Editor’s note: The following text was edited for length and is not directly quoted.

Growing Up With the Game

Photographer and staff writer Atlee Hargis: Being from England, you grew up with soccer as a part of your life. A lot of Americans probably don’t think of soccer as a primary sport, but for you I’m assuming that’s the case?

Hall: Yeah, I was playing soccer, football as it’s known back in my hometown, since I was five years old. It’s something that I played; all my friends played. It’s the equivalent of if you put basketball and American football together here, that’s the equivalent of the exposure of it back home. Your friends talk about it whenever you’re growing up, your parents take you to games, it’s on TV 24/7, it’s on the radio. You can’t really escape it.

Hargis: You’ve played soccer your entire life and have probably moved around the field a lot, but now that you’re here as a defender, is that the position you typically played?

Hall: Growing up, I was always quite bigger. I haven’t really grown since I was 14 years old. I really haven’t grown. So if you can, imagine me at 5 feet 8 inches when I was 14.

Hargis: Very imposing, I’m sure.

Hall: Right. So I played kind of center of the park, center midfield and center back, just because I was a bigger player. But as everyone else caught up to me, I had to be moved to a more suitable position. And to be honest, my speed and body type suit more of an outside back. From 15 years old and on I started to think where can I be as effective on the pitch.

Hargis: You’ve got that mix of attacking and defending ability.

Hall: Out of all of the positions in the modern game, that’s the one that has really come on. If you look at 20, 30 years ago, the outside back primarily was just a defender. It was just another glorified center back. Now, you could argue that your outside-backs are one of the biggest points of attack. It’s your release point; if you’re on one side of the pitch and you’re getting dominated, your release point is to get out to the other outside back who’s wide and attack from there. Also, it’s a position where you can run from deep and you’re not really picked up. The outside mid doesn’t always want to track back and defend, so it’s a position where you can run from deep, come into the final third and pretty much be free quite a few times. If you’re clever about using it, it can really be used as a key position for the team, which I try to utilize every single time.

Taking Soccer to the Next Level

Hargis: Every kid who plays a sport has those aspirations of perhaps going pro, is that the same for you?

Hall: Yeah, as a kid I wanted to play football. Yeah, I wanted to be a pro, I wanted to be the people I saw on TV. As I’ve grown up I’ve kind of been more realistic with it, as I’ve got to college and things like that. There’s still opportunities that I might be able to go and play semi-professionally back at home to earn a little bit of money and carry on playing. As a career out of things? I’ve taken my academics, pretty much, I feel like I’m going to have more success in that area. It’s kind of weird, as a kid you feel like you’re a failure if you don’t become a footballer; as you’ve grown up, you start to realize there’s a little more to life than just soccer.

Hargis: Right.

Hall: It would be fantastic if I could be a professional soccer player and go and earn millions and millions. The reality is, my academics are stronger, and at the moment, that’s probably where I’m going to be more successful.

Hargis: You played for Leyton Orient, a soccer club in Leyton, England.

Hall: I was at Leyton Orient from, I think U-14 to U-16s. From U-16s, I was training with them two or three times a week, and at the end of the season, they offer you a scholarship to go full-time. I unfortunately didn’t get offered a scholarship, which meant I went back to my hometown club, which is semi-professional. I didn’t actually get paid for any of it, but I was in the youth team for my hometown club, and I got moved up as a 17-year-old into the first team.

Hargis: And that was in the Blue Square South?

Hall: At that point in time, they were in the Conference Blue Square South. Unfortunately we got relegated that year and I went out to America. Playing men’s soccer really exposes you to the reality of what football is all about. It’s not always glorious and it’s not always perfect soccer. In those leagues, anyone who’s watched them and played in them knows that you’ve got to tackle and take a tackle.

Hargis: Lots of hard hitting.

Hall: Lots of hard hitting. The surface isn’t fantastic, it’s all grass. We don’t have turf fields back in England like you do here.

Hargis: When you’ve got mud holes in the middle of the field, maybe you want some turf.

Hall: Exactly.

Crossing the Pond

Hargis: So how did you get to NIU?

