‘Gamefying garbage': S.F. volunteers clean Kezar Stadium for soccer team's matches
Among the people lined up for entry at Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park for Sunday afternoon's soccer match between San Francisco City Football Club and Davis Legacy was Monica Weaver, who came specifically for the trash.
She likes to clean it up. 'Cigarette butts, cans, fruit peels, Starbucks cups,' she said excitedly, watching people carry in all sorts of items likely to be discarded in the stands. 'Pizza boxes come in and you know you'll get a chance to clean it up.'
But for that, Weaver, who is 33 and works in HR, had to wait through an entire soccer match. That's because she wore the black gloves and yellow vest of Refuse Refuse SF, the volunteer San Francisco street cleaning brigade, which has a deal to clean Kezar both before and after the SF City games. In exchange, members get free tickets, which normally cost $12 each.
No one leaves early — they are more serious about litter cleanup than they are about watching soccer.
Both Refuse Refuse and SF City aspire to the Japanese model that fans pick up their trash before they leave the stadium, which inspired the partnership.
'It's people taking care of themselves,' said Steve Hagler, who was at Sunday's match with Julie Marcus. 'We expect city workers to do this for us but it feels good giving back.'
Management of the SF City team is serious about it too, because they are under obligation to leave the stadium in clean condition. If they don't, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, which manages the 10,000-seat stadium, will send in its own crew and bill SF City at a rate of $82 per janitor per hour.
SF City wants to stay on good terms with Rec and Park because they are trying to hang onto their deal to use Kezar for home games amid news that a new professional team, Golden City Football Club, will soon put $10 million into the old place to make it a new home when it starts play in 2026 or 2027. Golden City is an independent club that will be affiliated with Major League Soccer.
SF City is a pre-professional team that touts itself as the oldest community-owned soccer club in the country. To be an owner costs $75 and brings with it both the chance to run for the board of directors and tickets to all seven home matches, played at Kezar.
They've been advised that when the new team clubs, they may be relegated to playing all but one home match at Boxer Stadium, a 3,500-seat soccer-specific facility in Balboa Park, in San Francisco's Mission Terrace neighborhood.
The club already has to pay $700 per game for bathroom cleanup and supplies, and can't afford stadium cleanup on top of that. So this season it joined up with Refuse Refuse, which gladly cleans up any location in the city for free.
'Refuse Refuse invokes community pride, and our whole thing is being community-oriented, so that's the synergy,' said Ian Blakely, creative director for SF City. 'Soccer is the beautiful game, and Refuse Refuse adds to it by beautifying our stadium.'
Last week Refuse Refuse bagged its one millionth gallon of garbage, going back to its founding by Vincent Yuen in April 2021, when litter proliferated on city streets during the pandemic shutdown. It now has 16,000 volunteers who mostly work afternoon cleanups in their own neighborhoods.
Refuse Refuse drops off the 13-gallon bags and mechanical pincers at designated street corners, where a neighborhood captain distributes them to volunteers who grab their gear at the appointed hour and fan out into the neighborhood. The filled bags are left at designated sidewalk garbage cans, and Recology trucks come along and collect them.
For Sunday's match a dozen Refuse Refuse volunteers were issued bags, gloves and a pep talk by Dan Milko, the organizer. 'Go for it,' he said as the crew circled the stadium post-match and started going through the seats.
It was their second game of the season, and they collected 10 bags of garbage at the first, so they were optimistic.
'I didn't realize there was a game. I thought we were cleaning the actual field,' said first-timer Jennifer Biederbeck, 'so this is a bonus.'
Sam Leshnick appreciated the free admission. 'I'm an avid soccer fan and this is a chance to clean Kezar which is my favorite stadium,' he said.
If it was a win-win for him, it wasn't for Weaver. She doesn't care about soccer and had never been to a game before working the first match of the season.
Sunday's match drew between 500 and 1,000 fans, some of whom pounded drums and sang San Francisco songs like 'We Built this City.' By halftime there was a long line at the concession stand, and all those clear plastic beer cups and food wrappers would soon be hitting the aisles, waiting for Weaver's gloved hand.
The final score was 2-0 SF City with 11 bags of garbage. The fans sang their victory songs, 'Muni Bus, Take Me Home' and 'When the Fog Comes Rolling In.' Weaver and the crew waited until the seats emptied out and then started climbing over them looking for lids and cups
'We get to watch trash accumulate and you know you'll get a chance to clean it up,' she said. 'It's a very niche thing. Gamefying garbage.'
