Non-FIFA Cascadia National Team officially approved by NF-Board

After several months of formalizing paperwork and organizational structure, the Cascadia Association Football Federation (CAFF) has been approved as a provisional member of the Nouvelle Fédération-Board, or NF-Board for short. The organization is a soccer board unaffiliated with, but meant to complement FIFA, comprised of teams that represent unrecognized nations, autonomous regions, states, minorities, stateless peoples, and micronations.

Acceptance as a provisional member means that Cascadia is now eligible to participate in the VIVA world cup.  The VIVA world cup is a competition that is held every 2 years and is organized by the NF Board.  The next VIVA world cup is scheduled for 2014 with the host yet to be determined.

The next step then for CAFF, is to begin putting together a coaching staff and contacting eligible players to participate in a Non-FIFA aligned Cascadia national team. Alexi Lalas, ESPN announcer and former USMNT, has mentioned he may be interested in head coach, responding via twitter that he 'would be honored' to be offered the position.

Originally started in late August of 2012, the idea has gained a wide degree of attention. Not even a year later, after having their first general meeting and formalizing organizational positions on January 26th, CAFF has already received friendly invitations from several NF Board associated federations including Quebec,  Northern Cyprus, Raetia, Sealand (because why not?), Occitania and several others.

Though eligibility for a Cascadian national team has not yet been determined, CAFF has been in close talks with several players, including some professional, and is tracking more than 100 players who might be interested. Because it is not FIFA-aligned, the team itself will likely be made up of amateur, semi-pro and professional players, and does not interfere with their play-ability in other matches. Contact has also been made with the Quebec association who have already agreed to home and away meetings and the nascent beginnings of a North America and Arctic federation being set up alongside Greenland and, in the future, New Brunswick. The clamour for a Cascadian team has come too quickly for some invitations though, including taking part in a tournament in England this summer, but the association are hoping to have a side playing matches by the end of the year.

CAFF will likely be having another general meeting in the upcoming months, and if you are interested in becoming involved, you can send them an email directly to cascadiafootball@gmail.com, follow them on Twitter @CascadiaSoccer or on facebook here. You can view the original NF-Board release announcing CAFF's application here. Below, we've also included an alphabetical list for potential Cascadian players, along with position and current club. If you have suggestions or see an error, please feel free to let us know in the comments, and we'll try our best to get it corrected as soon as possible:

GK	Defender	Midfield	FW
Jason Baarts-Portland	Anthony Arena-Houston	Ely Allen-unattached	Omari Aldridge-Khalsa Sporting Club
Tyler Baldock-ACBC	Paul Ballard-Fraser Valley Mariners	Osvaldo Alonso-Seattle	Gibson Bardsley-Dayton
Chris Blais- unattached	Scott Bolkan-unattached	Nick Besagno-Washington Crossfire	Ricardo Carrillo-Portland
Ben Dragavorn-unattached	Drew Chrostek-unattached	Brandon Bonifacio-Vancouver Thunderbirds	Jason Cascio-unattached
Chris Eylander-unattached	Ryan Cochrane-unattached	Josh Cameron-unattached	Caleb Clarke-FC Augsburg
Daniel Fernandes-FC Twente	Michael D'Agostino-Sportfruende Siegen	Gordon Chin-unattached	Alex Elliot-Sportfruende Siegen
Marcus Hahnemann-Seattle	Graham Dugoni-Charleston	Raphael Cox-Tampa Bay	Ben Fisk(BC)-Charleston
Tally Hall-Houston	Jaime Finch-Carolina	Matthew Dallman-Pittsburgh	Kevin Forrest-Washington Crossfire
Dough Herrick-Seattle	Sterling Flunder-Pittsburgh	Terry Dunfield-Unattached	Ian Fuller-Orlando
Simon Rayner-Three Bridges FC	Tanjot Singh Grewall-unattached	Steven Evans-Portland	Maykel Galindo-LA Blues
Steve Reese-unattached	Ty Harden- San Jose	John Fishbaugher-Washington Crossfire	Marcus Haber-Stevenage
Spencer Richey-unattached	Loren Hill-unattached	Ben Fisk(WA)-unattached	Jason James-unattached
Garrett Staples-Portland	Tyler Hughes-Victoria Highlanders	Joey Gjertsen-unattached	Nate Jaqua-unattached
Josh Saunders-RSL	George John-Dallas	Manny Gomez-CA Jorge Griffe	Ellis McLoughlin-unattached
Simon Thomas-Vancouver	Daniel Leach-unattached	Evan Harding-Charlotte	Fredy Montero-Sporting CP
	John Lesko-unattached	Kevin Harmse-San Antonio Scorpions	Michael Nonni- SV Wilhelmshaven
	Nigel Marples-HB Koge	Jordan Hughes-Victoria Highlanders	Riley O'Neill- Myllykosken Pallo
	Taylor Mueller-Charleston	Jacob Hustedt-San Jose	Brent Richards-Portland
	Kent O'Conner-Vancouver Thunderbirds	Justin Isidro-Caldas Sport Clube	Colin Rolfe-unattached
	Gregory Preciado-Dayton	Jacob Lensky-unattached	Jake Sagare-unattached
	Adam Straith-FC Saarbrücken	Stefan Leslie-Surrey United	Ross Schunk-unattached
	Mason Trafford-IFK Mariehamn	Francisco Lopez-Ventura County Fusion	Desmond Tachie-unattached
	Dylan Tucker-Gangnes-Portland	Tim Merrit-unattached	Adam Wallace-unattached
	Kellen Wanulock-Tacoma Stars	Lamar Neagle-Seattle	Cam Weaver-Houston
	Austin Washington-unattached	Alex Nimo-JK Tammeka Tartu	Nick Webb-Gigantes de Carolina
	Mason Webb-Surrey United	Ciaran O'Brien-Carolina
	Adam West-FC Edmonton	Troy Ready-Vakhsh Qurghonteppa
	Deandre Yedlin-Seattle	Tyler Rosenlund-Rochester
		Kelyn Rowe-New England
		Alejandro Salazar-unattached
		Josh Simpson-BSC Young Boys
		Justin Solomon-Seattle
		Robbie Tice-Neosodden IF
		Brandon Tyler-New Orleans Jesters
		Alfredo Valente-unattached
		Jarad vanSchaik-Charleston
		Cameron Vickers-Phoenix
		Leland Wright-Sportfruende Siegen
		Gianluca Zavarise-unattached
		Preston Zimmermann-SV Darmstadt 98

