BELLINGHAM, WA— You never know where supporting your local Evergreen Premier League side might take you. You could end up traveling around the state of Washington for away matches. You could get to know ‘soccer people’ in your home town. At the very least you’ll have a chance to raise your hometown colors.
John Smith raises the Black & White of the Hammers of Bellingham United Football Club. He stands with Hammers Supporters in the ‘beer garden’ at home matches at Civic Stadium. That group is a favorite target not only of visiting player stares and Hammer players love—but also of photographers shooting the matches. That’s how Smith was captured in a fan shot by Bellingham resident and Hammers fan photographer David Willoughby.
Willoughby’s photo went from the Hammers, to the EPLWA offices, to a design on the 2016 league scarf presented by Ruffneck Scarves. So by the time John got his own personal scarf delivered by hand by EPLWA President Peter Ostrovsky his face had traveled to the UK and back (where the scarves were made.)
Smith is part owner of Pizza’zza in Bellingham. “He beat me to the punch and already posted on Facebook and tagged me,” Ostrovksy says of the scarf meet-up. “I ran into him at the Pizza’zza location in the historic Fairhaven neighborhood where the league has its post office box and where I was mailing scarves to clubs and partners.”
Who knows where Smith will display his 2016 EPLWA league scarf, but where ever it ends up, the story behind him being on the scarf is a journey of its own already!
Evergreen Premier League 