Farewell to the store that, with assists from Pelé and Messi, sustained soccer lovers in the US
New York
Cosmos against the Dallas Tornado at Downing Stadium on Randall's Island. The pitch was so embarrassingly threadbare that the club deployed a small army of volunteers to daub dirt patches with green house paint diluted with water. Alan Bodenstein was a ball boy pressed into service with a brush to try to make the place look more respectable for television cameras and the watching world. When the Brazilian eventually walked on to the field, the PELE above the number 10 on his shirt had been meticulously hand-sewn there by Bodenstein's mother, Fay. A family affair.
By chance, soccer had wandered into their home in Massapequa a couple of years earlier. Alan returned from school one day all abuzz about wanting to play on a new youth team being started by his friend's father. Soon the beautiful game took over all their lives. At a time when the sport was just starting to infiltrate the suburbs of Long Island, boots and balls were still difficult to source. Luckily, Gene Bodenstein, a civil engineer who grew up playing stickball on the streets of Brooklyn, was working in New York City and found he could buy what he needed for his son's new obsession at Doss Soccer Supply Store at 90th Street and First Avenue.
That outlet was a long way from Massapequa so, eventually, Fay told him he should lug some extra gear back on the train with him each night because the soccer craze sweeping town had given her an idea. After they set up shop in the garage of their house on Richard Place, local kids needing shin guards or shorts or cleats (American for boots) came traipsing happily to their driveway. With her adding a mark-up of 50 cents or a dollar to whatever her husband had paid for the item in Manhattan, all was going well until a neighbour reported this thriving concern to the authorities.
Befitting somebody who had survived the Holocaust because Belgian nuns hid her in a filing cabinet when Nazis searched their convent, Fay Bodentstein was undeterred by this setback. Taking the business up a level and gambling that soccer was here to stay, the family rented a space near Massapequa train station. Hoping their hunch was right, they opened a mom-and-pop shop that turned into something of an institution.
READ MORE
'It became more than a soccer store, a place where players, coaches, parents, referees and administrators could talk and revel in the beautiful game,' wrote Michael Lewis, reporting the announcement of the impending closure of Massapequa Soccer Shop on frontrowsoccer.com. 'After June 30th, that community centre and house of worship for soccer won't be available to help anyone in a pinch or to talk about the sport. The Bodenstein family has decided to retire and close the iconic store.'
Although soccer had always prospered in immigrant enclaves in America's major cities, the Bodensteins took a chance in the early 1970s when nobody in this country was quite sure whether the spike in interest among suburban kids and parents was more than just a passing fad. Like the hula hoop or the yo-yo. This was decades before European soccer shirts became fashionable daily wear in high-school classrooms. A different time when somebody predicting that NBC would one day broadcast every
Premier League
game live each week might have been laughed out of the room. Nowadays, the whole world comes here to make bank out of the game's burgeoning popularity.
A motley selection of outfits from all across the planet gather at NFL stadiums across America this month for a bloated cash-in tournament called the
Fifa
World Club Cup, featuring various continental champions and Inter Messi, sorry, Miami. In July, Bournemouth, Everton, West Ham United and Manchester United play out the so-called 'Premier League Series' at MetLife Stadium, Soldier Field in Chicago, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Aston Villa have games lined up in St Louis and Louisville. Meanwhile,
Roy Keane
played the curmudgeon on CBS's coverage of the Europa League debacle the other week, earning a vast sum for tolerating Micah Richards's laughing hyena shtick.
Nobody could have envisaged the sport becoming such a lucrative money-spinner back when Massapequa Soccer Shop opened its doors. After the USA qualified for the 1990 World Cup, they put a Soccer Week magazine cover story in the window just so passersby might notice something significant had happened. Eight years later, Fay and Gene were brought to the tournament in France by Diadora. Recognition of services rendered. After both parents passed away, their daughter Helen and other son Mark took over the reins of a place they had grown up in. Now, after 52 years as part of the furniture of people's retail lives, the children have decided to shutter for good.
