Before the June 27 matchup between Portugal and Colombia, families gathered at Pascucci Field for the Glen Cove Junior Soccer League’s annual coaches game, kicking off another evening of FIFA World Cup festivities as part of the league’s community watch party series.
The watch parties, organized by the Glen Cove Junior Soccer League in partnership with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the Long Island Motion Picture Arts Center and Museum, combine live World Cup broadcasts with food, raffles, music and family activities. One final watch party is scheduled for the World Cup championship match on July 19 in Village Square.
For Brett Newman, the Glen Cove Junior Soccer League’s second vice president, the series is about giving back to the community that has supported youth soccer in the city.
“It’s really a way to give back to the families in the community as a thank-you for supporting the league and always signing their kids up,” Newman said.
The Junior Soccer League serves between 700 and 800 players each season. About 250 to 300 compete on travel teams, while the remainder participate in intramural programs. Children begin playing as young as 3, while travel teams include players through their late teens.
Newman said the World Cup provides a unique opportunity to bring families together around a sport that is deeply rooted in the community.
“The World Cup comes around every four years,” he said. “To be a part of it in this country, who knows when we’ll see that again?”
The June 27 event featured the league’s annual coaches game before Portugal took on Colombia in World Cup group-stage action. Families gathered throughout the evening as children played soccer and volunteers prepared for the broadcast.
League President James M. Greenberg said Newman first proposed the idea for the community watch parties.
“I said it was a great idea, and let’s figure out how to put it together,” Greenberg said.
The partnership also includes the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which has assisted with promotion, staffing and logistics, and the Long Island Motion Picture Arts Center and Museum, which is providing the projection screen.
“We’re helping advertise it,” Parks and Recreation Director Spiro Tsirkas said. “We’re providing the labor and helping with whatever junior soccer needs to have successful events.”
While the city has hosted outdoor movie nights in the past, Tsirkas said broadcasting a live sporting event is something new.
“A live sporting event is the first time that I can think of that it has been done,” he said. “I think it’s good camaraderie for the community, getting everyone out and everyone just being together for happy times.”
For Newman, the watch parties are about more than soccer.
“This is the biggest sport in the entire world,” he said. “We have so many different people from so many different countries in Glen Cove. This is an event where people can really root for their country.”
He said the league hopes the series continues to strengthen the sense of community that already exists through youth soccer.
“Anywhere you go in Glen Cove, there’s always kids playing soccer,” Newman said. “We wanted to do something a little different — bring everyone together and have everyone enjoy it.”
The final FIFA World Cup watch party is scheduled for July 19 in Village Square, where the championship match will be shown.
