Leo Cassidy, board member for the SF Glens Board of Directors, speaks at the ground breaking ceremony for the San Francisco Glens stadium on Treasure Island in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, September 7, 2022.
Salgu Wissmath/The Chronicle / The Chronicle
Patrick Maguire speaks at the ground breaking ceremony for the San Francisco Glens stadium on Treasure Island in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, September 7, 2022. A field will be named after Patrick Maguire’s son who passed away from cancer.
Salgu Wissmath/The Chronicle / The Chronicle
Mayor London Breed, right, speaks at the ground breaking ceremony for the San Francisco Glens stadium on Treasure Island in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, September 7, 2022.
Salgu Wissmath/The Chronicle / The Chronicle
(Left to right) Supervisor Matt Dorsey, Mayor London Breed, John McCormack, Leo Cassidy, Mike McNeill, Roderick Jones, Ryan Maquiñana, and Stephen Cordova, break ground at the ground breaking ceremony for the San Francisco Glens stadium on Treasure Island in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, September 7, 2022.
Salgu Wissmath/The Chronicle
The first thing you notice are the views. And, of course, the wind. Any athletic fields alongside the San Francisco Bay come with the requisite wind.
Which is perfectly fine when the sport is soccer because soccer players tend to perform no matter how extreme the elements.
“You know what?” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Wednesday on Treasure Island. “The wind is just a part of San Francisco. We know it. This is what you practice in, so get used to it.”
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Breed was on hand for a groundbreaking ceremony hosted by the San Francisco Glens Soccer Club, which is building a privately financed facility on the island a few corner kicks from the water with views of part of the Bay Bridge and the top of the San Francisco skyline.
The Glens, who have been in operation since 1961, have roughly 70 adult and youth teams with 1,000-plus players and prides themselves as the largest and most diverse soccer club in S.F. Its amateur teams have risen through the ranks in recent years, and a goal of the club is to eventually include a professional team that would play at the facility, which will have capabilities to expand.
The San Francisco Glens Soccer Club staged a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, Sep. 7, 2022, on Treasure Island for a facility that will include a main field, three practice fields and 1,500 seats.John Shea / The Chronicle
On Wednesday, Breed joined Glens officials at a windswept news conference and groundbreaking that set off construction of a facility that will include a main field, three practice fields and 1,500 seats along with lights, concessions, locker rooms, a scoreboard and a press box.
According to Glens executive director Mike McNeill, the fields will be playable by April with the final touches (including the seating) hopefully in place by July. It’s contingent on funding, and more than once Wednesday, the mission to find a naming-rights partner was solicited. So far, funding has come through private donations and grants.
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“Soccer breaks down barriers in some cases, opens doors for others,” said McNeill, adding that more than $200,000 was granted for financial aid last year, “but above all has the power to bring everyone together. That’s what we envision with this facility, being a shining jewel to unify the city through the beautiful game as we approach the 2026 World Cup in the Bay Area.”
Phase 1 of the project is complete, the demolition of six buildings that left the square block nothing but a dirt lot with trucks and tractors still leveling the property.
Rendering of the proposed San Francisco Glens stadium on Treasure Island.
Courtesy San Francisco Glens Soccer Club
Ceremonial shovels were stuck in the ground by Breed, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, other dignitaries and Glens officials, including board members John McCormack and Leo Cassidy, who have been part of the club for decades and formed the club’s junior teams in 2010.
It was announced Wednesday that one practice field will be named after Breed and another after Kevin Maguire, who died as a young child of cancer and was the son of renowned coach Pat Maguire. The third will be named to honor the Treasure Island community.
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“Although this facility will be home of the San Francisco Glens,” McNeill said, “we want this to be open for use to other clubs, high schools, colleges and especially the local residents here at Treasure Island.”
The island has plenty of remnants of its old U.S. Navy presence, some adjacent to the project. Also nearby: a YMCA, a youth baseball/softball field, a firefighting training facility, storage units and a beer and wine company.
Glens officials said more of the bridge and skyline could be visible from the facility years from now with some buildings and an adjacent hill coming down.
“This is going to put San Francisco officially on the map in the soccer world like nothing else,” Breed said.
John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @JohnSheaHey
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