Just about every sporting family on Long Island made pilgrimage to Massapequa Soccer Shop. For years, it was a Christmas ritual in our house where I would leave work early one December afternoon and drive the hour west alone to see what Santa Claus might discover in the overstocked racks there. A green Ireland Umbro tracksuit top was found among the treasures one time and handed down like an heirloom from brother to brother. It hangs in the wardrobe still. Too small to wear. Too precious to give away. Relic from another era. From a special shop.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
Justin Rose claims FedEx St Jude Championship on third play-off hole
Justin Rose produced a sensational finish at the FedEx St Jude Championship with six birdies in his final eight holes to win a play-off against US Open champion JJ Spaun. The Englishman, who at 45 became the oldest European to win on the PGA Tour in the modern era, looked out of it after a bogey at the 12th dropped him to 12 under, two off the pace with Tommy Fleetwood, world number one Scottie Scheffler and Spaun ahead of him. But four birdies from the 14th catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard and he just missed a 13-footer at the last to win outright. He produced two more birdies in three play-off holes – one a clutch effort after Spaun had holed from distance – with the second from 14ft after Spaun was half that distance away proving decisive as his opponent's attempt to extend the contest raced past. READ MORE 'That was an amazing last 90 minutes. I never stopped believing,' Rose said in his post-round interview. 'I played unbelievable golf coming down the stretch and had so much fun with it. JJ dropped a bomb on me (at the second extra hole), it was a lot of fun. 'When I bring my best I know I'm good enough to play against the best players in the world. This is going to be a fun one for us to celebrate.' The play-off was packed with drama from the start as Rose – who barely cleared the lake with his drive – gave himself an identical 13-foot putt to the one he missed to win the tournament, but it burned the edge of the cup. Playing the hole again, Rose hit to eight feet but Spaun recreated his US Open final green heroics with a monster birdie, forcing the Englishman to hold his nerve. The hole location was re-cut for the third attempt to avoid shadows and Spaun duly hit it to seven feet but Rose, who had lost his previous four play-offs including, like Spaun, to Rory McIlroy this year, dramatically turned the tables by holing his 14ft birdie and Spaun fired past. Rose's joy meant more heartbreak for Fleetwood, who blew another chance to break his PGA Tour duck at the 162nd attempt with a poor finish. The Ryder Cup team-mates had holidayed together in Portugal last week, but failed to spark each other into life in the final group. Fleetwood did not make a birdie until holing his longest putt of the week from 33 feet at the 12th to put him back in a share of the lead. Birdies at the 13th and 15th edged him two in front on 16 under, but as he was escaping with a par after chipping across and off the green with his third at the 16th, Spaun was tying the lead with a birdie at 17. Fleetwood's weak attempt at a seven-foot par putt at the 17th never threatened and needing a birdie at the last just to make a play-off, he drove into a bunker and missed the green with his approach. 'I'm obviously going to be disappointed. There's a lot of positives to take but it won't feel like that right now,' said Fleetwood, whose 29th top-five PGA Tour finish is 11 more than any other player without a win over the last 40 years. 'I'm just going to look at what I feel like I could have done and how close it was.' Scheffler, without his regular caddie Ted Scott who returned home due to a family emergency, finished a shot outside the play-off after two birdies in his final three holes. Jordan Spieth's Ryder Cup hopes were dealt a blow after he dropped out of the top 50 of FedEx Cup rankings and missed the cut for next week's penultimate event after dumping his approach to the last into the water, ending his season and, at 27th in the United States' rankings, likely his Ryder Cup hopes.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Tommy Fleetwood takes one-shot lead into final round as he targets first PGA Tour win
Tommy Fleetwood will head into the final round of the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis with a one-shot lead as he continues the hunt for his first PGA Tour title. Fleetwood fired a one-under 69 in the third round, just edging out fellow Englishman Justin Rose. Fleetwood double-bogeyed the third hole while Rose made birdie, a three-shot swing that dramatically cut into the 34-year-old's lead. Fleetwood responded well, rebuilding his lead to three shots. But his advantage narrowed again on the 18th hole, where a drive into the rough led to a bogey. READ MORE World number one Scottie Scheffler also hurled himself into contention with six birdies, finishing Saturday two shots off the lead on 65. JJ Spaun and Andrew Novak are a shot further back, tied for fourth on 11 under par. 'It's just another opportunity for me to go out and try and have the best round of golf I can, enjoy being in that position,' Fleetwood told the PGA Tour website. 'The more I put myself there, the more chance there is of it happening, and just go out and keep learning from every experience. 'It might be my day, it might not, but being there is the most important thing and I'll continue to try and do that.' Shane Lowry and caddie Darren Reynolds on the 10th hole during the third round of the FedEx St Jude Championship. Photograph:Ireland's Shane Lowry carded a one-over 73 in his third round to slip back to two over for the tournament. Despite being out of contention, Lowry will look to finish the tournament strongly to go into next week's BMW Championship in the highest position possible in the FedEx rankings. He came into the tournament in 17th position and is projected to drop to 22nd at present. Rory McIlroy opted not to play this week, with the top 50 after the tournament reaching next week's BMW Championship. McIlroy is projected to drop one place to third in the rankings. In a change to the playoffs format this year, any of the 30 players that qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta can win $10 million (€8.6 million) bonus by winning the tournament.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Libya's frailties revealed as divided country's soccer championship plays out in Italy
