Snowligan

Of Big Ben and Saint George Second in a series of profiles of the first ever Red River, Green & Gold squad   Ben Eastwell and George Anthony grew up in cities 200 miles apart in England. Eastwell comes from Norwich , an old historic market town with a castle in the center but with a thriving modern economy and soccer history of its own. He decided to promote himself to college recruiters in the US with the aim of playing professional soccer and earning a degree, a combination far better established in America than England. Having been swiftly recruited from the city by the University of Jamestown , he settled into life in Fargo – a city and a state that he says he “knew nothing about” before he moved to the area. I asked him how he thought his time at Jamestown had helped his progress towards making a living as a player: “Training five days a week at Jamestown and practising the simple foundations helped out a lot. Most importantly the talen...

Hello guys, I'm changing hats . By October my exile in England should be over and at that point I will need to concentrate full time on the things I do best. Those are media things. So I am taking over as communications director of the club and essentially co-ordinating the awesome, multi skilled crew of content and production guys we have around. I will be tweeting less from @fargogreenarmy and more from @fcfargomedia as this transition continues - let me know if leading the Green Army appeals to you. I have never been a regular blogger, and have basically been keeping the Fargo Green Army present in the conversation until we as a group can find someone more able and comfortable to engage with everything that leading a Supporters Group requires. As a young club, most of us founders club members are also staff - like a good non-league club here in England we help out wherever we can to keep the lights on and our players on the pitch. As we grow, I feel we will see the developm...

Last night saw our first goals conceded in club history but we came out on top of Stegman's Old Boys 3-2. We are now 4-0 on the season. Conrad Hager and Dominic Palaty have left the club. The club said they wish them both all the best. No other details were released.

First in a series of profiles of the first ever Red River, Green & Gold squad Family, friends and footy: Three is the magic number In 2002, Habib, Emra and Sunaj Beljulji moved from the small town of Mitrovica in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo when war arrived. “Back home every way you turned you had a view of the mountains. There were many rivers rolling through the green hills going all around the town. Every night the town would gather as a family to watch soccer or play games like dominoes and cards. The state of Montana would be the closest scenic view of comparison. Mitrovica has grown a lot since we left. It has become more industrial with many more roads and buildings covering the city,” says middle brother Emra. Faced with a decision between staying in Europe or moving to the US, the family saw the promise and potential of a future in the USA and embraced it. Their first home in the US was Atlanta, GA. Emra explains that it was while li...

Disclaimer: This is lower-league US soccer. Messy, complicated and unclear. Nothing is ever truly guaranteed. However, this is my best guess. Hello guys, we will be playing in the ASL2 division of the American Soccer League  during Summer 2016. Before the detailed waffle, this is how ASL was described in an expansion release last year: American Professional Soccer (APS)  is the parent company of American Soccer League (ASL).  The APS founders’ vision is to have APS as a sanctioned professional league under USSF when the proper protocols and procedures have been established to fit under the Division 3 USSF guidelines.   In the meantime, ASL is the subsidiary of the APS and will play as a sanctioned league in the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA).   Source:  http://massunitedfc.com/mass-united-to-join-asl/#.VV5zelRGh5Q That meantime appears to include the hitherto professional only ASL developing this second division as a p...

Are you ready to bring the noise, Green Army? The squad has been named , and they will roll into Cichy Stadium at Shanley High for the Green & Gold intra-squad scrimmage match on June 20th. Amongst the treats put on by the club will be inflatables and games from Games Galore and a chance to get acquinted with the 2015 players and coaches. You can also get your team gear and tickets for upcoming games if you haven't already. The first competitive game comes the following week: June 27th, over the river at Moorhead High against FC Minneapolis of the amateur, American Premier League - which has four teams from the Twin Cities metro in it's inaugural lineup. Will see you in the stands. Tim

Hello Green Army, now that the club's first ever squad has been announced, I can try to cast some light on how these came to the Mean Green. The first thing you might notice is that 10 of the 28 players are either current or recently graduated members of the University of Jamestown programme which is the only competitive men's soccer programme in the area, and is coached by our own head coach Tommy Nienhaus. Their team is well covered in the local press and well catalogued by their Sports Information Director so I thank them for that. I also found guys with ties to Minnesota State University Moorhead , Concordia College  and Moorhead High School , where we will begin play for the 2015 season, Fargo Davies and West Fargo High in the immediate area. Slightly further afield,  we have a guy from Red River High in Grand Forks, a member of the Minnesota Thunder/ US Soccer Development Academy side, based at the NSC in Blaine, MN (most well known as home of Minnesota Unit...

Midfield Brady Rotert - from West Fargo and then University of Jamestown Justin Froslie  - from Moorhead High and then Jamestown Nick Nguyen  - from Moorhead High and then Jamestown Logan Christensen  - Minot High and then U of Mary in Bismarck George Anthony - Jamestown transfer from Genesee Community College (half way between Buffalo & Rochester, Western NY), originally from Bath in western England. Andy Mogga - from Beavercreek High and then Jamestown. Faiz Musa - Marshalltown Community College in Iowa. Originally from Des Moines. Amadu Myers  - Presentation College, Aberdeen, SD. Rolando Danha - from Paris. Forwards Jade Johnson - from West Fargo. Now at Jamestown. Braden Axtman - from Red River High School, Grand Forks, ND Miah Wills from Aberdeen Central High, SD and then Dakota County Technical College Mach Chuol - possibly from Marshalltown Community College Emra Beljuli  and  Sunaj Beljuli - from Mitrovi...

