The Wonderful People of NYC Footy: Rory Brown

Meet Rory

J: Hey everyone, James Berry here with Rory Brown on behalf of NYC Footy in our first installment of The Wonderful People of NYC Footy. We’re really excited to kick this off, so Rory why don’t you just dive in and introduce yourself.

R: Hey everyone. I’m Rory. I moved to New York a year and a half ago from Colorado. I wasn’t born there, I was born in Alabama, but I was raised in Colorado because my family loves the mountains and loves to ski. 

J: So what brought you to the city? 

R: I got a job working at Discovery. I thought I was going to be able to work remotely and one day they just said: hey we’re moving back into the office, you have to come here. So I made one visit, saw five apartments, picked the last one I saw, and now I’m just here.

J: Whirlwind kind of move, but it seems like you settled in pretty well.

R: Yup. I love NY, it really feels like home.

J: So then what brought you to Footy, because I’ve heard why and I’ve got a feeling that a lot of people can relate to it.

R: When I first moved here my first friend at work who was training me, Matt, happened to be really really attractive and I had this huge crush on him and we were talking and he found out I played soccer at Cornell. He immediately asked me to join his Footy team with all of his friends from college because they needed girls, which seems to be a pretty common problem.

J: Are you and Matt dating now? 

R: No. That would be a good ending, he has a girlfriend. But we’re friends though. His loss. 

J: Kicking himself I’m sure.

R: Absolutely. 

J: More importantly, are you better than him at soccer ? 

R: I don’t know, he’s pretty good, his a ball hog thought. We’re different players, he scores a lot, but he never defends. 

J: Got it. Pretty standard striker behavior. 

R: Exactly.

J: And what position do you play?

R: I play left mid because I’m a leftie, sometimes center mid, but I was a left-back in college. My favorite thing is when there’s a big strong guy dribbling down the field and they don’t think that I’m gonna go in and I really tackle them. And then… you know. They find out.

J: Cool, note to self don’t test Rory. Got it. So you found Matt, or Matt found you. Had you been playing soccer in the city before then at all?

R: No, actually I had not touched a ball in 3+ years. The pandemic happened, but before that, I was so burnt out of soccer. I hated it. I had gotten two knee surgeries and when I tried to get back into playing, the pandemic happened right before I graduated. The Ivy League cancelled all games and practices, and my soccer dreams ended. I finished Cornell remotely. No more soccer. I told myself I was better off without soccer, and that I’d never play again. And then I moved to the city for a job and here’s, you know, hot Matt inviting me to play in NYC Footy, so how could I say no. 

J: So Footy was your first time on the field in 3 years?

R: Well backing up, after that conversation with Matt, I didn’t hear from him for six months, and one day out of the blue he asked me ‘hey we have a game today can you come play’. I said sure and spent the this whole day getting ready and I was so nervous because I hadn’t touched a ball in so long and thought I was gonna suck, and had bad knees and I didn’t feel like the active Colorado girl that I once was. But I played in the game and I could tell NYC Footy was clearly different.

J: What was different about it? 

R: Well, I didn’t know who or what Footy was to be honest, but I was immediately impressed that we got jerseys. The field (DeWitt Clinton) was nice and so scenic. There were refs who called the game with care for our well being, and the teams we played were all out there for the same reason we were, for the love of the game. We even wound up winning the championship! So we got photos and Champagne and the ref even saw us at the bar after and bought us a round. I was in awe you guys exceeded my expectations. 

J: Championship on the first go, way to go. So you were in.

R: 100%. We joined another league in Chinatown right after. The turf wasn’t as nice, but it was such a unique and special experience. And the view! It made me feel so alive and present in the moment to see the bridges right there, and even these little funny NY moments like a lady coming through with a trash bag, pouring out and taking our water bottles mid game, or the net being a little loose and the ref laughing when he wasn’t sure if it was a goal or not, which strangely but really genuinely added to the whole experience because it was just about having fun and being around other people who had fun. 

J: So you’d found your main team? 

R: Well no, actually. So we won the Chinatown league as well. They bring the champagne out and take the photos. I’m loving it. I figured I was peaking in life at that point. But then the team sort of wasn’t saying anything and I figured I could figure this out myself. Other teams need girls.

J: So you went full hired gun. 

