San Jose Earthquakes:  Awesome NFL-style Voice of God video ("Rowdies Road To The 75' NASL Soccer Bowl"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRSfC6StTQ (Watching that video, I realize I am a really old fogey, because somewhere buried deep in my unconscious mind, soccer referees still wear all black, the assistant referees are still called linesmen, there is no fourth official, you can still back-pass to the goalkeeper, etc.). The best known original Rowdie would be Rodney Marsh, currently one of the Grumpy Pundits on SiriusXM FC, channel 157.  TAMPA BAY ROWDIES/MUTINY ACHIEVEMENTS AND TROPHIES . . . Tampa Bay Rowdies 1975-1993: 1975 Indoor Region 3 1975 NASL Indoor Runner-Up 1975 NASL Eastern Division 1975 NASL Regular Season Runner-Up 1975 NASL Soccer Bowl Champions 1976 NASL Indoor East Region 1976 NASL Indoor Champions 1976 NASL Eastern Division, Atlantic Conference 1976 NASL Regular Season Premiership 1978 NASL Eastern Division, American Conference 1978 NASL American Conference 1978 NASL Soccer Bowl Runner-Up 1979 NASL Indoor Runner-Up 1979 NASL Eastern Division, American Conference 1979 NASL American Conference 1979 NASL Soccer Bowl Runner-Up 1979-80 NASL Indoor Champions 1980 NASL Eastern Division, American Conference 1981–82 NASL Indoor Atlantic Conference 1981-82 NASL Indoor Runner-Up 1983 NASL Indoor Champions 1989 ASL Southern Division 1992 ASPL Runner-Up 1992 Professional Cup Runner-Up (The Tampa Bay Mutiny were MLS 1.0's Tampa Bay Rowdies in all but name, because reasons.) Tampa Bay Mutiny 1996-2001: 1996 MLS Eastern Conference Regular Season Winners 1996 MLS Supporters' Shield 2000 Copa de Puerto Rico Winners Tampa Bay Rowdies 2010-present: 2010 Coastal Cup 2010 Ponce De Leon Cup 2011 Coastal Cup 2012 Ponce De Leon Cup 2011 NASL Fair Play Award 2012 Coastal Cup 2012 NASL Fair Play Award 2012 NASL Soccer Bowl Champions 2013 Coastal Cup 2014 NASL Fair Play Award 2016 Coastal Cup NEW ERA TAMPA BAY ROWDIES . . . As noted above, the new era Rowdies won their second NASL Soccer Bowl in 2012, under the pre-Bill Edwards ownership. Leapin' Luke Mulholland celebrates 2012 Soccer Bowl win:  The Bill Edwards era 2014-2018 was significantly unsuccessful on the field, in spite of spending a lot of money on players, including Joe Cole and Marcel Schäfer. Local goons in Ralph's Mob can explain in much better detail than I can how head coach Neill Collins is rebuilding the team for the Pre-Bill Edwards, the new era Rowdies had Hoops McGee as mascot:  The Bill Edwards era ushered in Pete the Pelican:  quote:Having made his home, as many Pelicans do, in the bay near downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., Pete the Pelican was getting to know his new surroundings in early 2016 when he happened upon a stadium right on the waterfront. Pelicans are not the only birds of note associated with the Rowdies. Al Lang Stadium and the area around it in downtown St. Petersburg is inhabited by feral parakeets (not budgies; the big green kind of parakeet, probably something similar to Indian Ringneck Parakeets, but I'm not sure of the exact species). At Rowdies home matches at Al Lang, they hang out in the palm trees behind the south goal, in the Mahaffey Theater parking lot, of an evening, squawking loudly until it gets dark. And of course there is the aforementioned Ralph's Mob, named after the 1970s/1980s era Ralph Rowdie/Rowdie Ralph mascot:  New era Rowdies slogans: "we stand for soccer" and "come on you Rowdies"; hashtag: #COYR. A good site for following Rowdies news is The Unused Substitutes: http://www.theunsubs.com/wp/ Their podcasts are very informative as well: http://www.theunsubs.com/wp/category/podcasts (The above link is no longer updating with their latest podcasts, these are no longer hosted on the unsubs website, so for their latest podcasts check out the Unused Substitutes on your favorite podcast app.) Oh yeah Ralph's Mob has a website, too, though most Mobster activity seems to be on Facebook, Twitter, and reddit (Big Soccer activity amongst most Rowdies fans died off a long time ago): https://www.ralphsmob.com NEW ERA TAMPA BAY ROWDIES HISTORY IN BRIEF . . . The new era Rowdies spent 2008-2009 trying to get permission to build a small stadium in Tampa, and failing badly (RIP, Tomato Patch, the tiny Rowdies SSS that was not to be), and also losing control (or never having had control) over the Tampa Bay Rowdies trademarks and copyrights because reasons. The new era Rowdies began play in 2010 in the weird USSF shotgun marriage D2 league, featuring all of the then USL and soon-to-be-NASL teams in one big unhappy family, with the Rowdies playing under the forced, but temporary, name of FC Tampa Bay, due to some copyright squatters in Texas. The Rowdies played the 2010 season at George Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees spring training facility, which was not a good facility for soccer. The next year the Rowdies moved across the Bay to Al Lang Stadium in St. Pete, and at the end of 2011 got the rights to their name back, just in time to win their second NASL Soccer Bowl in 2012. The then owners didn't have the money to keep this up, though, so sold the Rowdies to Bill Edwards at the end of 2013. Bill Edwards spent 2014 successfully fighting to wrest control of Al Lang Stadium away from the St. Pete Baseball Commission, who had left the facility in a bad state. Before the 2015 season Al Lang was greatly improved, and the Rowdies were finally able to play home games on a decent quality grass pitch. After the 2016 season, Bill Edwards moved the Rowdies from the new era NASL, to the USL, and not a moment too soon (RIP, both original NASL and new era NASL). Bill Edwards made a bid for an MLS expansion spot for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, with a proposed expanded Al Lang Stadium (approved by an 87% yes vote of St. Pete voters), but this was turned down by MLS because reasons. Since moving to Al Lang Stadium in 2011, Rowdies average home game attendance has increased every year, except for last year (and only missed the mark by a very small number). This is impressive for lower league soccer considering that the Rowdies have some of the highest ticket prices in USL. IIRC average attendance is hovering somewhere just below 6,000; the capacity is just above 7,000, so there isn't much room to grow. Hopefully the new Rays ownership will be able to get more sellouts and bump those average attendance numbers up again (maybe justifying some seating expansion at Al Lang?); the fact that this year, all of the Rowdies home games will be on Saturday nights, helps a lot. Previously in USL and NASL there had been too many weeknight games and other weird scheduling (plenty of fans won't drive over the bridge on a weeknight due to rush hour traffic congestion). The longer season in USL this year may also have an effect. The Rowdies are currently selling Season Tickets and 3 game Hat Trick Packs; as an out-of-towner I am busily pressing F5 waiting for individual home game tickets to go on sale. Bill Edwards sold the Rowdies to the Tampa Bay Rays in late 2018, so 2020 will be the second season for the Rowdies under Rays ownership. Ticket prices have been slashed this year, and there is going to be a new standing section behind goal for Ralph's Mob. On the whole the Rays ownership has been good on the field but unimpressive overall; the online store was missing all last year and although I do see it is available now it hardly has any content at all. Very poor show. The Rays stadium problems and the whole MLB split season proposal with Montreal is not helping matters. I don't like seeing the Rowdies be the red-headed stepchild of a MLB team. IN SUMMARY . . . And so, once again, as a long suffering original Rowdies Fannie (since 1975!), I look forward to NB: As I am also a New England Revolution fan, I am very much used to going to the Cup final and losing; Rowdies have only done it twice whereas the Revs have done it five times; go Revs! TL;DR - the Tampa Bay Rowdies are awesome and you should support them. #COYR quote:do the tampa bay rowdies have capos and hymnals Yes, probably? I live over 1,000 miles away, so I have no personal involvement. When I do make it down there, Ralph's Mob has drums, singing, and tifo. Safe to assume they have all of the usual American soccer supporter drama. There's also the Skyway Casuals, for those who travel up from the south over the Skyway bridge. Ralph's Mob and the Skyway Casuals drinks at the Thirsty First and marches from there to Al Lang Stadium before home games. There is also a tailgate in the Al Lang parking lot before home games; I believe there is free beer. Free beer good. Also various trucks and tents from Rowdies sponsors, etc. Saturday mornings the Al Lang parking lot is also used by the St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market, except in the summer, when it moves a few blocks north to the shade of Williams Park. There are various local food trucks in the parking lot before games and inside Al Lang Stadium during games. Ralph's Mob/Skyway Casuals have very good tifo for a lower league club: quote:https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/01/19/lafcs-3252-win-tifo-year-independent-supporters-council Out-of-towners and visiting fans very much welcome. This is a very walkable environment; check out what downtown St. Petersburg has to offer. Lots of local museums, art galleries, clubs, shopping, eating and drinking establishments within easy walking distance of Al Lang Stadium.
