For all those soccer fans who find themselves out of work in the N.Y./N.J. area, there is new networking niche: a weekly meeting of "recession soccer" that brings together a group of un- and underemployed to "ponder ball and goal, past and future and the vagaries of the job market all while getting in a little exercise."

Laid off from his job back in October, Recession Soccer ring-leader Ian Sacs realized he was hardly the only one in Hoboken that was without job, so he dreamed up the weekly pickup game as another way for people to connect, rallying a group of both close friends and Craigslist strangers to join him at Frank Sinatra Park to "take a break from looking at Monster.com and sending out résumés."

Although in its first week (albeit in the dead of winter) it only drew a foursome, and while it still remains a small set of folks that show up each Friday afternoon, it's participants include everyone from waiters to a City Councilman who's running for Mayor. As Spring weather brings more sunshine, Sacs has started seeing more faces, but hopes the group is "growing because of better weather and the word getting out, not because many more people are being laid off."

 

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