New York Centaurs
March 14, 2014
Grimy Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island was the CBGB’s of New York City sporting venues. In 1975 – the same year that the Ramones, the Heartbreakers, Blondie and the Talking Heads were igniting the punk scene at Hilly Kristal’s dank nightclub in the Bowery – Downing Stadium was the home to the New York Cosmos at the seismic moment that Pele arrived in American to play for that iconic club. For American soccer junkies of a certain age, proclaiming “…and I was there” at Randall’s Island remains a form of cultural cred that belies the now-demolished oval’s brief and inadequate life as a pro soccer ground.
