The Angel City Football Club celebrated Juneteenth during their matchup against the Chicago Red Stars on Monday. Prior to the match, the football club collaborated with the Black-woman led podcast Shea Butter FC to host a street fair.
“I think it went really well and hopefully we brought some of particularly Black Los Angeles to the game and that they’ll come back,” said Shea Butter FC co-host Sylvia Bullock. “It’s been nice to be supported by a pro franchise to be able to do things like this.”
The @SheaButterFC podcast interviews ACFC general manager Angela Hucles and forward Simone Charley during the Juneteenth celebration street fair pic.twitter.com/KJRB7bF7l7
— Amanda Scurlock (@Amandtastic) June 6, 2023
The street fair included a live podcast, food from Black-owned businesses, and live music by DJ ADAJ and Ramskillit. Podcast hosts Sylvia Bullock and Skye interviewed ACFC general manager Angela Hucles and forward Simone Charley.
“I think it’s so important to acknowledge Juneteenth because it’s an important part of our history,” Charley said. “It’s not just Black history, it’s American history.”
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The podcast hosts also explained the fundamentals of soccer to fans and did other interactive activities.
“It was cool to see the little Black girls run up and be excited to see Simone (Charley),” Skye said. “That’s part of why we even started to give a voice to Black people in this space.”
Members of the team wore apparel from different Black-owned companies, including Jas It Up and Fear of God Essentials. The club also showed a video of Charley, defender Madison Hammond and forward Jasmyne Spencer visiting Leimert Park to meet with Black female entrepreneurs.
This night marked the season debut of the Olympic gold medalist forward Sydney Leroux who had been sidelined due to injury. Despite being subbed in late in the game, she scored the sole goal for the ACFC with forward Alyssa Thompson getting the assist.
Sydney Leroux talks about her return from injury after the ACFC falls to the Chicago Red Stars 2-1. Leroux scored the ACFC’s only goal at the 88th minute pic.twitter.com/uIlaTB3d1c
— Amanda Scurlock (@Amandtastic) June 6, 2023
“I feel like that’s the one thing that I didn’t know, can I come back and be Sydney? Can I cause havoc and can I be disruptive? And I could, I did,” Leroux said. “It’s not the result that we wanted but for me, I got to prove to myself tonight that I can still do this.”
Leroux mentioned how the ACFC’s celebration of Juneteenth is significant, especially for children.
“We’re really happy that Angel City took Juneteenth seriously and gave us our time and our flowers,” Leroux said. “Growing up, I didn’t really have us to look up to, so seeing all of us be honored tonight, it was really cool because it gives little Black girls and boys someone to look up to.”
Angel City lost to the Red Stars 2-1, they now have a 2-5-3 overall record. They will travel to battle the Washington Spirit on June 10 at 4:00P.M.
