Everyday People Football Club
Lee Cultural Center
4328 Haverford Ave
Oct. 5, 2025
A group stretch, high knees, and an icebreaker is how Everyday People Football Club meetups start at Lee Cultural Center. Last Sunday’s icebreaker – “What’s your favorite fall activity?” – allowed players to get to know each other a bit before hitting the pitch for a camaraderie-focused match.
While players talked about leaf peeping, hiking, and Halloween (my own contribution), organizers readied the music and the goals. Jian White, one of the organizers, hyped everyone up over their borrowed JBL speaker and mic setup. Once players heard it was time to play, they split up into two mixed-gender teams and half of the group put on their yellow Dick’s pinnies. It was gametime, but with none of that toxic machismo I’m used to seeing in a sports setting.
“It’s collective play that’s socially owned and community care focused first,” White told me. “That comes from not just meeting for matches, but in a shared belief that our liberation comes when we give a damn about each other whether we’re on or off the field. When I think of soccer, I think of the beautiful game, bold camaraderie, and a storied, internationalist, humanitarian history.”
The league, formerly known as Socialist Soccer, was born out of White’s dream to create a system that brings people together and then prepares them to bring what they learned from their community into political movements in Philadelphia. After the organizing group they were part of fell apart earlier in the year, White was in a loop of burnout, isolation, and depression. Then, they started to meet up with co-organizers Emilio Weber and Joj, who they say became their support system. From there, creating a soccer league was a welcome excuse to hang out with them and dream for the future.
“It seemed to me that whether it was through the frustrations with the current mayor, the country’s slide towards authoritarianism, or the horror of the treatment of Palestinians via our tax dollars, people were waking up to the failings of our society, and the dire need to build something new,” White said, adding that they wanted to keep that momentum going.
Being at an EPFC event truly does feel like a space to commune and escape a grief cycle, especially as a person struggling through the isolation of a layoff earlier this year and the pain of watching our political climate feel more and more like an attack on myself and communities I'm aligned with. The meetup provided me with an opportunity to meet my neighbors, even as a non-player hugging the bleachers section and spectating.
On this particular Sunday’s meetup, I sat and talked with a new friend who happens to live just a few blocks away from me in West Philly; We plan to meet up outside of an EPFC match sometime in the near future. At the previous meetup in September, I sat on the bench with someone from Northeast Philly, nearby where I used to live. We talked about the now-defunct bug museum and at the end of the meetup, they gave me a ride home.
This level of community is exactly what the organizers are hoping for, and is why they hold time before and after the match for conversation. This is the “Socialist” part of the original name of “Socialist Soccer” – creating a space that champions social systems and leaning away from profiting off of each other. The league, as White put it leading into the discussion, is centered around the tentpoles of building community and camaraderie, political development, friendly competition, and figuring out solutions that bring us together to center community care.
To begin the discussion segment of the meetup, Joj, one of the organizers, posed the idea that soccer is made to seem like it isn’t political. They asked how folks felt about that, and invited them to state their thoughts.
For about 20 minutes, the 13 attendees spoke on topics such as RedCardIsrael – “If Russia was banned, why wouldn’t Israel be?” one person asked – and the damage done to trees at FDR Park for the sake of FIFA, just for the site to go unused.
Another participant closed the discussion by saying that they will be volunteering for community engagement surrounding FIFA coming to town next year. The goal, they said, is to make it known how important these spaces are to Philadelphians, as folks coming from out of town likely have no idea how important spaces like FDR Park and Lemon Hill are for community members here. “We can gather that info and make it known,” they said.
The community response to EPFC, White says, has exploded. Folks have ended up at the matches purely through community engagement like flyers around the neighborhood and word of mouth.
“It's been awesome to see folks come spontaneously to play, bring out their neighbors but also to share their insights. One person showed up and volunteered to help us run childcare. Another has been connecting us to other leagues in the city,” White said. Similarly, people utilizing the playground space at the park have come by to ask questions about socialism and enjoy the snacks provided by the group.
Building this type of league and space won’t be a simple or quick project, but the organizers are dedicated to EPFC’s growth. While the immediate goal is to play games with other teams, they also plan to have city wide conversations, bringing folks in from all over Philadelphia. White hopes to see things like a broadcast network, medical response teams, community self defense, and direct action groups form out of EPFC.
“Ultimately though, we want to see more people think about creating tentpoles like this, third spaces and institutions born of a better politic, where play is care is organizing is community and so on until every need is met,” White said.
“Still, by this time next year, if the most we’ve accomplished is that we brought some people together for some great conversations and fun games, that’s its own victory.”
The next Everyday People Football Club event is Sunday, October 19 from 3:30-6 p.m. at Lee Cultural Center. If you’re seeking a space for movement, political conversation, and togetherness, I can’t think of a better place for you to be.