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Feb 10, 2020 07:11
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Aggro posted:I moved in July so I missed out on the Members Cup season. However, I did trek from NYC out to Long Island to see them beat the Cosmos. The local fans threw beer at us and tried to steal a flag — it was a bit of a poo poo show. The Rouge Rovers were extremely nice and got me good and drunk, and someone gave me a ride back to the LIRR station. I missed out on the afterparty at the hotel because I really didn’t want to get stranded in Nassau County. sleepwalkers posted:i was there as well! and it was an absolute shitshow! i think i talked about the experience in the previous thread, it wasn’t even fun unwelcoming, just incredibly stupid. Tampa Bay Rowdies supporters (Ralph's Mob) had similar experience in Long Island from Cosmos "ultras" I guess this would have been back in 2014 or thereabouts. A few teams in lower division soccer (NY Cosmos, Atlanta Silverbacks, Orlando City) have attracted rather lovely "ultra"-wannabees over the years, who like to start fights, steal flags and scarves, etc.
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Feb 13, 2020 13:33
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sleepwalkers posted:small world, there's a non-zero chance we've met. I met a nice young couple from Detroit, Detroit City FC fans, at a Rowdies home game in Al Lang in St. Pete in 2015. Detroit City FC fans do seem to show up everywhere. There was a fierce rivalry between Tampa Bay Rowdies and Miami Toros/Ft. Lauderdale Strikers fans back in the 1970s/80s NASL. Nothing too violent but very heated. With the exception of NY Cosmos/Orlando City/Atlanta Silverbacks, all of the other supporters groups and fans have been fairly decent and relaxed. The only very heated Rowdies rivals now really are Orlando City and we really should get the Rowdies into MLS for that rivalry reason alone. City of St. Petersburg is banning smoke at Al Lang Stadium this year, for some reason. That did not stop someone from letting off smoke outside the stadium during yesterday's friendly match against Inter Miami. One of the advantages of the open harbor view at Al Lang, apparently.
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Feb 24, 2020 03:10
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Smoke drama. https://www.facebook.com/RalphsMob/photos/a.10151657937118951/10157206809203951/?type=3&theater
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Feb 25, 2020 03:16
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Do over Ham posted:Smoke drama. More smoke drama... quote:https://www.draysbay.com/2020/2/27/21152502/rowdies-smoke-political-fire-st-petersburg-fire-marshal
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Mar 2, 2020 07:34
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TL;DR - some new faces, some old faces; Rowdies gonna make me suffer as a fan again this year, probably. quote:https://medium.com/j-king-s-labratory-project/tampa-bay-rowdies-2020-usl-championship-season-preview-67848cc6ed7b Edit to add: quote:https://www.uslchampionship.com/news_article/show/1091126 quote:https://www.uslchampionship.com/news_article/show/1091653 Do over Ham fucked around with this message at 10:42 on Mar 3, 2020 |
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Mar 3, 2020 05:48
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We stand for soller. https://twitter.com/tampabayrowdies/status/1236050780865597440
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Mar 9, 2020 02:32
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Bentai posted:https://www.lasvegaslightsfc.com/news_article/show/1091927 Las Vegas Lights, or as the Unused Substitutes call them, Gimmick FC. quote:https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-unused-substitutes Speaking of Arby's 2, Rowdies finally won a game on the road in NY/NJ, this past Saturday, which is like, the first time ever for the Rowdies, I think (not counting Rochester, also, I think), circa 1975-2020 (NY Cosmos/RBNY inclusive)? That's quite the long on-the-road losing streak. Do over Ham fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Mar 9, 2020 |
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Mar 9, 2020 06:02
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sleepwalkers posted:evan louro had a brief spell with detroit city and was an absolute monster between the pipes. occasionally some rb2 highlights of his roll into my twitter feed, but man i wish that dude would get a shot at the big times. Good interview with Evan Louro by Jake Nutting on the Unused Substitutes podcast. Looking forward to seeing Evan Louro do well with the Rowdies this year. Should be fun to watch. Knock on wood. quote:https://www.wfla.com/sports/round-of-applause-for-tampa-bay-rowdies-new-goalkeeper-evan-louro/ quote:http://theunsubs.soccer/rowdies-get-the-big-apple-off-their-back-best-nyrb-ii-in-opener/ Pretty sure the Rowdies vs. NY Cosmos losing streak in NY/NJ is inclusive of both the NY Cosmos NASL 1.0 and NASL 2.0 iterations.
