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The San Francisco Soccer Football League gathered in Balboa Park's Boxer Stadium on Sunday to honor former players of the oldest soccer league in the United States for its 125th anniversary.
Friends and family took to the stands for four back-to-back matches, including a showcase match where an SFSFL All Star team took on El Farolito Legends. After a foggy summer week in the city, a baking sun shone down on players during their final outing in the historic stadium.
“Sports is about community,” said Avery Lyford, SFSFL board member. “These guys haven't seen each other, in some cases for decades, and now they're getting a chance to bring their children.”
The league was founded in 1902 by European immigrants looking to bring a favorite pastime to the city. Some of the earliest member clubs, the Olympic Club and the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, which joined the league in 1916 and 1917, respectively, remain in operation and faced off on the day.
SFSFL President Genaro Camacho honored El Farolito founder Salvador Lopez, who died during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a moment of silence. Lopez‘s wife, Valvina, and his daughter Irene, El Farolito’s current manager, were also recognized ahead of the match.
“Farolito is a club that pretty much everyone recognizes. They did some great things, and they're still doing great things. They represent our San Francisco league very well,” Camacho said. “We want to pay respect for all the things that Salvador did for many of these players.”
El Farolito joined the SFSFL in the 1980s, quickly becoming one of the league’s best sides. The team has won the league’s top division and won the U.S. Open Cup in 1993. While players from that match took to the pitch for the club one last time yesterday, its current squad beat Las Vegas’ Sin City Football Club to become U.S. Amateur Cup Division IV champions and qualify for the competition’s national tournament.
Despite Boxer Stadium’s rich history as potentially the first soccer-exclusive stadium built in the country, its rickety wooden stands sit below a dated press booth, leaving clubs that play there a lot to desire, including a locker room.
SFSFL hasn’t played matches in Boxer Stadium since 2023, unable to justify the cost of renting the aging stadium from the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. The league’s absence from Boxer has been felt by fans and members alike.
“Boxer is a huge part of SF history. Just to have that beautiful stadium to be public [...] is massive,” said Rose Shoen, vice president of the SFSFL. Her club, Azteca, has been part of the league since 2015.
In 2018, former District 11 Supervisor Asha Safaí announced plans to renovate Boxer Stadium in time for this year’s World Cup, hoping to host one of 48 nations in the tournament and have them train there. According to a representative from Rec and Park, Safai never got the ball rolling.
Opened in 1953 and originally named Balboa Park Stadium, Shoen said that Boxer Stadium was built for the SFSFL. Safai’s plan would have paid homage to Matthew Boxer’s legacy, the stadium’s namesake, who brought international outfits out to play in California. Shoen has been trying to get the city to touch up the ground since joining the league’s board, hoping the stadium can one day come back into compliance with the high standards held by organizations like U.S. Soccer and FIFA.
“There are a lot of people who want it to happen, but what it comes down to is like doing the work, right?” Shoen said. “It takes motivated people to get to City Hall, go network with all the politicians, and make it a reality.”
Omar Reyes played professional football in Mexico and was a former player in the SFSFL. He coached in the league last season and now referees matches. He spoke to the status of Boxer Stadium and what it meant to play in the historic venue in its heyday.
“In that time, it was a privilege to play in this stadium,” Reyes said. “[You could] play in this stadium only if you are in the Premier League in San Francisco.”
With its rich history, the community that the SFSFL fosters spans generations. Camacho’s niece, Veronica Rochin-de la O, has been coming to see her family play in Boxer Stadium since she was two years old.
“Every Sunday was to go to the park with the family. After, we would go to my grandmother's house in Daly City […] It was just very family-oriented,” said Rochin-de la O. “It's part of our family, ever since I was little.”
While Boxer Stadium's stands weren’t full like they were in the background of photographs of final-winning teams, life returned to the stadium for the first time in a long time. That’s exactly the purpose of the league in the eyes of Lyford.
“In the end, none of us are gonna make any money off of this out of the league,” Lyford said. “You do it because you love the game, and you do it because you want to build community. And so this is a chance to create an event, create a reason for people to come back together.”