Cascadia Teams Join Together to Fight Prejudice

To commemorate the 2013 International Day Against Homophobia, held on May 17th each year, supporter groups for the three Cascadian MLS football teams, the Timbers Army and 107th, Vancouver Southsiders and Seattle Gorilla FC each conveyed strong anti-homophobia messages through several massive TIFO displays.

The first, by Portland Timbers fans was displayed in their home match against Chivas USA on Sunday, May 12th, and included hundreds of participants declaring 'Pride, not Prejudice' and was quickly followed by supporters from both Seattle and Vancouver BC in their matches the following weekend, who each had banners displayed the fronts of their sections, several aisles wide.

In addition, large rainbow and normal Cascadian flags were also spotted at the recent Portland Thorns match when they played off against the Seattle Reign, showing a growing Cascadian representation in other sport competitions besides the Cascadia Cup rivalry.

The TIFO display help to uphold the regions progressive reputation, and is a great example of how the values of Cascadian soccer clubs and supporters continue transcend that of a mere sports rivalry.

Photograph credit for the Rainbow Doug flag goes to @sierrapdx who created and snapped the wonderful pic.

New Batch of Cascadia Scarves Available!

Cascadia Scarf Doug Flag

Some would say that Soccer in America is defined by the support of the game in the Pacific Northwest. Designed by Abe Schmidt, this scarf was created with the mission of showing your pride for Cascadia and keeping the cup. The rivalry between Seattle, Portland and Vancouver is a rivalry unlike anything else in American or Canadian Soccer.

Just in time for a new season, and in the midst of the Cascadia Cup TM debacle, we're excited to announce a new batch of Cascadia Scarves has arrived.  These scarves are sturdy, well made, nice and long and absolutely perfect for guarding your lungs from flare smoke, or for representing Cascadia wherever you might end up.

For those worrying about the increasing monetization of Cascadia related products and supporter group made competitions, all money made from these sales simply pays back investors, goes directly back into creating more merchandise, and supporting local grassroots Cascadia related clubs throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Scarves are now available for purchase for $22 + $3 SH ($25 total) and can be purchased either below or by accessing our merchandise store here: https://www.wepay.com/stores/cascadiascarves

