I spent a good part of my middle school and all of my high school years on Cape Cod. During that time, you forget everything that people tell you about that particular community. You don't notice the ideal scenery or the tranquility. You ignore the smell of the beach and the breeze that keeps temperatures moderate years round. But the thing you never forget is the affinity that Cape Cod has for its summer baseball league.
The Cape Cod Baseball League has been around for an incredible 127 years. It is promoted almost as a professional league. Big crowds, merchandise, a Hall of Fame on Main Street, Hyannis and an All-Star game at Fenway Park. They are the biggest sports league on Cape Cod, bar none; however, they are not the only show in town. Cape Cod, with a relatively large Portuguese and Brazilian fishing population as well as a good portion of Cape Verdean immigrants has always had a populous that loves soccer.
In fact, the Cape Cod Crusaders played in the USL PDL (the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid) for years. MLS players like Joseph Ngwenya and Troy Perkins have, in the past, suited up for the Crusaders. Yet even the Crusaders, during their reign of existence from 1994-2008, were not the only soccer game on Cape Cod. But due to a serious lack of advertisement or promotion, you have to dig pretty deep to find information on it.
Along with the Cape Cod Baseball League and the now dissolved Cape Cod Crusaders, Cape Cod has for the past 41 years been home to Cape Cod Amateur Soccer League. The CCASL consists of nine teams (Bass United, Dennis-Yarmouth Celtics, Harwich Blues, Falmouth Tide, Falmouth United, Nauset Storm, Provincetown Fishermen, Sandwich Knights and Welfleet Breakers), who play home and away against each team, while competing for the Davis Cup. This is all of the information that can be found via the internet on the league. They are, as far as I have been able to tell, not affiliated with the United States Adult Soccer Association (which is in the fifth tier of the American soccer pyramid). The local newspaper, The Cape Cod Times, does give minimal coverage to the games; otherwise, I would have never discovered the league's existence.
That is a sad state of affairs considering how much time I lived on Cape Cod and my affinity for soccer. I lived on Cape Cod, excluding college, for over 10 years. And this summer was the first I had ever heard of the CCASL. To make matters worse, I emailed every single email address on their website requesting information - the site had sponsors and schedule, but nothing on rosters of homefields - and have yet to receive a response. Using self ingenuity, the Cape Cod Times, and Google Maps, I was able to find the home fields of the two teams closest to where I'm staying for the summer.
The utter lack of promotion of the league is frustrating. Granted, these are amateur players playing in an, apparently, unsanctioned amateur league, but why does the league itself not even properly promote itself online? This is a 41-year-old league. 41 YEARS OLD! With the promotion that the Cape Cod Baseball League - also an amateur league - receives, I'd imagine there'd be more promotion for the CCASL.
My goal for the summer, in addition to getting to attend some New England Revolution games, will be to look at the other local soccer teams that are out there in Massachusetts, and hopefully New England as well. My first game will be on June 13th when Welfleet takes on Sandwich in the CCASL. Hopefully the rest of the leagues are easier to research online.
Why is there minimal to no promotion to the Cape Cod Amateur Soccer League? Is it due to soccer's standing in the country? Why does the leagues title include "Amateur" in it when the baseball league does not? Why have I received 0 emailed responses from the multiple people I emailed about the league? Question and comment below...