Ep. 103- An American Living in London and Working in World Football: My Conversation with Chris Macchi

Chris Macchi’s story isn’t something he makes a lot of. But, from the outside, it’s a story of someone who loved soccer from an early age, and who found a way to make it a part of his life. Football and soccer go far beyond the lines on the pitch, the dugouts, the film rooms or the technical areas. Football has the ability to connect so many of us, no matter where we are, and Chris’ work has gone a long way to help spread the love that football can bring. I can’t explain to you how truly humbled I am to have him on the show. My only regret is that we were unable to have the conversation face to face. Luckily Skype is wonderful for that sort of thing.

My first ever interaction with Chris Macchi came after I saw him on the Premier League in USA’s Instagram Story on a random Saturday about 18 months or so ago. The segment itself intrigued me. Here’s an American guy, living in London, and bringing me (and viewers throughout the US) along to each of the matches he attended. From tube station to train car, to pub beer garden to local eatery, “On the Ground” became something I looked forward to each weekend. As I migrated over to Chris’ personal account, I got little glimpses of someone who was doing amazing work every day, but instead of telling everyone exactly how cool the things he was doing were, he just did them, and every once in a while he would give you a little glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes.

As the algorithms did their work I began to see more and more from Chris. He made Arsenal home matches fun again with Arsenal Fan Fan TV- if you don’t know, you are missing out. He popped up at Fulham matches, and cheered Tim Ream on, while sitting next to Heather O’Reilly. He taught us all how to do the Dele hand thing, he took us to “The Darts and let us all fly with him, his dad and his brother in a B17 Bomber. Not to mention some of the biggest names in US soccer media went out for beers with him or wound up in his flat watching matches or having dinner. Seeing all of that, I wanted to know what made him go. I wanted to know how he got there, what his story was, and I set out to learn more and, eventually, get him on the show.

This episode doesn’t fit the normal format of the show. Chris isn’t a Saints’ fan, we don’t talk about Saints’ matches, and, even with cutting something like 45 minutes from the conversation, it’s far too long. But, it is a story of someone who’s passion and work ethic made the difference. I admire so much about what Chris has done, what he’s continuing to do, and I’m eagerly anticipating what he’ll do in the future.

Chris and I take a walk through his journey, from moving as a kid, to playing in college, to an early Vine that helped land him at Kick TV (see Vine here), to the struggles of telling stories in 15 second clips and making life work in the midst of all of that. So, whether you are set in your career, looking for a job, still in school or waiting for your parent to pick you up or make dinner, I’d encourage you to give this episode a listen and remember all the steps that went into putting Chris Macchi on the ground where he is today. I could not think of a better way to start 2019 than by releasing this episode.

Follow Chris on Twitter and Instagram, both @mxcchi. You can find out more by going→ https://tap.bio/@mxcchi

As always, thanks for listening.

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