A look at the Red Bulls' visit to Central Park to play Steve Nash

As some of you found out about on SBI yesterday, members of the Red Bulls went to Central Park to play against Steve Nash and one of his soccer teams in an informal game. Unfortunately for all involved Central Park officials put a halt to the game.

Adam Spangler of This is American Soccer was there and chronicled the event.

Did you make your way to Central Park to check this out? If so, share your experience in the comments section.

Comments

[Lalique]

Pretty weak.... everybody that lives in NY knows soccer isn't allowed in Central Park. To get a pickup game going you have to play in Prospect Park - and if the intent was to have a family picnic at the same time, Prospect Park allows BBQ'ing. So very typical of the most inept front office in MLS.

[EmorySoccer]

I have played soccer in Central park before.

[Joamiq]

Why didn't they just play white shirts vs. colored shirts in sneakers? That would have counted as "passive playing", no?

[Haig]

"I have played soccer in Central park before."

Well, clearly you know way more than MetroTard, who only grew up a few blocks away from Central Park.

Great Lawn, Sheep Meadow-- basically any place with green grass-- off limits.

Those awful dirt and broken glass bits of the park near CPW-- okay.

"Why didn't they just play white shirts vs. colored shirts in sneakers? That would have counted as "passive playing", no?"

No, a game, no matter how informal, is against the rules. We've had 3v3 in sneakers shut down before. You're allowed to have a gentle kickabout, or take a nap using a soccer ball as a pillow, but that's about it.

[Jasen]

i don't work/live in the city, but i think it's cool Ives alerted SBI Nation to what was going on...it's something i definitely would've appreciated if i were in NYC, which i'm sure some people here were.

looks like the Red Bull FO is intent on making this work, so it's something to look for in the future.

[MetroTard]

It didn't help that both teams were in uniform and there were professional photographers there to document it. There was no way they were going to convince the Parks Conservancy that it was not an "event", however relaxed it was. I was amused watching Ernesto trying to unsuccessfully reason with the guy.

[Ned's FC]

In fairness to the Central Park Conservancy, if they allowed people to play games on the grass, there would soon be less and less grass. This just highlights how difficult it is to find places to play organized soccer in Manhattan. There are places you can find pick-up games (on turf), but even those are few and far between. If you want to join any kind of organized league it is not cheap. I think it would be a great idea if Red Bull got behind some effort to increase the number of places to play soccer in Manhattan and all of New York City. It would be a great promotion for Red Bull and the soccer team. Here is link to an article about a former MLS employee who is looking to do just that in Harlem:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/nyregion/thecity/13foot.html?ex=1336708800&en=acfc1645db93b110&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

(Ives, hope it is ok to post links here. If not, just let me know.)

[MetroTard]

Screw the Conservancy. It is a park for public use, but now they don't let the public do anything in most of it. Sports were everywhere in the park before they re-did it, and now school teams in the area have to drive to crowded fields in the outer boroughs to play their games, just so the CPWesters on the board can look out their windows at green fields.

[Lalique]

It is a public park, but the reason that Central Park is so well maintained compared to other city parks is entirely due to the Conservancy, which by the way is not a public entity, but a not-for-profit private group - so yes, the CPWesters, and probably a lot of other people around the city, maintain the park with private money.

From their website
http://www.centralparknyc.org/aboutcpc

The Central Park Conservancy is a private, not-for-profit organization founded in 1980 that manages Central Park under a contract with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Thanks to the generosity of many individuals, corporations, and foundations, the Conservancy has raised more than $350 million to date and has transformed Central Park into a model for urban parks nationwide. The Conservancy provides more than 84% of Central Park's annual $25 million operating budget and is responsible for all basic care of the Park.

With 25 million visitors each year to its 843 acres, Central Park is the most frequently visited urban park in the United States. To manage the Park, Conservancy crews aerate and seed lawns; rake leaves; prune and fertilize trees; plant shrubs and flowers; maintain ballfields and playgrounds; remove graffiti; conserve monuments, bridges, and buildings; and care for waterbodies and woodlands, controlling erosion, maintaining the drainage system, and protecting over 150 acres of lakes and streams from pollution, siltation, and algae.

[MetroTard]

More like

"and protecting over 150 acres of lakes and streams from pollution, siltation, algae, and immigrants."

[Josh]

I went... I was happy just to get to see the players up close.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Why could the Red Bulls front office not have arranged to play this game in Flushing Meadow Park instead of Central Park? Flushing Meadows is a well-known soccer hotbed, and there are several great fields there, both grass and Field Turf.

And the families and kiddies could still have found wonderful places to lounge around and to play within that amazing park.

(Hmm. I just had a nutty thought. Could it be that Red Bull would shy away from staging an event in Flushing Meadows simply due to the fact that the park is the home of the Mets, whose owners are rumoured to be interested in a competing MLS team?)

[NY Soccer]

too much time between games leads everyone to overthink things way too much

[freddie]

it was a grass roots effort going bad.

[pam]

what about riverside drive? there are soccer fields way up off the westside highway. i'm always seeing pickup games there, as wel as organized, on my drive to and from manhattan.

[brentmcd]

too bad this didn't work out; sounded like a neat idea.

scary about the central park conservancy! they are talking about doing the same thing for balboa park here in san diego. what good is a nice grassy public park if you can't play soccer there?

[mark]

They could have tried the North Meadow, huge open space with lots of grass; soccer and softball permitted. And there is always pickup soccer in Riverside Park at around 106th St., though it's field turf down there and not real conducive to family picknicking.