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San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘Gamefying garbage': S.F. volunteers clean Kezar Stadium for soccer team's matches
Among the people lined up for entry at Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park for Sunday afternoon's soccer match between San Francisco City Football Club and Davis Legacy was Monica Weaver, who came specifically for the trash. She likes to clean it up. 'Cigarette butts, cans, fruit peels, Starbucks cups,' she said excitedly, watching people carry in all sorts of items likely to be discarded in the stands. 'Pizza boxes come in and you know you'll get a chance to clean it up.' But for that, Weaver, who is 33 and works in HR, had to wait through an entire soccer match. That's because she wore the black gloves and yellow vest of Refuse Refuse SF, the volunteer San Francisco street cleaning brigade, which has a deal to clean Kezar both before and after the SF City games. In exchange, members get free tickets, which normally cost $12 each. No one leaves early — they are more serious about litter cleanup than they are about watching soccer. Both Refuse Refuse and SF City aspire to the Japanese model that fans pick up their trash before they leave the stadium, which inspired the partnership. 'It's people taking care of themselves,' said Steve Hagler, who was at Sunday's match with Julie Marcus. 'We expect city workers to do this for us but it feels good giving back.' Management of the SF City team is serious about it too, because they are under obligation to leave the stadium in clean condition. If they don't, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, which manages the 10,000-seat stadium, will send in its own crew and bill SF City at a rate of $82 per janitor per hour. SF City wants to stay on good terms with Rec and Park because they are trying to hang onto their deal to use Kezar for home games amid news that a new professional team, Golden City Football Club, will soon put $10 million into the old place to make it a new home when it starts play in 2026 or 2027. Golden City is an independent club that will be affiliated with Major League Soccer. SF City is a pre-professional team that touts itself as the oldest community-owned soccer club in the country. To be an owner costs $75 and brings with it both the chance to run for the board of directors and tickets to all seven home matches, played at Kezar. They've been advised that when the new team clubs, they may be relegated to playing all but one home match at Boxer Stadium, a 3,500-seat soccer-specific facility in Balboa Park, in San Francisco's Mission Terrace neighborhood. The club already has to pay $700 per game for bathroom cleanup and supplies, and can't afford stadium cleanup on top of that. So this season it joined up with Refuse Refuse, which gladly cleans up any location in the city for free. 'Refuse Refuse invokes community pride, and our whole thing is being community-oriented, so that's the synergy,' said Ian Blakely, creative director for SF City. 'Soccer is the beautiful game, and Refuse Refuse adds to it by beautifying our stadium.' Last week Refuse Refuse bagged its one millionth gallon of garbage, going back to its founding by Vincent Yuen in April 2021, when litter proliferated on city streets during the pandemic shutdown. It now has 16,000 volunteers who mostly work afternoon cleanups in their own neighborhoods. Refuse Refuse drops off the 13-gallon bags and mechanical pincers at designated street corners, where a neighborhood captain distributes them to volunteers who grab their gear at the appointed hour and fan out into the neighborhood. The filled bags are left at designated sidewalk garbage cans, and Recology trucks come along and collect them. For Sunday's match a dozen Refuse Refuse volunteers were issued bags, gloves and a pep talk by Dan Milko, the organizer. 'Go for it,' he said as the crew circled the stadium post-match and started going through the seats. It was their second game of the season, and they collected 10 bags of garbage at the first, so they were optimistic. 'I didn't realize there was a game. I thought we were cleaning the actual field,' said first-timer Jennifer Biederbeck, 'so this is a bonus.' Sam Leshnick appreciated the free admission. 'I'm an avid soccer fan and this is a chance to clean Kezar which is my favorite stadium,' he said. If it was a win-win for him, it wasn't for Weaver. She doesn't care about soccer and had never been to a game before working the first match of the season. Sunday's match drew between 500 and 1,000 fans, some of whom pounded drums and sang San Francisco songs like 'We Built this City.' By halftime there was a long line at the concession stand, and all those clear plastic beer cups and food wrappers would soon be hitting the aisles, waiting for Weaver's gloved hand. The final score was 2-0 SF City with 11 bags of garbage. The fans sang their victory songs, 'Muni Bus, Take Me Home' and 'When the Fog Comes Rolling In.' Weaver and the crew waited until the seats emptied out and then started climbing over them looking for lids and cups 'We get to watch trash accumulate and you know you'll get a chance to clean it up,' she said. 'It's a very niche thing. Gamefying garbage.'
