In its inaugural season, the Portland Thorns FC placed third during the regular season and, in the playoffs, won the first NWSL championship. The club won the NWSL Shield in 2016[2] and a second NWSL Championship in 2017.[3] In 2020, they won the Community Shield with the best record in the 2020 NWSL Fall Series. In 2021, the Thorns won the NWSL Challenge Cup, the Women's International Champions Cup, and the NWSL Shield.[4] They followed up in 2022 by winning the NWSL championship.[5]
The Thorns have had the highest average attendance in the league in each of their first eight regular seasons, and set the club's all-time attendance record with a capacity 25,218 attendance on August 11, 2019, in a match against the North Carolina Courage that also set the league's record at the time.[6][7]
The first professional women's soccer team in Portland was started by the Portland Timbers in 2001, competing alongside teams formed by the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps in the USL W-League's W-1 division.[8][9] In Portland the team was christened the Portland Rain and played the 2000 season in the Pacific Coast Soccer League (PCSL). The team played the 2001 season in the W-League before returning to the PCSL until 2003 when the team folded.[10] Women's soccer was also well-supported via the University of Portland Pilots.
The Portland Rain were re-founded in 2009 when they joined the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL). On May 2, 2012 the Portland Timbers partnered with the Portland Rain and the Oregon Youth Soccer Association's (OYSA) Girls Olympic Development Program (ODP). This precursor to the NWSL announcement the following November was to facilitate an integrated development structure for Oregon's girls youth soccer to elite women's competition.[11][12][13]
NWSL formation
The formation of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) was announced on November 21, 2012, with Portland selected as a host for one of the eight teams.[1][14][15] At that time it was announced by Portland Timbers' owner Merritt Paulson that the Timbers would own the team.[15] The team name was announced on December 13, 2012 as the Portland Thorns FC. Also, a logo was unveiled.[16][17][18] Both the name and logo were intended to invoke Portland's nickname of the Rose City.[16][19]
"We are thrilled with today's allocation, and I see this group of seven players as a terrific foundation for this club," said Parlow Cone.[22]Seattle Reign FC general manager Amy Carnell reacted to the NWSL allocation and Morgan's placement by saying, "I think generally speaking, I could speak for all the clubs when I say I'm extremely surprised they would place (Christine) Sinclair and (Alex) Morgan in the same city. Two of the best strikers in the world in the same city."[23] Carnell said Seattle Reign FC "were a little surprised" they didn't get Morgan, considering that she had spent the previous spring with the Seattle Sounders Women.[23] This reunited Sinclair and Morgan as club mates since winning the regular season and championship title with the Western New York Flash in Women's Professional Soccer's final season.
Under head coach Parlow Cone, the Thorns played in the new league's inaugural game on April 13, 2013, against host team FC Kansas City, which ended in a 1–1 draw. Sinclair scored the club's first goal on a penalty kick.[24][25] The team's first home match on April 21 provided the club its first victory, a 2–1 win over Seattle Reign FC.[26] Beyond setting a new league record, the opening day crowd of 16,479 at Jeld-Wen Field eclipsed any single-game attendance from Women's Professional Soccer.[27]
The club finished in a three-way tie atop the league in the regular season standings, but by virtue of goal differential tiebreaker the club claimed the No. 3 seed in the NWSL playoffs. The Thorns beat FC Kansas City 3–2 after extra time in the semi-finals, then beat the Western New York Flash 2–0 in the championship game to become the first NWSL Champions.[28] Parlow Cone resigned as head coach on December 5, 2013, citing personal reasons, particularly the desire to spend more time with her husband, Portland Timbers director of sports science John Cone, who also resigned from his role.[29]
The Thorns kicked off their 2014 season with the announcement of a new head coach, Paul Riley, formerly of the Long Island Fury of the Women's Premier Soccer League.[30] The Thorns broke the club's own NWSL attendance record with 19,123 attending an August 3 game between Portland and new expansion team Houston Dash at newly renamed Providence Park.[31] After finishing third in the regular season, the Thorns qualified for the playoffs but were knocked out in the semi-finals by FC Kansas City.[32]
