Latin American, West African immigrants fuel sport’s local popularity
On Sundays, a Hispanic semi-pro soccer league competes at Paul Robeson field in Mott Haven. On weeknights, youngsters practice soccer drills under the lights at Macombs Dam Park where teenage boys and girls run drills with coaches and parents looking on.
The South Bronx’s growing immigrant population has led to increased enthusiasm for soccer in the area, as has the growing popularity of the sport worldwide, say soccer enthusiasts and coaches.
Angel Reyes is a 14-year-old midfielder who plays on La Furia Azul, an under-15 team that competes in the South Bronx United league. He says he has seen a surge in participation since he started playing in the league, which offers competitive youth soccer and academic enrichment programs for 850 kids, ages 4-19.
Reyes was born in the US, and has been playing since he was four, thanks to the encouragement of his Mexican-born father.
He now has lots of company.
“When I first started in 2009-2010, there was barely any kids, now look at all of this!” Reyes said, holding his arms out at nearly 100 kids running soccer drills with their coaches at Macombs Dam Park during an evening practice in October.
In 2009, the league started small. It had just one site in St. Mary’s Park, with sixteen boys, according to South Bronx Unite’s executive director, Andrew So. By 2010, the league added a recreational program and served 350 kids. Currently the league uses three afterschool sites and three weekend recreational sites.
Ajani Clunie, who coaches a girl’s soccer team in the league, said most kids who sign up are from countries where soccer has long been the sport of choice.
“A lot of these kids come from foreign backgrounds, like Central and South America, West Africa, and some from Eastern Europe,” he said.
When he started in 2011, Clunie said there was a struggle to get young people—especially girls—to sign up. Not these days.
“Now there’s a waiting list,” Clunie said.
According to census data, Mexicans were the city’s fastest growing immigrant group between 2007-2011. They are now the third largest immigrant group overall. The Bronx’s Mexican population doubled between 2007 and 2011, and Mexicans are now the second largest foreign-born population in the South Bronx, at 20.7 percent.
The number of Ecuadoreans, too, has grown substantially. That group represents the third largest immigrant population in the South Bronx, with 8.4 percent. Honduran immigrants come next, with 7.1 percent. All three nationalities have large numbers of soccer aficionados.
“There has been growth in interest due to the World Cup and the New York City FC team, and typically most youths in the South Bronx that come from immigrant families are always into soccer,” said So.
Clunie also attributed a spike in interest to the U.S. Women’s team winning the FIFA World Cup earlier this year.
“There are more women playing and girls trying out, as young as age 5,” he said.
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