Newsweek
16 hours ago
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Lewis Hamilton Addresses Formula 1's Online Abuse Epidemic
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton released a strong statement about the abuse Formula 1 drivers receive online. Hamilton broke into the sport before the prominence of social media. He didn't need to deal with the volume of abuse that drivers do currently. While the seven-time champion didn't receive the same amount of public vitriol, Hamilton faced a ton of backlash as the sport's first Black driver. No single driver faced as much scrutiny in his first season as Hamilton did. He can understand and relate to the challenges of a young driver. Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari looks on prior to final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on June 14, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec. Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari looks on prior to final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on June 14, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec. Photo byThe current crop of rookie drivers - including Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Franco Colapinto - gets millions of hateful comments on a weekly basis about their performances and personal lives. Hamilton shared his sympathy for what young drivers go through in the modern F1 era: "We are not robots," he told reporters during a media session. "I have been deeply saddened by the amount of abuse and negativity that I have received online regarding my character, my driving, and my career. "It's been pretty amazing to see how mature the young drivers that have come in – young men that have come in – have adapted and how they've carried that weight, because it's no easy situation to be thrown into," he said. "When I got there, it felt like being thrown into the deep end without having the skills to keep yourself afloat. But there wasn't the online stuff that you could see, and that's significant. "There are probably even more demands on the drivers today, outside of the car, than ever before." Online abuse was a hot topic of conversation back in May, when Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda and former Alpine driver Jack Doohan both received an influx of abuse. Some Argentine fans targeted those drivers in what they believed was support for Franco Colapinto. Colapinto was involved in a free practice collision with Tsunoda, which resulted in fans targeting the Japanese driver. Fans attacked Doohan's family after Alpine removed the Aussie from the team's second seat. The two situations represent how out of control a driver's fan base can get. Drivers not only need to deal with the abuse they receive from others, but they also need to be aware of what their supporters are doing to avoid a perpetual cycle of hate. The social media era places these burdens on drivers at such a young age - leaving these promising talents to battle issues on two different fronts.
a day ago
Inter Milan ends Urawa's Club World Cup hopes with a win on 2 late goals
SEATTLE -- Valentin Carboni scored in stoppage time to give Inter Milan a 2-1 win over Urawa in the Club World Cup on Saturday, ending the Japanese club's chances of advancing past the group stage. Inter Milan failed to score until the 78th minute, despite holding the vast majority of possession. Lautaro Martinez brilliantly bicycle kicked Nicolo Barella's corner ball into the net. Carboni's game-winner assisted by Francesco Esposito came 14 minutes later. It was the culmination of multiple scoring threats by Inter, which had 21 more shot attempts than the Red Diamonds. Urawa opened the scoring in the 11th minute to the delight of their exuberant fans, who have shown up in droves for these Seattle cup matches. Ryoma Watanabe scored on an assist in transition by Takuro Kaneko, who found Watanabe all alone on the penalty spot with his cutback ball. The fans in red filled the south end of Lumen Field and made up a large swath of the 25,090 attendees. Their coordinated chants and jeers didn't wane until after the final whistle. Urawa had a chance to equalize in the last minute of stoppage time, but goalkeeper Yann Sommer tipped the long-distance free kick over the crossbar. Inter Milan takes over the top spot in Group E after following up their tournament-opening draw with the victory. The Italian club will play River Plate of Argentina on Wednesday. Urawa will be playing for pride against CF Monterrey on Wednesday. 'I cannot find the words, I am so frustrated. ... We had the objective to go on to the next stage, so this loss is very hard for us. But we still have one more game to go. ... There are many fans who have come all the way or (are) still remaining in Japan and cheering for us, so we would like to win for them.' — Urawa Red Diamonds goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa 'I was speaking to (Carboni) the day before yesterday, and he told me that it was eight months exactly since his cruciate ligament injury. Coming through an injury like that, with all of the hard work and graft he's had to put in ... you don't know whether you're going to come back to the peak of your powers. That's not easy at all, so it was lovely to see him so emotional. I was a little bit emotional as well. It brought a tear to my eye because he's a kid that I know very well. I'm delighted that he has the opportunity now to experience something as significant as that (goal).' — Inter Milan head coach Cristian Chivu ___