Buy Now// <![CDATA[ var WePay = WePay || {};WePay.load_widgets = WePay.load_widgets || function() { };WePay.widgets = WePay.widgets || [];WePay.widgets.push( {object_id: 352309,widget_type: "store_item_buy_now",anchor_id: "wepay_widget_anchor_50fa93ae71f1a",widget_options: {store_id: 697987,show_item_price: true,show_item_images: true,button_text_sold_out: "Sold Out",show_item_custom_options: true,button_text: "Buy Now"}});if (!WePay.script) {WePay.script = document.createElement('script');WePay.script.type = 'text/javascript';WePay.script.async = true;WePay.script.src = 'https://static.wepay.com/min/js/widgets.v2.js';var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(WePay.script, s);} else if (WePay.load_widgets) {WePay.load_widgets();} // ]]</p></div>

Press Release: Cascadia Football Federation Announces First General Meeting January 26th

Seattle, WA - The Cascadia Association Football Federation (CAFF) is an organization with the goal of forming a non-FIFA Cascadia representative team to take part ultimately in the VIVA World Cup. We are pleased to announce that Golazo Energy Drinks has donated their HQ at 714 E. Pike St Seattle, WA 98122 as the meeting space for our first general meeting.

*MEDIA ADVISORY*

For Immediate Release:

We will kick off the CAFF meeting at 11:00am on January 26th, 2013.

On the agenda will be passing Bylaws, ratifying our Mission Statement, approving official crest, jersey and player eligibility requirements as well as discussing other basic issues. Additionally, we will be electing the first official Board members.

We also are looking for fundraising ideas to collect the fairly small administrative fee for our application for admittance as a member of the N.F.-Board, the world governing body of non-FIFA international football and organizers of the VIVA World Cup held every two years.

The first CAFF board will be responsible for bringing CAFF from its birth phase to putting together and fielding an actual team in friendlies and competitions.

The original press release can be accessed here. For those on facebook, the organization can be followed at: https://www.facebook.com/CascadiaFootball, On Twitter at: @CascadiaSoccer and the event page for their first meeting: https://www.facebook.com/events/148107948673053/?ref=22

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

We are convening this meeting at this time because there is great interest in our effort officially from the N.F.-Board and there is a slight chance we may be discussed at their annual General Meeting to take place in February in Munich, Germany. We will have an unofficial observer present at that meeting as we are not yet formally a member.

During our initial efforts to put this organization together we've talked with many people throughout Cascadia who have a wide range applicable experiences which give us confidence that will be successful in our efforts.

We've encountered individuals familiar with the 501c non-profit application process to people who have run large soccer organizations, designed scarves or kits including the current Cascadia jersey and scarves already seen in circulation at club matches for all three Cascadia MLS teams. We welcome their involvement.

This large undertaking is possible because of the incredible response we have received not only from them but from others within Cascadia and notably also from those around the globe who have reached out to help us.

The Non-FIFA football community is very interested in what we are doing and have pledged to help in whatever they can to assist us with throughout this process. The NF-Board as well as their South American confederation CSANF officially have contacted us with great interest.

We have also been encouraged by many in the non-FIFA community who believe that our application will likely be viewed favorably. Several NF-Board member Football Associations (FAs) including Quebec have even contacted us about potential friendlies already but there is still much work to be done before those can happen.

Beginning with this first general meeting we will take the first steps along the road towards turning something which people in the region have imagined into a viable reality.

We see this team as yet another expression of the passion we all have for the sport and our region as a whole. It will be another sphere of football/soccer to support between those of our local clubs and whichever FIFA national team (US, Canada or others) we support.

We welcome everyone who would like to be involved in this grassroots movement to bring CAFF to life and begin building a team to represent this region called Cascadia. Our ultimate goal is seeing that Cascadia represented at the NF-Board's VIVA World Cup, the highest level of competition for non-FIFA Football.

• WHO: Cascadia Association Football Federation (CAFF) and Interested Parties
• WHAT: First General Meeting
• WHEN: Saturday, January 26, 11:00 a.m.
• WHERE: Golazo Energy Drinks Headquarters - 714 E. Pike St Seattle, WA 98122

About Cascadia Association Football Federation

The Cascadia Association Football Federation (CAFF) is an organization looking to field a men's (and eventually women's) representative regional team for purposes of competition in non-FIFA football under the auspices of the N.F.-Board. We are in the beginning stages of the process towards becoming an N.F.-Board member FA. Our first status report can be viewed here and our second report can be viewed here.

About The N.F.-Board:

The New Federation Board (N.F.-Board) is an organization similar to FIFA, the organization which governs football/soccer worldwide. As such the N.F.-Board governs new, non-FIFA federations. Its member FA's compete every two years in the VIVA World Cup. The N.F.-Board was founded in a Brussels pub by Luc Misson in December of 2003. Misson was a lawyer who represented Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman in a case that led to the Bosman Ruling which allowed free movement of players within the European Union. Mrs. Viviane Bonnier was appointed as General Secretary of the N.F.-Board in 2012.