The Thorns made a number of roster moves in the offseason but struggled during the 2015 Portland Thorns FC season. On June 19, 2015, the Thorns made NWSL history when goalkeeper Michelle Betos headed the equalizing goal for 10-woman Portland in the 95th minute against FC Kansas City, the first goal scored by a goalkeeper in the league.[33] The Thorns also sold out Providence Park for the first time in a match against Seattle Reign FC following the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, again setting the league's attendance record with 21,144.[34] However, the Thorns finished in 6th place of the now 9-team league, missing the playoffs for the first and only time in its history. At the end of the season the team announced that head coach Paul Riley's contract was allowed to expire,[35] though reports in 2021 would reveal that Riley had been investigated for alleged sexual harassment and coercion and quietly terminated.[36]
The Thorns hired Washington Spirit coach Mark Parsons (left) in 2015 to replace Paul Riley, who went on to coach the Flash and Courage against the Thorns in three consecutive postseasons
2016–2019: Start of the Parsons era, battles with the Courage
Parsons' Thorns finished second in the regular season in 2017 behind the Courage and defeated former Thorn Alex Morgan and the Orlando Pride on the way to beating the Courage 1–0 in the NWSL Championship at Orlando City Stadium, the Thorns' second title.[3] Despite losing Henry and Nadim for the 2018 season due to financial limits[43] and trading founding midfielder Allie Long to Seattle Reign FC for the rights to Caitlin Foord,[44] the Thorns finished 2018 again in second place behind the Courage.[45] The Thorns defeated the Reign 2–1 in the Cascadian rivalry's first and only playoff encounter, then faced the Courage once again in a rematch of the previous season's final, this time hosted in the Thorns' home stadium of Providence Park. The Thorns, however, lost 3–0 to the Courage, who became the first team to win the NWSL Shield and Championship in the same season.[46]
The Thorns opened the 2019 season with a six-game road schedule due to ongoing renovations and expansion of Providence Park[47] lost only two of their first 15 matches through July,[48] and set another league attendance record with 25,218 attending the newly expanded Providence Park against the Courage in August.[49] Beginning September at the top of the table, the team entered the worst run of form in Parsons' tenure as head coach, losing three of its last five games, including an embarrassing club-worst 6–0 loss to the Courage.[50] The Thorns finished third in the league and were eliminated from the playoffs in a 1–0 defeat to the Chicago Red Stars.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports, the Thorns canceled their preseason tournament in March,[51] followed by the league postponing, then canceling the 2020 NWSL season.[52] The Thorns finished last in the inaugural NWSL Challenge Cup's group stage but upset the top-seeded Courage in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions Houston Dash in the semifinals.[53] The Thorns also participated in and clinched the 2020 NWSL Fall Series Community Shield with a win on October 11, 2020, over OL Reign.[54]
In late-September, The Athletic published an investigation into North Carolina Courage head coach Paul Riley, alleging that Riley had sexually coerced and verbally abused players on his teams, including during his two-year tenure as Thorns head coach in 2014 and 2015. More than a dozen players from every team Riley had coached since 2010 spoke to the publication and two named players, both former Thorns, went on the record with allegations against him. In the article, Riley denied the allegations.[55][56] Later that day, the Courage announced that Riley had been fired due to "very serious allegations of misconduct".[57][58]
The subsequent fallout resulted in the resignation of league commissioner Lisa Baird and dismissal of league counsel Lisa Levine.[59] A number of Portland Thorns players also released a statement calling for Thorns general manager Gavin Wilkinson to be suspended.[60] Wilkinson was then put on administrative leave from the Thorns while remaining manager of the MLS Portland Timbers,[61] and later fired.[62] President of business Mike Golub, separately accused of sexual harassment of Parlow Cone in the report, was also fired, and Paulson stepped down as CEO of both the Thorns and Timbers.[63]
The U.S. Soccer Federation commissioned a league-wide independent investigation into abusive behavior lead by Sally Yates. The report, published on October 3, 2022, indicated that the club "interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments in an attempt to impede our use of relevant documents."[64] The report further detailed how both Paulson and Wilkinson advised other clubs to hire Riley after his departure from the Thorns and downplayed the alleged abuses reported by players.[64]
Thorns players and staff celebrate winning the 2022 NWSL Championship at Audi Field.
