The non-profit San Francisco club have branched out into the community to become an affordable youth soccer power
In 1957, Scottish giants Celtic embarked on a tour of the United States. Their slate of fixtures was an odd one: Tottenham Hotspur (four times), Philadelphia Uhrik Truckers, Hapoel Tel Aviv, St. Louis All-Stars and the San Francisco All-Stars.
It was a successful tour. They played Tottenham more or less even, comfortably did away with the two American sides and edged Tel Aviv. This was not, in isolation, an unusual thing. European teams had gone on tours of America for years.
But in what proved to be a seminal moment in Californian soccer, Celtic handed their kits to Dr. Michael McFadden, an Irish-American living in the Bay Area. Four years later, he founded San Francisco Glens SC, a pillar of San Francisco’s Irish community. And in their first game, they wore Celtic’s kits.
For those outside of the Glens’ organization, it’s a nice piece of soccer trivia, one of a litany of charming anecdotes sprinkled throughout the American game. But for the Glens, it stands as something bigger, a singular point of authenticity for a club that has grown rapidly in the area, while staying true to its Irish roots.
And now, 64 years later, the Glens are on the verge of the professional game, complete with their own stadium and facilities – run entirely on a not-for-profit model. This is club soccer as it can function in the United States, pushing back on pay-to-play models and expanding both rapidly and sustainably.
“We have a full-on academy and a full-on mission to be a complete club and to do it as a non-profit,” Glens board member Ryan Maquinana said. “We still have the same ambitions as everybody else. We just try to do it our own way.”
Matthew DiederichA pillar of the Irish community
Soccer clubs exist within the stories and lore behind them. It’s what gives them drama, grounding, passion – something to latch onto. And the Glens have embraced every single one of theirs. They are, in the abstract, a club forged in both triumph and tragedy, from humble beginnings to the precipice of professionalism.
It goes like this. There were a number of Irish American teams in the wonderfully-yet-confusingly-named San Francisco Soccer Football League (SFSFL) in the early 1960s. The clubs were the epicenters of football and culture for the communities.
“You're Irish, you go to mass on Sundays, and then you'd have the Glens games afterward,” Maquinana said.
But the Glens cut through, mostly by being, well, better than everyone else.
They were promoted to the SFSFL Premier Division by the end of the decade, and established themselves as a presence on the nationwide amateur football circuit – advancing to the final in 1979. They followed that by qualifying for three U.S. Open Cups, effectively the only barometer of success for a team of their standing at the time.
But then, in 1981, head coach Neil Hagan died on the field while coaching the side. A fallow period started for a few years, before the Glens were back again, this time becoming the first Irish team to win the SFSFL in 1984.
And from there sporadic success followed. They were a part of a wider sphere of participation – a community hub that happened to have a pretty good football team. Of course, expansion had to come at some point.
In the early 1990s, the club ran into some financial difficulties. This was, after all, still an amateur side – in effect just a very, very good Sunday league team. So, they opened their doors to the wider community. Non-Irish players started to join. The Glens had branched out.
AdvertisementMatthew Diederich'You'd have to go outside the city to a different club'
Things took a turn for the better in the early 2000s. Other sides came and went, but the Glens remained – still buoyed by the strength of their first team. And by the time the senior setup had properly reestablished itself, eyes turned to the youth. At first, it was basic – effectively a step above rec league soccer.
“We weren't a NorCal premier club. We weren't allowed to travel. It was just very few teams that were playing recreational soccer, essentially,” executive director Mike McNeill said.
But they grew rapidly. The first step was, effectively, a rule change. In their previous iteration, the Glens couldn’t travel to play games outside of San Francisco due to local regulations. They needed to become a Northern California Premier club – effectively the fourth tier of youth soccer.
“There were no teams allowed to travel outside the city,” McNeill said. “So if you're a good player coming up in San Francisco, you'd have to go outside the city to a different club to be able to get that exposure.”
Kyle Kenney-DunhamThe identity contradiction
That meant, as the first team had before, to embrace a non-Irish population. McNeill, by 2014 in a management role, realized the club couldn’t truly expand without being an entity that represented all of San Francisco – regardless of background.
“From there, it kind of skyrocketed to have a platform for players to compete as the Glens,” he said. “I'm very proud of the Irish roots of the club, but being able to encapsulate the entire city, and be the number one choice for any player in San Francisco or greater San Francisco to kind of come and further their careers.”
But that represented a contrast to the days of old. San Francisco is a diverse place. There are large Latino and Black populations, among other groups – all of which want to play soccer. Opening a staunchly traditionally Irish club up to a wider population always seemed to present something of a challenge.
McNeill, though, insisted that the club could pay homage to its roots without necessarily diverting away from them. There are the obvious touchpoints for that. The senior side is sponsored by Guinness. You can get a pint on the cheap at the USL League Two games.
But, more broadly, it’s a trend within soccer. Professional clubs have long latched onto their identity, while also embracing outside forces. Barcelona will always be Catalonian and “Mes Que un Club.” Liverpool and Everton will always be staunchly attached to their scouse roots.
“I always ask the players what their favorite club is, and they'd always say, Barcelona. OK, if you look at Barcelona, they’ve got the cross of St. George on their crest,” McNeill said. “It doesn't define Barcelona. That is part of the history of the club.”
Matthew DiederichA non-profit model opens the doors
And with that identity in mind, the Glens have continued to expand. They now have 90 teams and over 1,000, covering both boys and girls soccer. Players start as young as pre-K, and filter all the way up to a USL League 2 side. They are, in effect, on the verge of professionalism.
But that, too, comes with its challenges. MLS academies in the United States are all free, but clubs are weighed down by a pay-to-play model that has seen any number of talented footballers turned away from the game.
The Glens’ response? Register themselves as a non-profit. Every single cent raised by the club from fees goes back into either improving facilities or offering financial help. They claim that, to date, they have never turned away a single player away due to money issues. In 2022, they distributed north of $200,000 in need-based scholarships.
“We would love nothing more than to be a completely free program,” McNeill said. “But at the same time, there are costs for infrastructure, there are costs for our club and everything. We're a non-profit, so when we make money, we reinvest that, going back to the obligation of the youth clubs. We reinvest all of our stuff into a pathway, into our first teams, into the MLS next and into our grassroots program.”
These days, there are very few success stories in building sustainable youth soccer. The Glens are about as close as it gets to nailing it. No, they can’t be entirely free, but rival clubs charge, on average, $1,000 more per year, per player.