A familiar scene unfolds in Chinatown on an unseasonably cool Saturday morning in August. Produce sellers and fishmongers set up their stands. Delivery trucks drenched in graffiti unload and cart cellophane-wrapped pallets through crowded sidewalks. Hypnotic sounds of tai chi drift down Sara D Roosevelt Park as a neatly organised group of elders get their exercise.

Though the world has experienced seismic shifts in the months and even days leading up to this particular moment, the longstanding routine of this emblematic Lower Manhattan neighborhood is a comforting sight and proof that even a city defined by constant change can offer a steadfast reprieve from the grind of everyday life.

Part of that routine is taking shape at Lion’s Gate Field, where Bowery FC has played since 2001. Players trickle in and wade through piles of dead leaves as though autumn snuck in undetected. A groundskeeper clearing the pitch claims the towering trees that line the park are all dead, belated victims of Hurricane Sandy. Saltwater got to their roots, back in 2012, yet they still stand tall along the sidelines.

Like those London Planetrees, the pitch itself has seen better days. But the members of Bowery FC have shown up bright and early, glad to be back at their home base.

“The cool thing about this field, it’s like the West 4th Street ‘Cage’ of soccer,” says Mr Carlos Franco, referencing the legendary basketball court in Greenwich Village where spectators, hecklers and beguiled passersby cling to the surrounding chain link fence for some of the most up-close and intense games of streetball one can witness. “Everybody knows about this field. Everybody comes to play here. Everybody wants to check it out and be a part of it. It’s the epicenter of soccer in downtown Manhattan. And we kind of started that.”

Franco would know. He’s one of the founders of Bowery FC, an OG celebrating the club’s 20th anniversary. They often refer to the original members with the same sort of respect paid to an elder statesman – or an older brother you’re taking the piss out of.

Before Bowery FC was a proper football club, it was a simple open pick-up game among university teammates, locals, regulars around the various city leagues, just friends, really. When a core group of those players realised they had a pretty good thing going, something that they could grow and nurture beyond a rollicking round of football, they decided to make things official, and so Bowery FC was born.

The club has, indeed, evolved into a force beyond the pitch, a lifestyle brand of sorts that regularly produces highly sought-after jersey collabs with brands like OnlyNY, Rowing Blazers and Umbro, while also hosting World Cup viewing parties and pop-up shops with Classic Football Shirts.

But the weekly game remains at the heart of Bowery FC, which has been played with an almost religious devotion at Lion’s Gate Field for an uninterrupted two decades (save for most of 2020, while the world was in lockdown). That level of consistency is all the more impressive given the mercurial fervour of most teams in the city, not to mention the grail-worthy line of merch the club produces in its spare time.

They meet every Saturday at 8.00am for a seven-a-side club run on the beat-up pitch. The AstroTurf is a bit ragged and pockmarked, with lumps and divots from end to end. Games are intense, quick and of a decent calibre, despite the rough terrain and occasional hangover. The style of play is occasionally scrappy and always honest – the result of strong fundamentals and commitment meeting an unforgiving environment week after week.

“It’s fun watching people come out that haven’t played on the field before. There’s definitely a learning curve,” says Mr Quinn Murray, an advertising strategy director who has played with Bowery for the past six years and has a mane that Mr Andrea Pirlo would envy.

“You try not to play super hard, so you can hit the brakes easily,” Franco adds.

“I’m giving it all I’ve got,” says Murray, with an incredulous laugh after two hours of enthusiastic gameplay.

“Yeah, I’ve pulled about everything out there. Hammies, you name it,” says Mr Duane Brown, another OG and nonprofit programme manager who, at 42, could easily pass for someone half his age on or off the pitch. “Every season, I get at least one injury.”

“Every time I get injured out there, it’s a sign to lose another 10 pounds,” says Franco.

It’s banter you’d expect from a crew proud of its home turf, despite the wear, tear and warts that only a New York City public park can possess. And if you were to mistake the conversation for the jovial ribbing exchanged between brothers, you wouldn’t be that far off. While nobody on the roster is related by blood, the members of Bowery FC have forged an unbreakable bond with each other, one that goes beyond being teammates.

It’s a community, a tribe, a family from all walks of life and corners of the globe – artists, tech entrepreneurs, creative directors, DJs, bankers, bar owners, former pros – who are bound by their love of the game and dedication to the club. In fact, the word “family” came up quite often over the course of the day.

“After two or three years, I still hadn’t settled in the city until I found the club,” says Murray, a West Coast transplant. “I found my family out here. I think a lot of people don’t last in New York because they don’t find their thing. You’re forced to go find it, otherwise, it just chews you up and you head home.”

Mr Jake Snowden, a fragrance consultant who’s been with the club for four years, shares a similar sentiment, though his Bowery origin story is slightly less conventional.

“I found out about Bowery FC through the OnlyNY collab,” he says. “I just moved to the city and happened to be looking for somewhere to play soccer because I played in college. One night, I was drunk, DMed Bowery FC, and it was Quinn. Now Quinn and Carlos are like my older brothers in New York. It gave me such a great foundation when I moved out here.”