Portland Fire and Police To Square Off In 9th Annual Soccer Match – KXL

As authorities continue to remember lives lost on 9/11, two of Portland’s emergency services organizations will play a soccer match tonight at Providence Park in their memory, fielding former collegiate players who work for those departments.

Rick Graves with Portland Fire said why this annual gathering is important for the community.

“We recognized about a decade ago how great it would be if we came together on the soccer field to try and improve the communities that we serve,” Graves said.

Graves also said that while this is just one of many annual gatherings for competition, but there’s only one stat that matters in this game.

“We do have other opportunities throughout the year where police and fire are directly competing against one other,” Graves said. “So we do have moments like that where we do have a tally.”

“But the only tally taken is how many balls hit the net in the (back of) the opposing team’s goal,” Grave continued.

Entry into Providence Park is a donation of an unwrapped small toy or a can of non-perishable food. Gates on the corner of 20th and Morrison will open at 6pm and the ninth annual match starts at 7.