Goalkeepers Dominik  "Dominator"  Palaty  from MN Thunder Academy, U-16 US Development Academy Nicky Roberts  from Dakota County Technical College in the Twin Cities metro. Steve Harris - from Lincolnton, NC then Jamestown Habib Beljulji - from Mitrovica, Kosovo Defenders Kody Duncan  - from West Fargo then Jamestown Jace Nybo  - Bismarck then Jamestown Ben Prochniak  - West Fargo High then Jamestown Derek Dreher  - West Fargo High then Jamestown Austin Peterson from Fargo Davies High then Jamestown Ben Eastwell  director of community relations at the club - Graduated from Jamestown, originally from Norwich in eastern England. JP Soglo is from Benin Possible roots: Francis Agoro - from Lagos, Nigeria then MSUM

Originally reported in an interview with the CEO in the Forum, it has been confirmed that FC Fargo's first ever game is going to be played at Moorhead High School's Jim Gotta Stadium, on the Minnesota side of the metro. Froslie, Nguyen, Flack and Agoro will be returning to familar ground. And it's the same side of the river as my house :)  The opponent is still scheduled to be FC Minneapolis. I believe there is a tie-in with Tri-City Storm's annual youth tourney. Even if there isn't, it happens around the same time. Check it out here

This superb news deserves its own post. FC Fargo have secured NDSU's historic Dacotah Field for a game, 11th of July. In case you don't know, the stadium was home of the Bison gridiron team between 1910 and 1992 and the NDSU (women's) soccer team from 2013. It also hosts Bison gridiron practices in a bubble now too. So the site saw every National Champion Bison team before the arrival of Craig Bohl. Our opponents will be Eau Claire Aris of Wisconsin, previously of the NPSL.

A while back, a member of the Northern Guard Supporters  posted a blog about the definitions of different types of footy fan. It is here  in all it's glory but I objected to being called an "ultra" despite running the Fargo Green Army Twitter and being Fan #1 in the FC Fargo founders club Today the contrast reared its ugly head again, when I encounted  this  from Spiked Online about Italian ultra culture, excerpted in a rambling Wikipedia page.  Bottom line is this: I'm a die-hard fan of FC Fargo. A fanatic, maybe even. But when ultras are associated with capo stands, loud-hailers, smokebombs, gigantic flags between you and the pitch and standing throughout the match; I will not be one.  I will also never self-identify with the word "hooligan", as an English guy who's happy never to have been beaten up by people who use that label and a pacifist.  I grew up watching footy in stadia where standing for prolonged periods was illegal, ...

I do my best to lead the Green Army, but some of you already know that I am not in Fargo-Moorhead at the moment. I'm in a legally necessary exile because my green card processing can only happen here in London. So I'm just putting this on record to explain my absence , definitely at the combine and for a number of games in our first season. I will be proud from a distance and hope and expect a Green Army presence at all of our first steps, not least from my wife, who remains in Moorhead. It is she who provides (and will continue to provide) the environment/weather updates on the area until I gain residence. Come on you Greens, Tim, leader in exile and member of the FC Fargo Founders Club.

Nice modelling by the CEO on the left. Contact him (@fcfargo on Twitter, tim@fcfargo.com) if you'd like one.   PayPal is needed at present

Via the club And here in North Dakota, it's Socks for the Homeless Day, details here

From the horse's mouth, otherwise known as  www.fcfargo.com 28th June vs FC Minneapolis at 7pm at Shanley High School in Fargo. July 25th vs Dakota Tyneside 2pm at Shanley High School, Fargo. August 1st:  Stegman's Old Boys At Loeden Center, West Fargo Aris Eau Claire at Shanley High School. More details when we get them. 

His name is Coach Tommy Nienhaus and he's the head coach of University of Jamestown Jimmies men's soccer team. Details here . Roll on FC Fargo.

Hello, First of all, thanks to all of you who attended the watch party for the Chile game. With our sponsors at the Blarney Stone Irish pub in West Fargo, we and FC Fargo  want to do it again on Sunday the 8th of February. Pop down, meet the coach and owner and grab some free gear off them. If you're on Facebook, don't forget to tell us you are attending at  https://www.facebook.com/events/352169328315442/ Enjoy the game, Tim

Good afternoon, my name is Tim and I'm the leader of the Green Army, official supporters club of FC Fargo in North Dakota. I live over the river in Moorhead. FC Fargo is looking to play in the National Professional Soccer League ( NPSL ) next year and will play a provisional season against teams from that level beginning late July/August. Tryouts for the team are due in April. Want to join us in the stands? We are on Twitter and Facebook, or email here for more details as we get rolling.  Tweets by @fargogreenarmy         https://www.facebook.com/groups/fargogreenarmy/ Thanks and I'll see you soon,  Tim