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Mar 10, 2020 01:07
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The new Ralph's Mob standing section has achieved full Capo Stand status. https://twitter.com/RowdiesTickets/status/1237382183955939328
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Mar 11, 2020 09:31
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Welp. Ralph's Mob brand new standing section with capo stand all set up and ready to go viral as it were, and we wait with no games for a month. coof coof
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Mar 17, 2020 01:42
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Do over Ham posted:no games for a month Two months, if we're lucky. Would not be surprised if we don't kick another ball in MLS and USL until August. quote:MLS, USL extend suspensions of seasons to May 10, NWSL delays kickoff
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Mar 23, 2020 07:44
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Weird feeling right now, reminds me of how MLS post-2001-09-11 felt, except that I'm pretty confident that MLS and USL are strong enough to start back up once this is over, when it is over, whereas MLS almost didn't make it to 2002. Still feels weird though.
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Apr 6, 2020 04:14
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Edward Mass posted:I might be in the minority, but I want to see the CanPL succeed so MLS can shove off their Canadian clubs there Will happen probably shortly after the Welsh clubs in the English pyramid "shove off" to the Welsh league system. In effect, never.
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May 18, 2020 05:15
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  quote:https://theunsubs.soccer/lucky-leo-...JiqnOD934iE6hss quote:https://www.tampabay.com/sports/row...B-FkQVWKGCEtR5s
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Jul 13, 2020 02:53
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Rowdies fans gonna jinx it by claiming to have clinched Group H whilst Charleston Battery (who we just dropped another three points to at home at Al Lang) still have a game in hand. They just have to beat Loudoun by enough goals....it could happen. It never ends, no matter how well the Rowdies do they never look like a winning playoff team. Not getting my hopes up for the Rowdies to win the Coof Cup. It's a long shot given their current form.  Edit: My bad. I'm out of the loop apparently; the cancelled Loudoun match with Charleston won't be played so the Rowdies clinched the group when Miami beat Charleston and the Rowdies didn't need to win their final match against Charleston. So we stumble our way into the playoffs in typical 2020 fashion. 
Do over Ham fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Oct 7, 2020 |
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Oct 5, 2020 01:52
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Alte Kraehe posted:Still taking bets on Louisville. The odds may be a bit shorter now Yeah nah. Rowdies have never had much luck playing in Louisville. I have not been paying any attention to the West but if it is like recent years we can expect the Eastern Conference winner to be the USLC winner as well, I assume.
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Oct 18, 2020 23:24
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paddyboat posted:the power of Do over Ham’s super-posts has propelled the Rowdies through and I’ll be rooting for them to defeat whatever evil western conference douches they might have to play  It was nice of Phoenix to give up their home field advantage for us, but I hope I haven't jinxed the Rowdies with my comments about the relative strength of the Western Conference, a conference about which I know gently caress all. I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed while hanging on to my lucky rabbit's foot and repeatedly knocking on the nearest piece of hardwood, for the next week.  It's been 8 years since the Rowdies 2012 NASL Soccer Bowl championship; would be nice to end the dry spell. Even though 2020 silverware ("coof cup") will always have a nice big asterisk attached to it. Whatever; silverware is silverware. Anyway nice for the Rowdies to get their Louisville road jinx off their back, at last, when it counts the most.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGqvXKD7JDc 
Do over Ham fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Oct 26, 2020 |
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Oct 26, 2020 00:30
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Edward Mass posted:The League One Final has been cancelled. Also, the Rowdies' coach and two other Tampa Bay persons have COVID-19. The USL Championship final is cancelled as well. There will be no overall champion; Phoenix wins the Western Conference and Tampa Bay wins the Eastern Conference and the season is over. Honestly this is the most 2020 way to finish out the USL season possible.
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Nov 2, 2020 00:06
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Rowdies putting their non-USL Championship plans on hold. quote:https://theunsubs.soccer/rowdies-halt-plans-for-usl-league-two-and-wpsl-programs-will-re-evalute-for-2022/
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Feb 1, 2021 08:18
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New thread for 2021: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3966124
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Apr 26, 2021 01:19
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