The Beat Goes On!

And now it is time to check in once again on my new hometown football club, the Atlanta Beat. That's the Atlanta Beat of the recently formed league known as 'Women's Pro Soccer' (WPS). Yes, I support a women's team. Got a problem with that? I hope not.

The Beat are what is called an 'expansion' team, meaning that they are currently being created out of whole cloth to compete in the WPS's second season beginning in Spring of 2010. This is being accomplished through a series of special drafts and free agent players. The first draft, a special 'expansion' draft, was reported about in a previous post (see The Beat is Back!). Last week the next stage, something called the 'international draft,' took place.

Although 'drafts' are a regular feature in all American pro sports leagues, even I struggled to figure out just how this one worked. It seems WPS rules allow each club to sign five international players, and the draft would allow the Beat (and fellow expansion club Philadelphia Independence) to fill these slots. As the WPS is the new global force in women's football I figured that it must mean they were to chose from a pool of players from around the world who had put themselves forward to leave their home countries and come and play in the States. Oh how wrong I was.

The Beat and the Independence were allowed, in fact, to select absolutely any international player in the world not already attached to another WPS club. This would not make them Atlanta Beat players automatically, though. The Beat would be in only obtaining the WPS 'rights' to the players. It would still be up to them to approach the player's club and the player themselves to negotiate a transfer just as it happens in the rest of the football world. All the Beat would be gaining, in effect, was a chance to try and sign foreign players without competition from other WPS clubs. Would that be meaningful enough to matter?

Even though it is only one season old, the WPS has already established itself as the premier women's league in the world. Anyone who paid attention to England's steady progression to the European Championships final would have noticed that its best players were registered with WPS clubs. Before last season the Los Angeles Sol were able to tempt away the world's best woman player (a Brazilian named Marta) from one of the world's top women's clubs (two times Champions League winners Umeå IK). It is early days, but the WPS on the road to being what the English Premiership is to the international men's game.

Speaking of Umeå IK, the Atlanta Beat obviously admire their program. Just take at look at the Beat's five picks in order from the international draft: Ramona Bachmann (nationality: Swiss, club: Umeå IK), Johanna Rasumussen (nationality: Danish, club: Umeå IK), Mami Yamaguchi (nationality: Japanese, club: Umeå IK), Maurine Dornelles Goncalves (nationality: Brazilian, club: Santos FC), and Therese Sjögran (nationality: Swedish, club: Malmö FF). So, basically, the Beat are hoping to pick off three of Umeå's top players. Umeå is a world powerhouse in womens' football. I can just imagine how eagerly the Umeå manager awaited a call from Atlanta as soon as he heard the news. It would be sort of like calling up Alex Ferguson and saying, 'I know you haven't heard of us before, but we would like to sign Rooney, Giggs and Ferdinand if you don't mind.' I could be wrong, but somehow I doubt the Beat are going to come away with all three.

I expressed my doubts to Atlanta Beat General Manager Shawn McGee, who (much to my shock) responded: 'We have done our due diligence by talking to players, coaches, and teams to select the players that certainly want to be in Atlanta and who are excited to play in the WPS.' I was very impressed to get an answer at all, but I don't think Mr. McGee was telling me the whole story. Why should he? I'm just some strange blogger living in England.

The reason I have my doubts is that the Beat have yesterday announced the signing of Mexican international Monica Ocampo. According to the press releases she is one of the top women's players in the world. She was a finalist for FIFA women's player of the year in 2006! It appears to be a real coup, and a welcome attacking option to what so far has been a primarily defensive lineup.

What is not clear, though, is why if Ocampo is so fantastic was shy playing the W-League (second division) last year, or why she was not one of the five international players chosen by the Beat last week (to be fair this could be because of some rule I am not aware of as I find some of the WPS regulations to be as Byzantine as anything the FA has ever come up with)? Is this signing to make up for one of the draft picks turning the Beat down? Ramona Bachmann was always going to be tricky as she turned down another WPS club last year.

To be honest, I'm not going to worry about it much. As any Bath City supporter can tell you, the signing of any accomplished striker is reason enough to celebrate. In another unexpected email response I got word from Atlanta Beat head coach Gareth O'Sullivan that he anticipates, 'playing with an attacking style.' Here is the first definite sign that he is going to get what he wants. Is it okay for Umeå IK to relax now? Probably not yet, but I will be letting you know.