On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Sesto San Giovanni, a commune on the northern outskirts of Milan, nearly a dozen police vans arrived to provide security at an ageing stadium, which like the town itself had seen better days. Milan is home to one of soccer's fiercest global rivalries, between AC and Inter. But the police were not there for that. Instead, they had turned out in force in case of trouble between fans of two teams whose home base was more than 1,000 miles away, in Libya. The game was part of a curious collaboration between Italian and Libyan authorities that for a second year running will see Libya's soccer champion crowned on Sunday in Italy, at the completion of a six-team mini-championship. The transplanted tournament is a striking example of the security and political crisis that continues to plague Libya more than a decade after the bloody overthrow of its long-time dictator, Muammar Gadafy. READ MORE It is also a measure of Libyans' passion for the sport and of the explosive enmity between Tripoli's two most successful teams, a rivalry that played out last Sunday at the Ernesto Breda Stadium outside Milan. The last time the two teams – Al Ittihad and Al Ahly Tripoli – had met was in June in Libya. Even though that game was played without fans, it ended up making global headlines about an abandoned match, an injured referee, unruly supporters storming the stadium and a team bus reduced to charred ruins. So Italian authorities were taking no chances, even though for this match, too, no supporters were allowed inside the stadium. Libya's soccer league mirrors its politics. One competition is played in the east, a region overseen by a military strongman, and another is played in the west, where a transitional government struggles for legitimacy. The top three teams from each league have travelled to Italy with the hope of returning home to a heroes' reception. 'Primarily, they would be worried about the security of it, and it's not like they would accept to play it on one side or the other,' Tim Eaton of research group Chatham House, said as to why the tournament was moved so far from the competitors' home turf. 'Who is the neutral arbiter in the Libyan context?' Holding the tournament in Libya would not be safe for teams or fans. Libyan teams Al Ahly Tripoli, in white shorts, and Al Ittihad, held behind closed doors in Milan. Photograph: Camilla Ferrari/The New York Times In May, the western half of the Libyan championship was paused as fierce fighting broke out in Tripoli after forces loyal to the transitional government killed one of the city's top militia leaders, Abdul Ghani Al-Kikli. The militiaman, known as Ghaniwa, was also the honorary president of the Al Ahli team. Libya's current prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, is a former president of the Al Ittihad team. 'We've seen quite a lot of key elites and security figures having a close connection to football clubs,' Eaton said. While Italy has taken up the role of neutral arbiter, even it cannot escape the political divides that roil Libya's league. At last season's Libyan competition in Italy, the winning team's president, a son of Khalifa Hifter, the dictator who rules eastern Libya, was prevented from entering a field in Rome for the awards ceremony because Italy – like the rest of the European Union – recognises only Libya's transitional government. The younger Hifter told his team to leave the arena, and an impromptu celebration was held instead in a parking lot outside. This year, passions are running as high as ever, even though games have been played so far from home and each team is allowed to bring only 20 invited guests to its games. A first-round match between two teams that share a common name, Al Ahly, but are from opposite sides of Libya ended abruptly with one team walking off the field and refusing to return after complaining about a referee call. But that was nothing compared with what took place a week later in Sesto, where the need for a sizeable police operation, which included units of armed military police , quickly became apparent. Even though they were not permitted inside the stadium to watch the game, fans of both teams travelled from other parts of Italy, Germany, Belgium and as far as Libya itself to Milan for the occasion, which was deemed so high-risk that not even invited guests were permitted to attend. Dressed in Al Ahli's green and white jersey, Mohammed al Hamdi, 41, arrived on the morning of the game after taking two flights. Though he had little hope of getting inside the stadium, he said he just wanted to be close to the occasion. 'I'm here to support my team,' said al Hamdi, a father of four. Police in riot gear stand outside Ernesto Breda Stadium for a match between Libyan teams Al Ahly Tripoli and Al Ittihad. Photograph: Camilla Ferrari/The New York Times As the number of police officers outside the stadium swelled, so did the crowd of ticketless fans. At first, supporters of both teams mingled, sharing their frustrations about not being allowed inside. Then, as the 6.30pm kick-off time neared, the tensions rose and clashes started, with some fans beating rivals with sticks and belts. The security forces leaped into action, at one point donning helmets and shields to chase after a pocket of Ittihad fans. Inside the stadium, the police were also required, though not for misbehaving supporters. At half-time, Ibrahim Dbeibeh, a 20-something son of the prime minister, swept into the grounds to offer support to his team, which seemed to have the opposite effect as it went down 4-1 after an embarrassing own goal from midfielder Mohamed Zrida that sailed over the goalkeeper from about 40 yards out. The midfielder slumped to the ground in disbelief. Moments later, the game descended into a melee that took almost 30 minutes to bring under control, with rival players and staff members kicking and punching one another, forcing the police to move in. Ahmed Sawan, an Arabic-speaking security guard, warned a goalkeeper who had been at the centre of the violence that he risked arrest if he did not leave the field, and officers took out a pair of handcuffs. Two 10-year-old ball boys from the local club Pro Sesto ran to seek sanctuary in the stadium's cafe. The match eventually restarted after a warning from Valentina Battistini, the Lombardy region's top soccer official. One more outburst and it would all be over, she warned, as the prime minister's son and the Libyan counsel general's son looked on, grim-faced. The game ended with the police in riot gear standing guard in front of the winning team's bench until its opponents had cleared the field. As the victors celebrated raucously in front of the empty stands, Sandro Stagni, 67, who had worked at the stadium for four decades, struggled to comprehend what he had just witnessed. 'I have never seen anything like this before,' Stagni said with a shake of his head. 'I know it's a derby, but that was over the top.' At the gates, about 100 fans, held back by police officers in riot gear, cheered their team on to the bus. At the front of the group was Al Hamdi, wearing a huge grin and showing no signs of fatigue from his two-flight journey. He had watched the game on his phone outside the stadium. 'I'm very happy,' he said, raising four fingers of his left hand and one on his right to revel in the score. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times .