R: Totally. And being a free agent is where I feel like I really started to break out and meet new people. I would just show up to a game as a sub, maybe score maybe not, but it would be easy from there. You know I can be nervous when I’m meeting someone or talking to someone, but when you play your guard goes down, which I really like. 

J: How many teams are you on now? 

R: Right now I’m on three free agent teams. I found all of them just randomly or on FootyHQ. Again, it was the best decision. I get to meet so many new people, but I know that they’re all people who enjoy soccer, are here for the love of the game, but also you know, have to go to work tomorrow. I can’t tell you how many friends I’ve made from NYC Footy since moving here. I literally can’t count them all. 

J: Do you prefer being on a team or being a free agent more?

R: I really like both. I like being able to meet new people from the free agent side, but I like the team feeling from the other side. But the team I really like now is cool because nobody knew each other and now people are already becoming friends. And it’s a little motley crew, some people have kids, some people just graduated college, and there’s always an open invite to go to a nearby bar. I watched Rihanna’s half-time show with them, and if I hadn’t been with them I probably just would have been at home watching on my computer. 

J: What do you think makes that community click? 

R: I think the soccer is important; clicking on the field is big. The fact that we are all free agents makes everybody pretty open to hanging out, being welcoming, you know we’re playing on a Sunday, we might as well do something after too. 

J: Has there been a highlight of playing in Footy so far?

R: The first time I scored, I just felt like I still got it. 

J: Are you a soccer fan too? 

R: I really like watching women’s soccer, women’s college soccer. My little sister plays at Pittsburg. Last season it was so fun watching her because they made it to the NCAA Playoffs, to the Sweet 16 I think, and it was just so exciting seeing her succeed and do that? 

J: So are we gonna get her into Footy?

R: I’m already working on it I promise.

J: How about the She Believes Cup, did you see any of that this last round? 

R: Yeah actually one of the players on USA, Mallory Swanson, we grew up playing together. She used to score 10 goals in our little peewee games, just wrecking people. Even when she went to college, I think she just saw that D1 wasn’t good enough for her so she just went pro after I think one year.
J: Is there anyone you really want to play with?

R: Abby Wombach. Meghan Rapinoe, Shannon Box. I feel like they’re kind of iconic. And they’re more than soccer. I feel like as a kid I was inspired by their mission so that would be a dream.

Rory, on the left, in her Real Colorado kit.

J: That’s a class list, you’ve clearly got some high standards for soccer. How’s Footy holding up? Is there anything about Footy you’d want to change?

R: The nets, some of the fields have old nets. It’s not even that bad but we have this joke on my team because when we won we kind of weren’t sure if the ball actually went in the net. It went through the back and we all just started celebrating and the ref was like, sure. Goal. But that’s also part of the charm. There were definitely some goals over the course of the season that we arbitrated with ref, and I’ve never seen this before in soccer but I like it. 

J: We love a little bit of on the field litigation. Despite the reverse VAR, do you feel happy about joining Footy?

R: Absolutely, Footy has shaped a lot of my experience of exploring the city is through playing on different fieldsIt’s a cool way to get to know your city. Also I love my Sundays now. It’s not the Sunday scaries it’s the Sunday soccer. 

J: Sunday is the holy day for soccer then.

R: No, everyday is.

J: Fair enough. Well before we wrap up, I’ve got ask is there a current on the field crush? Don’t worry, this will only go to the 20,000 or so newsletter subscribers. 

R: There might be some cute guys, but I’ve got like no game. Like my plan is to just play really well and they’ll somehow figure it out.

J: From the way it sounds like you play I’m sure someone will figure it out pretty quickly.

R: Haha hopefully.

J: Is there anything else you wanna add? What days of the week you’re free to play maybe, what type of guy you’re into?

R: Haha none of that no. I just wanna thank NYC Footy. I really do look forward to it so much. It’s funny on my Gramercy team one guy on the team just had a baby, he’s not even from NY he was just visiting, but now he kinda of plays every week and he was saying how it’s just the highlight of his week. Last weekend I scored a header goal and I’ve always wanted to do that, those don’t come often and that whole day was just amazing afterwards. I think I texted my entire family. I could do really well at work, doesn’t matter. If I do well at soccer, it changes my whole week. It’s really the most special thing to me, so thank you.

J: That’s wonderful, yeah I feel the same way. Well Rory, thanks so much for joining us and being Footy’s first Wonderful Person, and I’m both looking forward to and dreading seeing you on the pitch depending on what team your on.

-James Berry