Soccer is known as a game that has no language and can bring people from far across the world together. While the Kennedy Park Pickup community is still reeling from players being kidnapped by ICE, founder Anthony Fiori hopes to continue to connect people of all different backgrounds.
Fiori played soccer as a child and started following Chelsea and Barcelona. In seventh grade, he was able to play for his school team and would go on to also play for Seacoast United. As he got older, he played in high school and eventually collegiately at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics.
After college, Fiori spent some time away from the game, but through the arrival of a futsal court, he found himself back involved with soccer again. The court's construction finished in the Summer of 2021 and Fiori began playing soccer there almost immediately.
But the games and availability of players was rather random, according to Fiori. Additionally, he wanted to try and capture the moments that take place on the court. That prompted him to formally organize and start the Kennedy Park Pickup Soccer social media account in 2022.
While Portland Hearts of Pine hadn't arrived yet, Fiori noted that club owner Gabe Hoffman-Johnson was one of the first supporters of the court. In 2023, that support went even further and supported the social media page itself. Then, in the Fall of 2023, Fiori constructed the group's first official tournament, and Hoffman-Johnshon and USL to Portland sponsored it.
"I was a little nervous, because I was like, 'Oh my gosh, if this tournament is a disaster, then they'll never sponsor something for us again, we'll never be trusted to do anything,'" Fiori told The Blazing Musket. "But it was, luckily, a huge success."
The winners of that tournament were called "The Heartbreakers" and eventually went on to become a UPSL club, the Mighty Mainers. Fiori credits the arrival of Hearts for the continued growth of the Kennedy Park scene.
The arrival of the club in its current form was almost too good to believe according to Fiori. The club even used some Kennedy Park players as models for the first set of merchandise that the club put out and the club included players in a branding focus group.
Alongside the arrival of Hearts, the Instagram page continued to grow. What was once a page with 30 followers was averaging hundreds and soon thousands of interactions on posts.
"We definitely could not have imagined having professional soccer players come down to KP and taking interest in what we do and play in games with all of us," he said. "It's a really cool experience and it just feels so unreal."
While there has been a lot of good news to come out of the community, arguably the worst news surrounding the Kennedy Park soccer community was one of its players, Joel Andre was taken by ICE and transported to a detainment center in Texas.
This was a worst case scenario for Fiori and a moment that rocked the community.
"It really shocked us all," he said. "I think a lot of us were literally in a state of shock when we first heard it. It was just so unbelievable. Joel is just one of the most loved players who plays at Kennedy Park. If you were to think what the kindest, most innocent person they could possibly kidnap, it would be Joel and his family. It felt insane.
"It just feels like a part of Kennedy Park was stolen that day, " he added. "Kennedy Park is a little bit less than what it was beforehand, because he's just such a core part of the community there."
After being in shock, the group wanted to everything it could to raise awareness and try and get him legal aid. Fiori was proud of the response of the group and how it was able to help Andre.
The group was able to even help players who wern't detained but were living in fear due to ICE's takeover of the state. Kennedy Park helped these families get groceries delivered to them in order to keep them safe.
This is why Fiori believes that having spaces like the futsal court is so important. According to U.S. Census data, 89 percent of Maine is white. In a largely white demographic, it can be easy to live in silos but the court provides a space for everyone from all walks of live to come together and play the beautiful game.
"I think it's really important, especially in Maine, because even in areas of Maine like Portland and the suburbs of Portland, where people are largely very supportive of immigrant communities and diverse communities, there's still not a lot of cross connections that get made," Fiori said. "There's just not a lot of spaces where people from immigrant communities are connecting with people who are from non immigrant communities and whatnot."
Andre returned to Maine in March after being detained in November. He was able to play at Kennedy Park soon after. Unfortunatley, Fiori told The Blazing Musket that Andre wasn't the only KP player who has been detained by ICE.
Fiori and the KP community were recently honored by FC St. Pauli, a German first division side with the club's second-ever peace prize. It was a testament to the work that the group had been putting in that a club all the way across the Atlantic Ocean took notice of what KP was doing.
"Recieving this award from St. Pauli means a lot to me and to this community," Fiori told the club. "We really work hard to create an inclusive community that doesn't hesitate to help one another, both on and off the field. So to be recgonized by a club that's so famous for doing just that is a really great honor for all of us. The left wing political culture of FC St. Pauli is one that I look up to a lot. They are a team that really recognizes the role that social connections built through soccer can play in the fight against fascisim and in the political scene in general. They are a team that really reminds us of the great power for social good that soccer has in the world. They really support a kind of soccer that we should all strive to create."
Looking ahead, Fiori hopes to continue to grow the number of games and tournaments held at the park. Andre's kidnapping also left a lasting impact on how he hopes to document everything that goes on at the court.
"We should make sure their lives don't get lost in history," he said. "We have stuff to document the people they were and what they meant to others. So definitely would like to do more content on players and interviewing different people who play at Kennedy Park, and showing the range of backgrounds people come from to play there."
Fiori also hopes to create more community events outside of the court such as watch parties and events catered to soccer players and in general a younger audience. He hopes that these events can get the KP community more involved in the Hearts fan culture.
