Soccer fans gather to cheer title
Heat no hindrance for War Memorial Stadium watch party
Despite temperatures that topped 90 degrees, dozens of Arkansas soccer fans watched the United States soccer team take home its record fourth Women’s World Cup title from the heart of Little Rock on Sunday.
Cheers rang through War Memorial Stadium when the U.S. team scored each of its two goals against the Netherlands and held off the orange-shirted opponents, running out the clock and securing the team’s second straight title.
Some fans had their eyes glued to the stadium’s screen from lawn chairs and blankets, while pint-size players romped on an inflatable field set up by Arkansas’ own professional soccer team, the Little Rock Rangers.
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., dressed in shorts, sneakers and a black and red Little Rock Rangers jersey, high-fived fans in the bleachers during halftime.
“This is how you unite Little Rock,” he said, gesturing to the colorful umbrellas and beach towels that dotted the field.
The watch party came weeks after Scott’s announcement that golf operations at War Memorial and Hindman parks would cease. Over on the War Memorial Park golf course, participants in the last day of the course’s final Fourth of July Classic tournament were scattered across the course.
Though the city’s vision for what the courses will become doesn’t yet have concrete details or costs, Scott told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that programming and recreation opportunities would increase at the parks in the meantime. The idea for Sunday’s event came from his staff and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, he said.
Little Rock parks director John Eckart said it was the inaugural partnership between the city and War Memorial Stadium, which is run by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. He said there was a positive response despite the short notice — the city announced the event on Friday.
“This is a first for us,” he said. “It’s a great venue to host something like this … I think it’s been received well by folks.”
Eckart, like Scott, said he envisioned War Memorial Park as the site of more community events in the future.
“I think War Memorial, the entire park has tremendous potential to host a variety of programs and events going forward,” the parks chief said. “We really want to activate the space to better serve the community.”
The event drew city res
idents as well as soccer fans and families from neighboring cities and beyond, including Monica Pritchett, who didn’t know soccer could be “this exciting” until her son started playing for Bryant High School, and Nathan Hamilton, who works as director of communications for the city of North Little Rock.
Hamilton, who went to watch with his wife, Stacy, and their children ages 5 and 2½, said he gave the city of Little Rock kudos for giving families an option to view the game together.
“I definitely wanted to watch the game. We’re a big soccer family. It was nice at 10 a.m. to not have to be alone at a bar. It was nice to have a place I could take the whole family,” Hamilton said.
Some watching Sunday were hopeful that soccer would begin to garner more interest in Little Rock.
Jonathan Wardlaw, president and general manager of the Little Rock Rangers, said the city asked the team to have a presence at Sunday’s event and that he was happy to help out; several players attended. The team aims to keep Arkansas kids interested in the sport after they become teenagers, Wardlaw said.
Alicia Crowder, a 37-yearold Sherwood resident, said she thought it would be “super fun” to watch the U.S. game with a group of people.
“To my knowledge, there’s not that many soccer fans in Arkansas,” she said.
That didn’t stop Crowder, a nurse at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, from wearing her U.S. jersey under her scrubs at work in the days leading up to the final. She said the success of the women’s team could help get more people into the sport.
Jerry Simon said he drove an hour from Star City with his 8-year-old daughter, Bella, that morning for the event, because there weren’t many opportunities to watch with other fans in their home city.
He said they both love watching the U.S. Women’s National Team; Bella especially likes standouts Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan.
Bella, who’s played soccer for about two years, said her favorite part of the sport is “where they try their best to win and they support each other.”