2022–2023: Transitions and a third star
Parsons, who had served as head coach since 2016, left the team after the 2021 season to lead the Netherlands women's national team.[69][70] The Thorns hired retired former club goalkeeper and Canadian internationalKarina LeBlanc as Gavin Wilkinson's replacement in the Thorns general manager role in November 2021,[62][71] then hired former Thorn and fellow Canadian international Rhian Wilkinson as Parsons's replacement.[71] The Thorns finished the 2022 regular season in second place behind OL Reign and defeated Kansas City Current 2–0 in the playoff finals to become the first NWSL team to win three championships.[63]
On December 1, 2022, Paulson announced that he was selling the Thorns while retaining the Timbers and control of Providence Park.[72] The next day, Rhian Wilkinson resigned as coach[73] after reports that she exchanged messages of romantic feelings with a Thorns player.[74] The team promoted Wilkinson's assistant Mike Norris to the head coaching role in January 2023.[75]
On January 3, 2024, the sale of the Thorns to RAJ Sports was completed. [76]
Identity
Crest
The team crest was designed by artist and Timbers Army member Brent Diskin. Its design originally featured the team colors of red, black, and white "with a protective wreath of thorns surrounding a familiar, stylized rose in the center." The design also includes a pair of four-pointed stars, or hypocycloids, that house the letters "F" and "C" and anchor the sides of the badge, and resemble the star prominent on Portland's official city flag.[77][78]
From 2018 onward, the team's primary crest was reduced from four to two colors, typically either with a red or black background and red or white features. The team completed its transition to a two- or one-color crest in 2019, when it revealed new secondary kits that discarded the four-color crest. The original design would not reappear in the team's identity until March 2023, with a "Heritage" designation as part of new secondary kits.[79]
The team's colors were announced as red, green, and black.[19] However, the Thorns did not use green in the team's kits until 2023, and from 2019 to 2022 used green in neither its crest nor its kits.[79]
The Thorns unveiled their home and away kits on April 9, 2013. The team's inaugural home kit was rose red with a white stripe, black shorts, and red socks, while the road kit was white with black shorts and socks.[80] Both uniforms featured sponsorships by Providence Health & Services and Parklane Mattresses, and were made by Nike.[80]
In 2019, the Thorns began expanding the use of black as a primary color, with a home kit that had wide black stripe-like blocks.[81] The transition to black as the team's primary color was completed in 2020, with a black shirt printed with gray roses that used a black and red variation on the original crest. The away shirt also used a monochrome black and gray crest and accents.[82] Thorns primary kits since 2020 have all been black with red relegated to an accent color.[83]
The Rose City Riveters supporters' group cheers and deploys smoke after a Thorns goal.
The Thorns led the NWSL in attendance from 2013 to 2021, and from the inaugural season were the first team to have averaged more than 10,000 per match in league attendance, and in 2019 became the first to average 20,000 per match.[84] Inaugural Thorns coach Cindy Parlow Cone, previously a United States national team player, compared the support and atmosphere at Thorns matches to World Cup and Olympics matches.[85]
The team has a single organized supporters' group, the Rose City Riveters, that is recognized by the Thorns front office with privileges to stand, play instruments, and wave flags in the south general admission stands. Founded by a group composed primarily of members of the Portland Timbers supporters' group Timbers Army in 2013 as the Thorns Alliance, they adopted the Riveters name on April 3[86] and adopted many of the practices and shared infrastructure with the Timbers Army,[87][88] including the creation and coordination of large and complex tifo displays[89][90] and performing football chants throughout the match.[91] Both the Riveters and Timbers are considered part of the umbrella supporters organization 107 Independent Supporters Trust (107IST), named after section 107 in Providence Park that both groups use.[92]
The large crowds attended despite Timbers front office expectations of 7,000 fans per match and little promotion before the team's launch.[93] The front office initially expected to play regular-season matches at Merlo Field of the University of Portland, which had a capacity of less than 5,000, but the Thorns sold more than that number in season tickets before the league's launch and expected to reach 10,000 season tickets sold by 2014. A majority of those season ticket holders did not have season tickets to the sibling Timbers club.[94] The immediate and sustained strength of support prompted other women's clubs to try to replicate the Thorns' success,[95][93] including formal studies of the role of organized support in women's soccer that focused on the Riveters.[96][97][98]
