Gate City FC
It may surprise folks who are not familiar with the North Carolina soccer scene that Greensboro is a hotbed for developing talent in the state. The Carolina Dynamo (now known as NC Fusion) have been a mainstay in the lower leagues since 1993 with several appearances in the Open Cup, playoffs and even a pair of championships. Other teams from the city, however, have picked up national attention for less than ideal reasons.
The various crests from teams through the years each went in different directions that didn’t work for me. Carolina Dynamo blatantly used the Nottingham Forest logo. Gate City left a lot of white space around its generic looking buildings. Greensboro International does this weird shadow thing with the stars and uses the town logo (I assume without permission) in the soccer ball. NC Fusion doesn’t capture its connection to the city or the Triad in a way that I like. In response to this, I decided to take a more simplified and traditional route to the new Gate City FC crest. This crest features vertical bars in two shades of green contained by a wide shield outlined in gold. The name is also shortened to GCFC on the crest.
Gate City would call MacPherson Stadium, located just north of the city in Browns Summit, home. This lovely 7,000 seat stadium has been the home of the Carolina Dynamo and NC Fusion since it first opened in 2002 and anchors Bryan Park Soccer Complex. This stadium is a great example for other soccer complexes across the state to follow and try to emulate.
I thought bringing the vertical bars over would be too easy and predictable for this kit, so I spiced them up by making them wider with a gold trim. I couldn’t get the spacing exactly right, but I liked the idea of the sleeves continuing down to a gold cuff trim.
Special thanks to Russell Varner for his help editing.
About me
First and foremost I am an amateur with no formal training. My hope is that this series will spark other creatives to make their own versions. Learn more about the series here. I was born and raised in Middlesex, North Carolina and have spent most of my adult life living in Raleigh. I am a fan of the beautiful game who wants to see it grow at the grassroots level.