About Non-FIFA football/soccer

The phrase "non-FIFA" is a general term usually used by the media in order to name the football played outside of FIFA. It is not employed with a negative meaning like "against-FIFA" or "anti-FIFA", but on the contrary it is complementary with FIFA in the universal football scene. The N.F.-Board for instance, does not see itself opposed to FIFA but complementary to it in expanding the reach of the beautiful game. Some non-FIFA representative teams even belong to FIFA governed confederations.

About the VIVA World Cup 

The VIVA World Cup is an international football tournament organized by the N.F.-Board, an umbrella association for regions, peoples and nations unaffiliated with FIFA. The VIVA World Cup is held every two years. The most recent one just took place in 2012.

Cascadia Now! January Newsletter

In this January edition of the Cascadia Monthly:

• Why Cascadia? Why Poetry? - by Paul Nelson
• The Connected States of Cascadia - by Brandon Letsinger
• Cascadia, now more than ever - by Michael Hodges
• Towards a Cascadia Football Federation and the 2016 VIVA World Cup [Updated]
• West Coast States Continue trend towards Cascadian Integration
• Cascadia Now! Upcoming January Meetups set for Seattle, Olympia and Portland
• Cascadia Updates Upcoming Cascadia Now! Meetups | Cascadia Now! Vice Magazines favorite Secessionist Movement | Vote Cascadia Community Art Project | Explorations of Cascadian Cartography | First release of Cascadia Poetry Review | Decolonizing Cascadia UBC Geography Conference | A Mention in Mother Earth Magazine
• Timeline in Cascadia: January - by Alex DeVeito
• Cascadia in Pictures: December
• Your Daily Chinook WaWa - January
• Black Friday Cascadia Community Clean Up - by Adam Munson
• Book Reviews The Right to Self Determination under International Law | Towards a Bioregional State
• News from Around the Region Cascadia Civic Engagement Growing | Oregon Wine Touted as Nations Best | Idaho Scientist Launches Search for Bigfoot |

[gview file="http://cascadianow.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Cascadian012013.pdf"]

Anyone should feel free to download, print and distribute as they see fit. A big thanks to our layout editor Vickie Phelps and Adam Munson. The Cascadia Monthly newsletter is a free monthly newsletter. We have a completely open submission policy and welcome any and all articles related to Cascadia and the Pacific Northwest, though we ask that they not be politically affiliated. Articles that violate our mission statement will also likely not be included. Submit related Cascadia content, pictures, articles, events or contributions to our editor Adam Munson at

desolatesorrows@gmail.com

Previous Editions:

• October 2012
• September 2012
• August 2012
• July 2012
• June 2012
• May 2012
• April 2012

Towards a Cascadia Football Federation and the 2016 VIVA World Cup [Updated]

As the 2012 league season came to halt for all three Cascadia clubs, organizers working with the newly established Cascadia Football Association have been pushing towards making the idea of fielding a Cascadia National Team a reality.

For those not aware, the Cascadian Football Association is a small but growing group of people who are creating the infrastructure necessary for the creation of a Cascadia representational team though the process of application and hopefully acceptance by the NF-Board, the organization which oversees Non-FIFA football around the world. Every two years the NF-Board organizes the VIVA World Cup, which one of its 27 member Football Associations (FAs) hosts.

Cascadia as a distinct cultural entity, bioregion and growing social movement with common interests across international lines can and should be represented in the sport which we in Cascadia are passionate about; football connects us to other similar communities, cultures and peoples around the globe, and can be a great way to help foster a sense of place and regional identity. For that reason the organizers’ aim is a simple one: To have Cascadia participate as a member FA in the 2014 or 2016 VIVA World Cup. For more information, we also encourage people to read our earlier introduction to the effort here: http://www.cascadianow.org/towards-a-cascadia-soccer-federation-and-the-2016-viva-world-cup/

This idea has been floated around for several years now, and continues to gain support from various different Pacific Northwest Football and Soccer blogs. Stumptown Footy has also done a very nice piece recently updated on what a Cascadia Mens National Team may look like: http://www.stumptownfooty.com/2012/2/15/2800601/cascadia-assembling-cascadian-mens-national-team

While not affiliated in any way with the Cascadian Independence Project, we are very excited to announce they have released several updates on their Facebook page in relation to the creation of a Cascadia National Team, including:

