If you haven’t listened to it, the inaugural episode was released last week, and featured Wilt discussing how to start an MLS club with Montreal Impact Jesse Marsch, along with Dunmore interviewing former Supporters Direct chief executive Dave Boyle about UK and US fan culture.

You can listen below or, again, subscribe on iTunes.

It’s available to stream or download below and is also on iTunes. Please let us know your thoughts on the inaugural show in the comments below!

A significant portion of the proceeds ($10 per scarf) from all pre-orders this week of the new Pitch Invasion bar scarf will be donated to benefit the Operation Pitch Invasion charity in Portland, Oregon. Here’s why…

When supporters of the Portland Timbers, organized by the 107ist Trust and Timbers Army, announced in 2011 that they were launching a new charity called Operation Pitch Invasion to support the growth of the game at the grassroots level in Portland, Pitch Invasion’s interest was piqued by more than just the Doppelgänger.

Since its launch in 2007, a central interest of Pitch Invasion’s has been a concern with how supporters of the game engage in and build the sport in their local communities in positive and meaningful ways. To do more than consume the game, by contributing to its grassroots growth.

As Shawn Levy’s An Insider’s History to OPI explains, Operation Pitch Invasion in Portland exemplifies those values, coming out of a desire held by the Timbers’ strongest supporters to do more than just cheer on gameday as their team moved up to Major League Soccer:

About three years ago, when it became evident that Major League Soccer in Portland was likely and that the Timbers Army would become a much bigger entity than anyone imagined, those of us who worked on the day-to-day business of the Timbers Army got together to ponder the question of what we might do with all the positive power, energy, communitarianism and goodwill that a massive Timbers Army would comprise.

One way to give back to the community, it was concluded, was to help build the sport literally from the grassroots: building safe pitches for Portland’s kids to grow up playing the game on. As Levy explains:

Operation Pitch Invasion is the fruition of that vision: the use of Timbers Army fundraising, sweat equity and deal-making to give back to the community in the form of quality places to play the game. And we want you involved.

Operation Pitch Invasion is a means for anyone who cares about the community in which they live to give back by building and maintaining for soccer fields where all of us, our children and our grandchildren can play the game we love. And where, we hope, future Timbers will learn the game — from current and past Timbers and members of the Timbers Army.

Given the tie-in both symbolically and philosophically, PI could think of no better way to launch its new store and new scarf than by supporting OPI in the process. So we recently contacted the OPI board, and agreed an idea to raise funds for their charitable efforts.

To help kickstart Operation Pitch Invasion’s 2012 fundraising, $10 from every scarf ordered this week (through Monday, January 23rd) will be donated to OPI – and it just so happens, the scarf’s color scheme is rather fitting for fans of the Portland Timbers.

To support this charitable cause, order your Pitch Invasion scarf online now. Help grow grassroots soccer, one pitch at a time.

- Tom Dunmore
Founder, Pitch Invasion

Through the weekend, you can take 20% off all the store items by entering the coupon code “PI” at checkout. The store features The Very Best of Pitch Invasion book, stylish PI stickers and buttons, and an all new Pitch Invasion scarf – an embroidered bar scarf available in very limited quantities via pre-order until January 30th.

So, please take a look around the store, shoot us any questions, and thanks for supporting Pitch Invasion.

PS – Look out for a special store promotion next week benefiting the charitable Operation Pitch Invasion project in Portland, Oregon…

The execution of this marvelous concept to teach a little bit of Spanish through a little bit of soccer is as good as the idea, with a series of charming illustrations by Erik Ebeling making it a breezy, informative and enjoyable read. Seriously.

Check out the sample graphics on the PI ebookstore, and consider plonking down $5.99 for it (available worldwide, so whatever that translates to into your non-American currency).

And of course, you may want to take a gander at the brand new Very Best of Pitch Invasion book on the PI store too, also $5.99, or $11.99 in real, live print at Amazon.

We do appreciate any and all support for the PI books, whether you can buy a copy or just spread the word – it will help keep going all we’ve done for the past few years, and with a marketing budget of $0 and capital investment of $0, grassroots help is all we have. The PI book has gotten off to a good start, so thanks to you all!

The print edition is available on Amazon in the United States, and today (Monday) is the LAST day to order it in time for Christmas delivery! Overseas readers can order a print copy via Createspace, while the digital edition can be purchased worldwide on the PI store. The print edition retails for $11.99, and the digital edition $5.99. This book is an independent production, so please help support grassroots soccer media by spreading the word however you can!

Want to check out the quality of the book? Click here to download a free sample PDF of Brian Phillips’ essay in the collection on Bristol Rovers and “Goodnight, Irene”. You can also download the Editor’s preface and the contents.

But we still find interesting stuff elsewhere every day. So we’ve revived the old PI Tumblr, for quick links to stories of interest along with photos and videos – hopefully ones you won’t be finding all over your other timelines.

Check it out at http://1863.pitchinvasion.net/

Today, for example, we looked briefly at North America’s first Supporters’ Trust, Valencia’s new stadium project’s revival, the rebirth of South Melbourne FC and an American soccer treasure trove.

Let us know what you think, and if you have a Tumblr, please leave a comment to this post so we can give it a follow. Cheers!

Anyway, check it out if you use Google+. The first thing we’re asking is for some feedback on the proof of the cover for the forthcoming Very Best of Pitch Invasion book…

Stadium Porn is brand new, and it’s done mainly because I like to spend time looking at new stadium construction projects so I figured I’d share some of what I find. Check the site out and follow the SP Twitter account if you’re interested. For now, it’s been all soccer stadia – that may change in the future, but I’d be curious to know any thoughts on what to cover or the site in general. As ever, I can be reached at tom@pitchinvasion.net

Otherwise, things are quiet at Pitch Invasion HQ on the blog front: there’s no point forcing it if the blogging juices aren’t flowing, which they aren’t at the moment.

However, Pitch Invasion Publishing – an eBooks venture – is quietly taking shape, and the monkeys are busy hammering on the typewriters as we speak. If you have an idea for an eBook, drop me a line: we can’t make you rich, but we can make something beautiful and informative together.

And if you have a second and haven’t filled out the Pitch Invasion eBook survey yet, it’d certainly be much appreciated if you could spare the less than two minutes it’d take. There’s $25 in Amazon goodness for one lucky reader who fills it out, too.