Since the NWSL's founding, the Thorns' most intense rivalry has been with the Seattle-based Reign. The Thorns' first home match was a 2–1 win over Seattle, qualified for the 2014 playoffs by defeating the Reign in the season's final match week, and didn't win at Seattle's Memorial Stadium until August 2017.[99] The Thorns defeated Seattle in back-to-back home matches in 2018, first in the season's final match week to secure home-pitch advantage, then again in the first round of the playoffs.[100] Matches between Portland and Seattle broke the league's attendance records in April 2013 (16,479),[101] July 2015 (21,144, in Portland) and August 2021 (27,248, in Seattle), and have been staged as double-headers with Major League Soccer's Timbers and Seattle Sounders FC.[102]
As of June 3, 2023[update], the Thorns have played more matches against the Reign across the NWSL regular season, playoffs, Challenge Cup, and 2020 Fall Series than any other team in the NWSL, with Portland holding a record of 13–14–8 with a -4 goal differential. The two top goalscorers in the rivalry are Sinclair (11) and Rapinoe (9).[105][106][107] Neither team has won more than three matches in a row against the other.[108] Matches between the teams quickly earned a reputation for their physicality.[109][110] The rivalry continued even as United States players from the Thorns and Reign were in France at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, during which the NWSL continued play with a match between the teams.[104][111]
On the pitch, some of the league's highest-stakes matches were contested between the Thorns and Western New York Flash, who were relocated in 2017 to become the North Carolina Courage. The Thorns and Flash/Courage have met in more NWSL tournament knockout matches than any other combination of NWSL teams, including the 2013, 2017, and 2018 championship matches, 2016 playoff semifinals, and 2020 Challenge Cup quarter-finals.[114][115] The August 11, 2019, match between Portland and North Carolina set a league attendance record (25,218).[116][117]
The Flash won the 2013 NWSL Shield by goal-differential tiebreak in a three-team tie for first place that included Portland. The Flash hosted the 2013 championship match, but the Thorns defeated Western New York 2–0. The teams featured rival national team forwards Abby Wambach, the United States player who at the time led all players in international goalscoring playing for the Flash, and Christine Sinclair, the Canadian who would eventually eclipse Wambach's record.[118]
In the 2016 semifinals, the Thorns were the shield winners and the Flash were the lower seed, and the match was the first home playoff game for Portland. But the Flash — who had hired former Thorns head coach Paul Riley at the start of the season — defeated Portland after extra time in a 4–3 match that featured three goals after the 90th minute.[119] Riley was ejected from the match in the first half for arguing with officials after Christine Sinclair scored the first equalizing goal.[120] The Thorns won their revenge in the 2017 championship match, defeating the Courage 1–0 after a match that Thorns defender Meghan Klingenberg called "the ugliest soccer game I have ever played in" and featured tackles on United States national teammates and opposing club players Taylor Smith and Tobin Heath that both attempted to play through[121] but would rule both players out of national team camp in the following weeks.[122]
Adding to the rivalry was Courage defender Jaelene Daniels's 2018 appearance on The 700 Club about refusing to wear LGBT pride-themed uniforms for the United States national team and being excused from its roster citing "personal reasons",[123] and the relocation of a Courage 2018 playoff match to Portland from Cary, North Carolina due to Hurricane Florence.[124]
Daniels's segment preceded a match against the Thorns in Portland on May 30, 2018. The Riveters were already renowned for supporting LGBTQ causes in Portland, and reported that many of its members were LGBTQ.[125] During the match, the Portland crowd booed Daniels when she was announced during the starting lineups, and again each time she touched the ball.[124] Members of the Riveters designed a rainbow-lettered banner reading "personal reasons" and displayed it at the match.[126] The booing and "personal reasons" banners spread to every road venue where Daniels and the Courage played,[127] and during the Courage's semi-finals match against Chicago Red Stars relocated to Portland days prior due to Hurricane Florence.[124][128]
The Courage responded by defeating Portland 4–1 in the May 30 match, then 3–0 in the 2018 championship match against — and hosted by — Portland. Jessica McDonald, who had been the Thorns' leading goalscorer in 2014 and had defended Daniels' comments and Christian faith post-match comments on May 30,[129] scored a goal against Portland during the championship match, then removed her jersey to display an undershirt with "Jesus Paid It All" written on it.[130]
Portland Thorns FC playing Sky Blue FC at Providence Park in 2017, as viewed from the stadium's north end facing the south goal. In 2019, three additional decks were added to the east stands.
