Welcome to the first of what I hope will be an interesting feature highlighting the adventures of the various Timbers Army Football Clubs playing in the Greater Portland Soccer District leagues. I was asked to provide this weekly update to the 107ist membership to help spur interest in TAFC matches and highlight accomplishments in their respective weekly fixtures. As one of the team that blogs about the Timbers for Oregonlive.com on a regular basis, I’m used to sifting through tons of information to provide recaps. As a defender and midfielder for TAFC since the first season, however, I look at the new initiative with the TAFC club umbrella with pride because I think it is another wonderful idea created by the 107st in their overall mission to provide support to soccer within the region at any level.
This weekly post will recap the exploits of the four Timbers Army specific football clubs that are currently in season. We do realize there are many teams that have Timbers Army members, but the four clubs currently in the umbrella of Timbers Army FC were all formed amongst TA that wanted to play soccer with their fellow supporters while being ambassadors for the Army within the soccer community. In future updates, I hope to talk more about new TA clubs being formed as well as highlight those TA that play for other clubs regionally.
The current makeup of clubs includes the original Timbers Army Football Club formed in 2008 which has been a staple of GPSD Division 4 since its inception. The team will be renamed for the Winter 2012 term and promises to honor the heritage of being the inaugural club created for Timbers Army members within GPSD. FC Portlandia was created during the Winter 2008 term from former members of TAFC, and they have achieved great on the pitch success in advancing to GPSD Division 2 where they currently reside while also being fashionable in purple. They’ve also represented the Timbers Army in matches played against the Emerald City Supporters from the land where we do not speak their name.
North End United joined the fray in 2009 after an extremely successful first version of a supporter’s cup, playing the Timbers Army FC during Thanksgiving Weekend in 2008. As with TAFC, there are plenty of age ranges represented with NEU and they’ve achieved promotion a few times to higher divisions in GPSD, but they currently reside in Division 4. The new kids on the block are Rose City Athletic, joining GPSD Division 4 in the spring of 2011 and have enjoyed some memorable wins in their short history. They also wear the Timbers’ newest color of Rose City red, keeping with the long tradition of Timbers Army Football clubs being extremely fashion forward.
This weekend’s matches were highlighted by depleted rosters due to travel to Salt Lake City, and a derby match between TAFC and NEU played under spectacular fall weather. Let’s start our recap by looking at FC Portlandia who played GDST Young Boys at Oregon City High School. Having played them twice before and winning each time, the boys in purple kept their winning streak alive with a 6 to 1 win behind an Anthony O’Reilly hat trick. FC Portland sits in third place in the Division 2 standings, and has a key battle this weekend against their old rivals the Marmots. Match time is 4:00 PM on Sunday, October 30th at Cleveland High School.
Rose City Athletic had one of the early matches in Division 4, playing host to BDFC at Delta Park. While they had a full club with substitutes available, the club struggled with their form and passing and allowed BDFC to secure a 4 to 1 win. The lone RCA goal was scored by Bryan Boen, and the club hopes to rebound from their loss this weekend with a match against South VN at Delta Park #6 at 2:00 PM. RCA currently resides in fifth place in the Division 4 table, hoping to jump up on the table.
The final match highlighting the Timbers Army clubs was a derby between two long standing rivals, North End United and the soon to be renamed TAFC. Both clubs featured depleted rosters because of travel, but they were able to get enough players ready to have a full starting eleven. Behind a Marcus Nelson hat trick and some really wicked goals by his teammates, North End United defeated TAFC 7 to 2 in a friendly, well played match. Eben Crawford notched a brace for TAFC with two unassisted goals, but TAFC was done in by a lack of subs and the overall speed of NEU. I should know this after spending most of match trying to chase Marcus, Allen, Rem, and any number of other players in their attack.
NEU resumes their schedule on October 30 with a 2 PM match against Deacon Blue at Delta Park #7; Deacon Blue is one of the many GPSD clubs with a large Timbers Army contingent that is not currently within the TAFC structure. TAFC travels out to the Washington County Fairgrounds for a date with Ronler Hacres at 12 noon on October 30. In the current table, NEU sits in third place with 13 points, 4 wins and 2 draws, while TAFC has avoided the winless donut with a 1 win, 6 loss record and 3 points, but they have some winnable fixtures forthcoming.
