JUNE 14, 2024 SPORTS GROUNDCOVER NEWS Association Football Club shows Ann Arbor that everyone belongs in "the beautiful game" Creating history is hard. Eliminating bigotry is difficult. The Association Football Club - Ann Arbor is proving both are possible, even exciting, wonderful and especially fun. Jamey Amrine, one of the AFC-AA founders, said it is a community-based soccer club, focused on equity, justice and anti-racism. The men's team started in 2014, the women's in 2018. Both teams play in the Great Lakes Division of the United Soccer League, a national pre-professional league. The women play in USL W and the men, USL League Two. The USL wants to increase gender equity and provide opportunities to play, coach, officiate and work in soccer in a safe, inclusive manner, according to its website. “As a white guy, I know about undue power and bias," Amrine said. "We try to challenge bias and figure out how to change things." Some changes are unusual, such as risking a league fine for not playing the National Anthem because Francis Scott Key was a slave owner, or allowing Claire Cahalan to wear the captain's "C" on her right pride sock instead of her arm. AFC-AA midfielder Thiago Dos Santos wears his pride stripe on his left arm and a USL fourth official wears his on the right cuff of his red jacket. Some innovations are major, like helping found the Anti-Racist Soccer Clubs Coalition in 2020 and Community Leadership Revolution Academy of Ypsilanti in 2021. Some changes are local, like partnering with Food Gatherers, the University of Michigan Adaptive Sports and Fitness Program and the Humane Society on Father's Day June 16 for the women's match vs. the Michiana JANE REILLY Groundcover vendor No. 611 7 Lions. Or hosting a food and household goods drive for SOS Community Services, June 30, at the women's final home game against Detroit City FC. United Way for Books will also participate. AFC-AA players and staff also are volunteering for cleanup and landscaping projects at all five of SOS Community Services' Ypsilanti locations, according to AFC-AA Facebook. Some promote thoughtfulness such as donating six trees to the City of Ann Arbor for each Mighty Oak goal this season in honor of Ann Arbor's bicentennial celebration May 25. AFC-AA also acknowledged the Anishinaabe people of the Three Fires Confederacy — the Ojibwe, Ottawa, Potawatomi and the Wyandot before the game and dressed in "Tree Canopy Kits," tree green uniforms. Some changes are about different styles of protest. In a chippy 0-0 tie on June 1 against Michiana, the referee gave a yellow card (a behavior warning) to the AFC-AA men's bench saying, "It's about respect." As the game progressed, the referee said to AFC-AA coach Rod Asllani, "I'm just trying to explain the logic of the rule, about why I made that call." Asllani replied, "I don't understand that logic." Top: Orion McHugh taking a corner kick in AFC-AA'S 1-0 victory over Oakland County FC. Bottom: (L-R) Ami Komori, Chiara Premoli (standing), Yuliana Herrera, Lina Berrah, Emily Eitzman, Holli Brown (GK), Sydney Osgood, Sandra Pedersen. Players from both AFC-AA teams meet with fans after every home game, weather permitting. Photo courtesy of the Eitzman Family. Both coaches spoke in calm, neutral tones until the 90th minute, when both teams were striving for the winning goal. The fourth official said, "Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet," also neutral and calm. There were no physical fights or tantrums and rarely cursing in a game that featured some dangerous play on a field slick with light rain. There were eight yellow cards, four per side, and one red card to AFC-AA. Surprisingly, it was the AFC-AA fans that cursed a call during the women's first loss, 1-0 to Midwest United, June 2. Through June 3, the men are 2-1-2 and the women 3-1-1. Some changes are financial, like free admission every game for 13-under and a $2 ticket discount at the gate for fans who donate to AFC-AA community partners. AFC-AA donates $2 for every ticket purchased online. Some changes are historic. AFC-AA right defensive back Emily Eitzman, the Outreach Coordinator for the U-M Adaptive Sports Student Group, was honored on Women and Girls in Sports and Community Day for starting the first amputee soccer program in Michigan in November 2023. The U-M Amputee Soccer team played a halftime exhibition at the AFC-AA Interest women's home opener, a 1-0 victory over Kalamazoo FC, May 19 at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School's Hollway Field. There was free admission for all who identify as women, girls and non-binary. The USL accepts transgender athletes. Midfielder/Forward Bridget Kopmeyer, 14, became the youngest player in Mighty Oak history to score a goal, May 29, a 3-1 victory over Michiana. Kopmeyer, a Pioneer sophomore in 2024-25, plays U-15 for Internationals Girls Soccer of Medina, OH, an Elite Clubs National League regional team. The previous youngest player was Eitzman, 17, in 2019. "She's been selected to a national pool for her age group," AFC-AA coach Kevin Taylor said about Kopmeyer, who is very fast. "She's willing to do whatever needs to be done to be part of the team. When you come to a team like this, when everyone's a top player, the goal is to just come together as a team as fast as possible." Taylor, Asllani and opposing coaches are available to fans after each game, win or lose. Jenna Trubiano, the U-M Women's Ice Hockey Club Coach, and see SOCCER page 11 
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