The Portland Thorns play at Providence Park, a municipally owned soccer-specific stadium located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. The Thorns also share the stadium with the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer, and because the Thorns don't have a dedicated training facility, the team also trains at Providence Park.[131][132] A provision in the stadium lease allowed parent company Peregrine Sports to cancel its agreement and move the Thorns if their attendance fell to below 7,000 over any two regular-season matches, or 4,000 in any one match.[133]
Upon the NWSL's founding, Providence Park's seated capacity of 21,144 was the third-largest in the NWSL, after the Boston Breakers' Harvard Stadium (30,000) and the 2014 expansion Houston Dash's BBVA Compass Stadium (22,039, now named Shell Energy Stadium). Providence Park was expanded in 2019 to a seated capacity of 25,218, making it the second-largest NWSL venue at the time behind Orlando Pride's Exploria Stadium (25,527).[134] OL Reign moved into 68,740-seat Lumen Field to begin the 2022 season with limited but expandable seating,[135] and 2022 expansion team San Diego Wave FC moved into 32,000-capacity Snapdragon Stadium at the end of its first season.[136]
The Thorns set the NWSL's all-time attendance record several times in Providence Park starting from its home opener on April 21, 2013 (16,479),[137] and twice at the venue's capacity on July 23, 2015 (21,144)[138] and August 11, 2019 (25,218).[6]
As of April 2017, Thorns games are streamed exclusively by Go90 for American audiences and via the NWSL website for international viewers.[140] For the 2017 season, the Thorns were featured in six nationally televised Lifetime NWSL Game of the Week broadcasts on April 15, April 29, July 15, August 5, August 26, and September 30, 2017.[141]
During the 2013 season, games were streamed online and broadcast on the radio on Freedom 970 AM.[142] Long-time Portland-area sports reporter and broadcaster Ann Schatz was announced as the play-by-play broadcaster, while Angela Harrison, an All-American goalkeeper with the Portland Pilots, was the color analyst.[143] In 2014, Schatz returned, with former Thorns defender Marian Dougherty, who retired after the 2013 season, joining for color commentary.[144]
In 2021, the team struck a multi-year deal with KPTV and KPDX to be its local broadcast partner.[145]
^Jul 25, Erin O'Regan •; Am, 2019 at 10:59. "Recap: Thorns Thrash Dash 5-0". Portland Mercury. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2019.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Dundas, Zach (Spring 2015). "Lady Killers". Eight by Eight. No. 5 (published April 10, 2015). Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
^"History of the Cascadia Rivalry" (Press release). OL Reign. August 27, 2021. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023. (As of August 27, 2021), the record between the Reign and Thorns in all competitions is 12 wins, 12 losses and 4 draws a piece.
^"Portland Thorns FC Match Report: Dirty Derby". Stumptown Footy. May 27, 2013. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023. The entire game was marked by physical play, grouching players, re-rolled ankles, head knocks, and weird, inconsistent officiating, and the intensity of all of that merely grew as both teams pushed hard for a go-ahead goal.
^Wahl, Grant (July 6, 2019). "Rapinoe Covers Spectrum of FIFA, Respect, Dutch on Women's World Cup Final Eve". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023. FS1, which was showing the press conference live, probably wished it had a 10-second delay when Rapinoe started talking about her club team, Reign FC, taking down its archrival Portland Thorns Friday night. 'Seattle Reign!' she yelled, arms upraised. 'Me and Allie [Long, her club teammate] were talking so much s--t this morning. Very quiet from the Portland players, by the way.'
^"After World Cup boost, women's pro soccer hopes to keep the momentum". NBC Sports. August 21, 2019. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023. For Murphy, who started attending Portland Thorns games after getting hooked on women's soccer during the 2015 World Cup, LGBTQ visibility is part of the appeal. 'It was the first time that I saw all of the things I love,' Murphy said of their first Thorns game. 'Women's soccer, women in sports, queer people celebrating being one unit … badass women doing dope s--- out on the field and off the field, too.'
^Goldberg, Jamie (May 31, 2018). "Coach, teammate come to Jaelene Hinkle's defense after she admits she withdrew from US Soccer team over LGBTQ pride jerseys". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023. She's high on her faith and in my opinion, I think that's absolutely incredible. ... She's never said anything bad about me. She never said anything bad about anybody. So, for people to pass on that kind of judgement on another human being, I think it's sort of uncalled for. She's got her opinions. That's fine. Everybody does. It hasn't affected our team at all.
^Krupke, Nick (December 1, 2022). "Merritt Paulson to sell the Portland Thorns FC". FOX 12. Archived from the original on May 3, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2023. Paulson says he will continue to work with the new owners of the Thorns for the club's own training facility to be built ...
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