Decatur FC debuts in Women’s Professional Soccer League

Few would argue that the Atlanta metro area isn’t a soccer-crazy region. Last month, Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted the United States women’s national team with a record crowd, and Atlanta United regularly sets MLS attendance records. Starting tonight, soccer fans can support another local team as Decatur FC makes its debut in the Women’s Professional Soccer League (WPSL).

Gareth O’Sullivan has worked in women’s soccer in the United States for years, notably in the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA), where he coached the Atlanta Beat. As an entrepreneur, soccer fan and Decatur resident, he believed the progressive city east of Atlanta was the ideal location for a new semi-pro women’s soccer team.

So in 2022, he began working with current Decatur FC head coach and Gwinnett Soccer Academy technical director Campbell Chapman to bring a WPSL team to the city of 24,000.

“A cool situation for the city”

“I really looked at the situation about a year and a half ago and thought it was a cool situation for the city of Decatur, just based on where the high school is and the plaza and everything else,” O’Sullivan said. in an interview during the team’s practice Thursday at the Arizona Avenue soccer fields in nearby Kirkwood. “As a business owner in the square and coming from a football background, I thought this could be an interesting setup if we could do it right.”

Their main problem, he said, was securing a field on which the team could play. Soccer fields are notoriously limited in Atlanta, and teams often fight for space. O’Sullivan and Chapman didn’t believe playing at Decatur High School was possible when they began their proposal, and the project seemed futile.

OPENING MATCH: Decatur FC vs. Atlanta Fire United, Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available here.

“We didn’t think the high school would be available,” Chapman said. “So we kind of put it aside, always with a plan to revisit it. And obviously the stadium was going to be the catalyst for whether we were going to make this work. Once we had the stadium, then it was a case of, “Now, okay, I want to build the team.” »

The players

O’Sullivan let Chapman take the lead in building a team, drawing on his years of coaching school to identify and recruit talented players for the team. The opening day roster features four players from Georgia State, two from LSU, two from Georgia Southern and players from various other NCAA teams.

The oldest is Wasila Diwura-Soale, a 27-year-old who was looking for an opportunity to return to play soccer after a career at LSU. On the other side, Chapman’s daughter Emma, ​​a Decatur High School graduate who plays at Georgia State, is one of the youngest.

This location adds to the Decatur FC draw for city residents. O’Sullivan also owns O’Sullivan’s Irish Pub on Decatur Square, which is hosting a pre-opening game party to kick off the club’s inaugural season and will host watch parties during four away games. O’Sullivan says the support they have received from the community has been “amazing”.

Fan support

“Everyone from the mayor on down has supported the project 100 percent and been engaged in the process,” O’Sullivan said. The team sold about 250 season tickets for the five home games at Decatur High School. They’re expecting about a thousand people for the home opener against Atlanta Fire United on Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m.

“I’m a Decatur resident,” Chapman said. “Which is really helpful, because when you’re in the city, you feel the pulse of the city. When you start talking about it from afar. Then all of a sudden there’s the uniform unveiling and the city raises the flags downtown. This team is going to represent Decatur, that’s for sure.

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