Beginning Again | 1970-1980

Developments in the 1970s transformed Austin and shaped the way people in Austin presented themselves to the world. In Jason Mellard’s account, civil rights insurgencies in black and Mexican communities across Texas helped Central Texas-based musicians transform the sounds they grew up with into “Progressive Country.” Soccer reveals another side of Austin.

Prior to 1965, the Statesman covered World Cup Soccer every four years and pointed to the eccentric game “foreigners” played just outside of Air Force bases and occasionally on university campuses. As Stanley Woodward reported in 1961, “Europeans, South Americans, Hindus, and people from most other parts of the world can’t understand why we .. do not like their brand of football that we call soccer.” By the time the conservative backlash took root at the state level in Texas, people in Austin understood recreational soccer to be a part of Austin’s difference, where “Austin has soccer leagues of every sort, except professional, and the number of teams in each is skyrocketing.” During the Long 1970s, college-educated migrants and local residents created a racially and internationally integrated pickup soccer scene on the once ‘whites only’ public park in Austin three years after organized black communities desegregated Zilker Park. Within five years, players established a municipal league, a women’s league, a gender-integrated children’s league, a gender segregated children’s league, a religiously affiliated league, a city parks and recreation league, passed policies that established a city-wide framework soccer in each school across the Austin Independent School District, and started building soccer fields into the design of middle schools and elementary schools across Austin. The local soccer association started educational programs to generate certified referees and coaches. This publicly-subsidized growth radically transformed the number of girls and boys playing soccer. The growth of graduate programs at UT brought larger numbers of international students to campus. These students and graduates – some of who stayed to work in the tech industry– pushed for an infrastructure that would allow them to enjoy their time off. Immigrant construction workers, school teachers and state employees embraced this new and/or familiar recreational opportunity.

By the time 1980 rolled around, soccer became an inseparable part of Zilker park’s weekend scene and children in Austin started growing up with soccer as an option in their schools and rec centers. The Statesman regularly reported highlights of soccer games in the city leagues. No longer something for “Europeans, South Americans and Hindus,” recreational soccer had taken root in the land of football. As Linda Anthony put it in 1978, “take a look at Zilker Park any weekend. Or any soccer field… or any place where there is enough room to accommodate 22 players and 2 goal areas.”

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  • Alan Campbell, 2019Name: Alan Campbell
    Age: 63
    First Played: Age 3
    Years Playing: 60

    Growing up in Scotland, soccer was a way of life for Alan Campbell. He has been playing the sport since he was a young boy. Today, he continues to play to stay fit and contributes the growth of soccer in Austin to the improving infrastructure, growing soccer leagues, and diversity and immigration from different international backgrounds.

    “I always say, you can look good on a bad team or you can look bad on a good team. And I err on looking good on a bad team”

    Locations Played:

    • Edinburgh, Scotland
    • Onion Creek Soccer Complex  | Austin, Texas
    • South East Metro Park | Austin, Texas
    • Zilker Park | Austin, Texas
    • Northeast Metro Park | Pflugerville, Texas

    Additional Information

  • Van Le, 2019Name: Van Le
    Age: 57
    First Played: Age 4
    Years Playing: 53

    “when there was a match then the student players would get together for the match. We would march from the school to the city soccer field: no buses, and of course followed by the chanting and flag waving of the team supporters that comprised mostly of other students.”

    Soccer is part of Van Le’s memories of being a kid in rural Vietnam. He finds it hard to remember when he started playing.

    He returned to organized soccer when he moved to Austin. He started playing with the Motorola team – the Motorola Mosquitoes – and then kept playing with the Romulans. He also has a regular pick up game with friends in Cedar Park.

    Locations Played:

    • Cedar Park, Texas
    • Mekong Delta, Viet Nam
    • Dallas, TX
    • Charles Alan Wright Fields | Austin, Texas
    • IBM Fields | Austin, Texas
    • Onion Creek Soccer Complex
    • Northeast Metro Soccer Complex | Pflugerville, TX
    • East Metro Park | Manor, TX

    Additional Information

  • Benito Ramirez, 2019Name: Benito Martinez
    Age: 53
    First Played: Age 6
    Years Playing: 47

    Benito Martinez began playing soccer at the age of six on the streets of his hometown in San Luis Potosi. Futbol is a tradition in Benito’s family, and he continues to play soccer today at the age of 53. Benito, along with his two brothers, plays with the Romulans Soccer Team at Onion Creek Soccer Complex in Austin, Texas.

    “Soccer has changed. It is not a game with no rules anymore, in other words, it is more civilized”

    “Si, es diferente. Ya no son juegos de futbol llanero, como diciendo en otras palabras, ya esta mas civilizado”

    Locations Played:
    Cerritos, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
    Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas

    Additional Information

  • John Mckiernan-Gonzalez, 2019Name: John Mckiernan-González
    Age: 50
    First Played: Age 6
    Years Playing: 44

    “Today, I still wait on the edge of the field, biding my time for my moment.”

    John Mckiernan-Gonzalez grew up on the margins of the game but across Nort America. Smaller than most, he had to fight to get time on the field, a challenge made more difficult by moving four times growing up. For him, finding friendly and welcoming games has given him insight and entrée into different places across the United States and North America. Soccer is played everywhere, and everywhere access to soccer games reflect the changing structures of a given place.