• Established an Interim President, Acting Secretary and Communications Officer for the CFA. Permanent positions and appointments for these and other offices will take place at the first General Meeting which will be upcoming in January. The meeting is open, and anyone interested in attending should email group organizers for more information.
• Reached out to and are in communications with Cascadia kit and scarf makers.
• Reached out to the Sealand Football Association, reaching out to the Quebec FA and other FA's for fact-finding and guidance in the process.
• Gained the support of a French/English translator to help with communications with Francophone FA's and the NF-Board in Brussels.
• Reached out to and are in communication with the CSANF, the Consejo Sudamericano de Nuevas Federaciones - South America’s non-FIFA Confederation. Our Acting Secretary is bi-lingual in English and Spanish.
• Joined a non-FIFA football forum to further network with NF-Board FA’s such as Raetia to learn more about the application process so that we can proceed with it smoothly.
• Preparing an official communique and letter of intent for the NF-Board in Brussels who we hear are now aware of and interested in our efforts.
• Looking into the possibility of having an observer at the NF-Board’s February General Meeting in Munich, Germany. This will be discussed at the CAFF General Meeting in January.
• Looking into potential venues for our January General Meeting. They are open to suggestions as want as many to attend as possible.
• In contact with people both familiar with forming non-profit organizations and with people involved in other non-FIFA football such as the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup.
• Identification of over 75 eligible pro and semi-pro players based on a fairly conservative selection criteria.

The claim for Cascadia representation is based both upon our common past as Cascadia was once briefly a single political unit: the Oregon Territory – shared by several nations, as well as our present as the nexus of incredible support for the sport in North America which we and the world all love.

And the claim is also based on our common future as a region, and a culture.

For those looking for more information or who would like to get involved, check out: 

http://www.facebook.com/CascadiaFootball

http://twitter.com/cascadiafootball

New Cascadia Scarf

Cascadia Scarf Doug Flag

Some would say that Soccer in America is defined by the support of the game in the Pacific Northwest. This scarf was designed with the mission of showing your pride for Cascadia and keeping the cup. The rivalry between Seattle, Portland and Vancouver is a rivalry unlike anything else in American or Canadian Soccer. These scarves are sturdy, well made, nice and long and absolutely perfect for guarding your lungs from flare smoke.

cascadia scarf

Purchase online through the designer Abe Schmidt:

http://handsin.bigcartel.com/product/the-cascadia-scarf-pickup-only-fuel-northgate

Scarves will be delivered either the Northgate Vancouver away bus lot or Fuel before the Portland home match. Orders can also be shipped after October 8th. For questions about your order, please email angelicajschmidt@yahoo.com

Cascadia Now! September Newsletter

<< August Edition | September Edition

In this September edition of the Cascadia Monthly:

• CascadiaNow as a Social Movement - by Brandon Letsinger and Michael Hodges
• Towards a Politics of Yes - by Michael Hodges
• Wild Identity: A Biocultural Relationship - by Eric Seitz
• A Cheers to Cascadia - by Brandon Letsinger
• Five Rings After the Cold War: Cascadian Olympians and a Horizontal Comradeship - by Nate Jensen
• A Cascadian Space Needle: Callout for Designs
• Fans Organizing Cascadian Soccer Federation
• August in Pictures
• Must See YouTube Videos of August
• Must Read Book Blurbs
• This Month in Cascadian History: September - by Alex DeVeito
• Cascadia Updates: Massive Portland TIFO | Cascadia Speakup | Cascadia Flags Sellout | Portland Timbers, your army needs you! | Welcome to Cascadia! by Miss Vancouver | New Cascadia Scarf Design
• News from Around the Pacific Northwest First Non-Profit Pub in the US opens in Portand | Redmond Rocketeers Celebrate the Success of Mars Landing | Scientists Report - Cascadia likely to break off/form independent land mass in near future | Columbia River Identified in New Federal Initiative | Strongest Perseid Meteor Shower of 2012

[gview file="http://cascadianow.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Cascadian092012.pdf"]

Anyone should feel free to download, print and distribute as they see fit.

A big thanks to our layout editor Vickie Phelps and Adam Munson.

The Cascadia Monthly newsletter is a free monthly newsletter. We have a completely open submission policy and welcome any and all articles related to Cascadia and the Pacific Northwest, though we ask that they not be politically affiliated. Articles that violate our mission statement will also likely not be included.

Submit related Cascadia content, pictures, articles, events or contributions to our editor Adam Munson at

desolatesorrows@gmail.com

Previous Editions:

• August 2012
• July 2012
• June 2012
• May 2012
• April 2012