Fall Soccer In Hoboken: No Dropping The Ball This Year?

HOBOKEN, NJ — Last year, at a June 21 council meeting, Hoboken City Council members were told that if they didn't choose a new vendor to run the city's recreation soccer program that night, the popular fall program might not happen.

The councilman who cast the deciding vote, Michael DeFusco, said during the meeting he wasn't sure about the new vendor yet, but was going to vote in favor because he didn't want to put the program in jeopardy.

But what about a year later?

As of Monday, June 10, no plans for fall soccer have been released to the public.

[See Tuesday, June 11 update to this story here.]

What Happened?

For decades, the program had been run by the volunteer-run Hoboken Youth Soccer League, attracting hundreds of kids from throughout the city to face off each Saturday.

Usually, signups were announced in May.

Last year, the head of the city's human services, Leo Pellegrini, mysteriously resigned around that time — and the city said that because of issues with two soccer programs he'd helped oversee in Hoboken, both might see their summer and fall seasons canceled.

City officials alleged at the time that some programs were not being properly charged for their use of city fields.

Parents in the Hoboken travel soccer program, Hoboken FC — which starts at $1,500 per child — met privately with Mayor Ravi Bhalla and began a new program, Hoboken United, thus saving their summer and fall seasons.

That left the city to figure out what to do about the $45-per-child public recreation soccer program for the coming fall.

Several longtime organizers from the Hoboken Youth Soccer League spoke at the June 21, 2023 council meeting, saying they had volunteered hundreds of hours each year to set up what most agreed was a successful program. But they were not under consideration to run the fall 2023 program.

City officials argued that the league did not submit a bid on time. League organizers said they didn't get responses to their questions.

Regardless, the City Council met on June 21, 2023 to consider a new vendor from Bergen County who had bid to run the fall program for $180,000.

After much deliberation, DeFusco cast the deciding vote, saying that with summer and holidays coming, the town needed a vendor in place.

The program kicked off in time for fall, but parents and residents complained that no games were played in September — and that when several weeks of games were rained out, the organizers did not communicate any rain dates or offer any makeup games on Sundays.

Already June

When asked what would happen this fall, city spokesperson Marilyn Baer said in May, "The recreation department has been working around the clock to grow and enhance our entire recreation program. Since 2022, we have grown from roughly 2,200 to 9,000 participants [children and adults], which includes soccer. We saw more kids playing soccer in Hoboken last fall than any year prior and we anticipate that growing again this year.

"To accommodate the demand, the city has been working diligently to ensure the best possible recreation soccer programming for children this fall and will be providing additional updates in the near future."

A volunteer from the Hoboken Youth Soccer League, John Ratto, said Sunday that he hadn't heard anything about fall soccer.

"Unfortunately the city hasn't reached out to us about running the league again," he said.

Councilman Ruben Ramos Jr. said Monday, of the soccer program, "We’ve heard nothing."

Costs Rising

Councilman Michael Russo said last year that he was concerned about the rising costs of the recreation programs for families. "Hoboken has an obligation to provide recreation programs to our residents, especially our children," he said. "I do not agree with outsourcing that responsibility. Those who are truly invested in our community, the volunteer coaches and parents, who are and have been such an integral part of the upbringing of our youth, should continue to be in that role."

City spokesperson Marilyn Baer responded at the time, "Hoboken has always utilized a third-party vendor to provide youth recreation soccer. The city went out to RFP [request for proposals] to solicit proposals from qualified vendors to operate the fall recreation soccer program as is the law and to bring the previously outstanding program into compliance. The RFP was provided to all those who requested it including the Hoboken Youth Soccer League which did not submit a response."

She added, "If adopted by the Hoboken City Council, the city will enter into a contract with Athletes Connection Toward Success for the fall 2023 season for residents between 5 and 14 years old. Through this partnership with the city, the city will be able to provide weekly practices and games to participants, full uniform kits for participants, and training for volunteer coaches."

The proposed cost of the program was to be $75 per child, but council members asked the city to lower the cost to the previous year's charge of $45 per child.

As for this year, Councilman Michael Russo said Monday that he will ask for an update when the recreation committee meets Tuesday.

Patch will update this story if details for fall soccer signups and schedules are released to the public.

Past Reporting

• Hoboken Recreation Soccer May Be Outsourced
• Parents Meet To Save Hoboken FC Soccer
• Hoboken Gets New Recreation Head To Revitalize Programming