    Locations Played:

    • Pance, Colombia
    • American School Foundation | Mexico City, Mexico
    • Tuscaloosa YMCA | Tuscaloosa, Alabama
    • Snow Hinton Park | Tuscaloosa, Alabama
    • Alabama Soccer Stadium | Tuscaloosa, Alabama
    • Jackson, Mississippi | 32.372493, -90.114788
    • Escuela John F. Kennedy | Jurica, Santiago de Querétaro, Qro., Mexico
    • United World College | Montezuma, New Mexico
    • Downs at Santa Fe | Santa Fe, New Mexico
    • North Mesa Soccer Field | Los Alamos, New Mexico
    • Athletic Fields | Oberlin, Ohio
    • Fuller Park | Ann Arbor, Michigan
    • JFK Hockey Fields | Washington, DC
    • Lincoln Memorial Sand Volleyball Courts | Washington DC
    • Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas
    • Zilker Park | Austin, Texas
    • Southeast Metro Park | Del Valle, Texas
    • Northeast Metro Park | Pflugerville, Texas
    • East Metro Park | Manor, Texas

    Additional Information

  • Martin Meraz, 2019Name: Martin Meraz
    Age: 50s
    First Played: Age 4
    Years Playing: 54

    “Los obstáculos los que tú te pongan, no hay más, ¿si me entiendes?, si tú te pones obstáculos no lo juegas.”

    “Obstacles? The only obstacles to play are those you build for yourself. There are no more. If you put up obstacles, you will never play the way you want.”

    Martin Meraz began playing soccer in Celaya and excelled. He played on the best clubs in the city. When he moved to Texas, he first played on a team in San Marcos, but when he found out about the city league in Austin, he started driving 45 minutes to two hours north to play organized soccer.

    For him, Futbol is another beautiful thing, an activity that is consistently rewarding.

    Locations Played:

    • Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico
    • San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato Mexico
    • San Marcos, Texas
    • Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas
    • Northeast Metro Park | Pflugerville, Texas
    • East Metro Park | Manor, Texas

    Additional Information

  • Felipe Posada, 2019Name: Felipe Posada
    Age: 63
    First Played: Age 3
    Years Playing: 60

    “Jugábamos, en esa época, en ese entonces, jugábamos con un balón de costal, de medias, en la calle.”

    When we played, in that time, back then we played with balls wrapped in burlap sacks stuffed with old socks, out there in the streets and alleys.

    “Mis hijas jugaban, pero ya ahora se casaron, y ya no jugaron. Ellas sí jugaban.”

    My daughters played. But they got married. And they are not playing anymore. But they did play.

    Felipe Posada has always played in leagues, as long as he can remember leagues being available. A jack of all trades, he has played every position on the soccer field, and will play them all again, except for goalie. Soccer gives him a regular joy and connects him to a community. Clearly a path-breaker, he misses playing with his daughters, who have also gone on to bring up their children in soccer.

    Locations Played:

    • San Diego de la Unión, Guanajuato, Mexico
    • Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Mexico
    • San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato, Mexico
    • San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
    • Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas
    • Northeast Municipal Park | Pflugerville, Texas
    • Southeast Metro Park | Del Valle, Texas
    • Zilker Park | Austin, Texas

    Additional Information

  • Billy Pritchard, 2019Name: Billy Pritchard
    Age: 78
    First Played: Age 5
    Years Playing: 73

    Billy Pritchard started playing soccer at the age of five in Liverpool, England. One day, while driving down the park, Billy saw some people kicking a soccer ball and decided to pull over and join their team. Since then, he has been involved in Austin soccer through various teams and leadership roles. The veteran recently retired from the sport after 73 years.

    “It was a game you played, a street game, as you were growing up. It is what every kid played, and every piece of ground, every street was kicking the soccer ball, or a bag of something, cans, sometimes”

    Locations Played:

    • Liverpool, England
    • Zilker Park | Austin, Texas
    • Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas
    • IBM Soccer Fields | Austin, Texas

    Additional Information

  • Raphael, 2019Name: Raphael
    Age: 67
    First Played: Age 2
    Years Playing: 65

    “a lot of people don't understand soccer. They play, but they don't know. So I have been involved in coaching. I've been involved in playing and I am involved in reffing.”

    Raphael began playing in Nigeria, at two. He has been involved in club soccer since clubs became part of the soccer scene. In Texas, Raphael has coached, managed, reffed, and played since the late 1970s, building the infrastructure that allows people to safely and consistently head out to play.

    Locations Played:

    • Lagos, Nigeria
    • University of Texas | Austin, Texas
    • Zilker Park | Austin, Texas
    • IBM Soccer Fields | Austin, Texas
    • Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas
    • Northeast Metro Park | Pflugerville, Texas
    • East Metro Park | Manor, Texas
    • Southeast Metro Park | Austin, Texas

    Additional Information

  • Raymond Voith, 2019Name: Raymond Voith
    Age: 75
    First Played: Age 16
    Years Playing: 42

    Raymond Voith first encountered soccer while serving as a Catholic foreign mission seminarian in Pennsylvania. He played for five years in the seminary and then quit for seventeen years until arriving in Austin and playing for the Motorola team. Raymond keeps playing at the age of 75 because he enjoys the sport, staying healthy, and building friendships.

    “I just hope to keep playing as long as I feel comfortable and I’m making at least two, three good plays a game”

    Locations Played:

    • IBM Fields
    • South East Metro Fields
    • Zilker Park
    • Onion Creek Soccer Complex

    Additional Information