And let's hear it for the Atlanta Beat management team, especially Media Relations Manager Christa Mann! Could they be any nicer? Everyone from Atlanta is amazing, actually. Just ask us.

The Beat is Back!

Although I am enjoying the breast beating and hair-shirt wearing that the Bath City community is engaged in at the moment, my status as a native Atlantan has given me some cheerier football news to report to you today.

Just over an hour ago Women's Pro Soccer (WPS) has announced the results of their first ever expansion draft, and as a result the first six members of the new Atlanta Beat roster have been revealed. They are: Leigh Ann Robinson (formerly FC Gold Pride - pictured right), Amanda Cinalli and Sara Larsson (from St Louis Athletica), Katie Larkin and Sharolta Nonen (now leaving Los Angeles Sol), and Noelle Keselica (who is packing her bags to leave Sky Blue FC). Prominent among these draft picks is Sharlota Nonen (pictured left), a Canadian international and a former member of the original Atlanta Beat that played in the old Women's United Soccer Association from 2001-04. The number one pick, Leigh Ann Robinson is a respected centre half and shows that the Beat are going to try to build their new club around a solid defence.

Okay, okay. I admit it. I don't really know what I'm talking about here. But I am going to try. I've never followed women's football before, either here or back home, so I will have to learn as I go. I am definitely going to try and be an active supporter, though. At least I will be as active as you can be on this side of the Atlantic, anyway. This is my home town club now, especially as Atlanta has no top flight men's team on the horizon.

I had better explain just what has happened to my British readers because that second paragraph probably makes no sense whatsoever. As I have discussed previously (at length), American sporting leagues do not employ relegation or promotion. New teams appear when the league decides to expand. Rather than just cobble together the best twenty women's clubs in the country, the WPS started life last season with seven brand new clubs funded by local businessmen. After a first (apparently successful) season, the league is now adding two teams to its ranks: the Atlanta Beat and the Philadelphia Independence. Rather than make these new clubs start from scratch, the league has set up an 'expansion draft' to try and ease their way into next season. Hold onto your hats now - this is going to seem a little strange!

Each club in the WPS has had to choose six players from their roster to put into the draft. Atlanta and Philadelphia then took turns choosing players from this pool of forty-two. Once an established club has lost one of its six players to one of the new teams it is allowed to remove two of its remaining five from the draft. No team could lose two players until every other team has lost at least one. Each of the expansion teams was going to be allowed to select nine players each, but in the end Philadelphia took seven and Atlanta only took six. Both teams will get to participate in special draft of international players as well as have early picks in the general WPS draft in January.

How weird is that? Can you imagine Alex Ferguson being told he has to name six players, of whom he could lose up to three to Burnley, Birmingham City or Wolves so that they could have an easier time in the Premiership this season? Exactly what shad of puce do you think he would turn? It boggles the imagination.

Despite the way we Americans like to champion the free market and talk about the survival of the fittest, we can be genuine pinko socialists when it comes to our professional sports leagues. Every sport has its ways of trying to keep 'parity' in its league: salary caps, income distribution and high draft picks for weaker teams. This is based on the belief that having the same old teams win every year is kind of boring (ahem). So really, the charge of 'socialism' isn't appropriate. The league as a whole has a commercial interest in competitive matches so that it can compete with other sports. The creation of the Premiership seventeen years ago was a partial step in this direction, but it is hard to believe that the English football giants will ever relinquish enough autonomy to create an American style league. Oh well, we might as well vive le difference, I suppose.

Back to the Beat: I don't really know if the draft was a success or not. The Beat's general manager, Shawn McGee, seems pretty happy with the results. Soon after the results were announced he tweeted, 'Had a great draft plan and it played well.' So far most of the excitement is centred on the number one pick, Leigh Ann Robinson. Head Coach Gareth O'Sullivan says, 'She works hard and has a positive attitude. We were very fortunate to come away with her.' Leigh Ann herself is putting a pretty brave face on things. The team website quotes her saying, 'I feel like I have so many emotions right now. I am excited to join the Atlanta Beat and anxious to be out there. This morning I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure if I would get a call or not. Now that I am with the Beat, I am excited to help get this team started.' I hope she is still as excited when she experiences her first Atlanta summer!

Well everyone, I am excited! Look out for me in the Atlanta Beat tee shirt in the Bath City terraces (as soon as they print some)!