For five hours on both Saturday and Sunday, GOAL USA’s The Rondo podcast hosted hundreds of English Premier League football fans at The Ground NYC for a watch party of the weekend’s fixtures.
Starring host and NYC soccer influencer Raheem Taylor-Parkes and writer Tom Hindle, the duo ran interactive games with the crowd while discussing soccer with English Premier League fans before the eye-watering Manchester United vs. Chelsea and Arsenal vs. Manchester City fixtures on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The Lower East Side soccer spot did not need any extra decoration to host Soccer Saturday, as flags of famous football teams fence the outdoor area. You’re greeted with walls covered in soccer memorabilia — from signed jerseys to pin badges and walls covered in obscure soccer team badge stickers.
“[The Ground] is the hub for football in New York City,” Taylor-Parkes explained. “This is the place where everybody comes to ball, comes to support, comes to show love. Whether it’s you’re playing pickup at 8 P.M. or coming to a big event like this, everybody who’s ingrained in the New York soccer community has been here, and it’s just a staple. You see the train whirling back and forth, hearing that noise. You see the vibe, the energy.”
A massive projector screen and stage were set up on the ground-floor pitch, while outdoor seating and other televisions were set up outside in a cool, sunny weekend.
GOAL USA partnered with Modelo to provide drinks and to round off the full British soccer experience, minced pies and sausage rolls were served in the outdoor area, with more televisions and spaces to watch the matches.
The crowd showed full support, wearing jerseys of their adopted teams from across the pond, and weren’t afraid of letting their voices and opinions be heard during a “Hottest Take” segment.
The snappy 15-minute show on YouTube has garnered 35,500 subscribers despite only starting a year ago.
Hindle and his writing team wanted to bring their witty, “Euro-snobbery” humor to the eyes and ears of their audience, and it combined well with Taylor-Parkes’ infectious enthusiasm and passion for the sport.
The first episode on the channel earned one and a half thousand views, but now regularly averages 15,000 viewers weekly on YouTube alone. The show is also released on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and has 38 episodes so far.
“We want to bring athletes, creators, influencers, celebrities, onto the show to talk about their football knowledge, to talk about their passion for the game, and connect that to culture,” Taylor-Parkes told amNewYork. “My co-host brings that authentic voice within the space, being the writer that he is. Bringing our humor and our expertise together, we’ve been making an incredible show.”
The goal, at the end, is to “spread as much football culture as we can,” according to Hindle. He feels that at GOAL, they have an obligation to do so. As a born and raised Brit, he was an admitted “skeptic” and “hater” of U.S. soccer, but he was slowly won over as he got more involved in the community.
“It’s like events like this, and just being around it, feels like [soccer is] growing,” Hindle said. “People are really interested in the sport that I love, and I think that’s awesome.
With the 2025 World Cup on the horizon, Taylor-Parkes is expecting a big boom in interest in the sport, and he wants to help new fans get involved. It “meant a lot” to him that a few fans shared their first soccer-watching experience with him and GOAL.
“I want to continuously bring the people together of New York together, no matter what background you’re from, no matter how much you know about the beautiful game,” Taylor-Parkes said. “Not only bringing fans, but also people who are new to the game as well. The NBA fans, NFL fans, come watch soccer, come and join a unique experience with us.”