Hall: The process from my senior year of high school, I started to look at different options. The first big step that happened, I started to play representative football for my county. From there I went and played for South East England and went through trials. I finally got to England Schoolboys. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the final squad but I made the 30-man squad, so I was like a backup. From there I met two people, Daniel Gray and Tommy Nutter, who work for PASS4Soccer which is an agency that links boys in the U.K. that want to play football in America to American coaches. I went to a couple of showcases with them, they filmed me, I was able to get a highlight reel. They helped me through the visas, the SATs, all of that stuff. They got me exposure with American coaches. One of the coaches who has moved on now, Garret Biller, contacted me, said he liked my profile, wanted to see if he could come over and watch. NIU Head Coach Eric Luzzi and Garret Biller came over and watched me play with Billericay Town. The funny thing is, Albert Levett, who is also on the team, he also came and trained. I knew Albert from the representative side, so he came and trained with Billericay Town. The coaches liked what they saw and kind of offered me a spot.

Hargis: How was the transition for you from England to America?

Hall: Coming in with Albert made a ton of difference, because it allowed me to have some of that home and it allowed both of us to work out some of the problems with the culture that we had together. I can’t say enough about how positive Albert is as a person. He really, really made it easier to transform into the American culture. But certainly there were some differences. The day-to-day running of things, obviously college soccer is nothing like the rest of the world. For some reason or the other, it’s not the same as European soccer.

Hargis: Does it take some time getting used to the counting down?

Hall: Coming in, there were some rules that raised our eyebrows. And it continually does, when you see some of the internationals come in and say “why is there a running clock, and why are we counting down, and where is there extra-time, and why is there overtime and why is it golden goal?”. There are some rules where you’re like “OK, it’s different.” After the first couple of games, we know how to manage it. If you’re losing with 20 seconds left, you get everyone in the box and just try and score. Some differences, but nothing really major.

Being a Student-Athlete and Leader

Hargis: You mentioned that academics are important to you, being a mathematics major. How do you manage balancing school and athletics?

Hall: I’ve been fortunate to come from a very good background, with my parents and my three older brothers that instilled a good work ethic in me. They instilled in me that academics is as important, if not more important than soccer. Getting up early, getting your work in before you come to training, making sure you speak to your professors about the classes you’re missing. If you really take care of the details and put the work in, it’s doable. The idea of coming out here was to get a high level of academics with a high level of soccer. I always knew that the academic side of things was probably what was going to support me for the rest of my life. Coming into it with that mindset, it didn’t fool me. I didn’t get here and think “uh oh, it’s not a straight path to the pros, now what do I do?”. It was always the academics that’s kind of the bed of what I’ve put my foundations on and worked up from there. Anything more, like soccer, is just going to be a benefit for me.

Hargis: As a senior you have a natural leadership role. You’re one of the most vocal players on the field. Is that something that came naturally to you?

Hall: That kind of stuff has always been in my game. Since I was a little kid, being surrounded by it so much, having three older brothers that I have to compete with. They’re just as loud as me, so if I wasn’t loud myself I wasn’t going to be heard. Having that kind of background has pushed me forward and allowed me to be vocal and be a leader. My parents and my brothers are fantastic role models for me to mold myself on and I’ve been really lucky to have that visual aid. If I want to be exceptional in what I do, this is the standard I’ve got to hold myself to and this is what I’ve got to do day-to-day. Throughout my soccer career I’ve been privileged to have coaches that have allowed me to take on that role and encouraged me to take on that role. It’s the same here; Luzzi doesn’t put pressure on me to be a leader it just comes out in the game, with the enjoyment of the game. The more I’m enjoying the game, the more vocal I get because at the end of the day, I’m on the pitch with 10 of my other mates having fun. 

Adapting and Enjoying the Memories

Hargis: Coming from a soccer-rabid country, you might have an advantage over other people coming into the game.

Hall: Advantage in the sense, I’d say, maybe from a tactical point of view because I’ve watched more games and been involved in more games than some of guys. American college soccer is very much an athletic game, so I wouldn’t say I have an advantage in that sense. You’ve got some tremendous athletes out here and from around the world. If I’m going to be strong in one area, it’s going to be my intelligence and my tactical game. I’m not going to outrun or out muscle someone. I’m not going to be the best technically, but my tactical knowledge of the game, is something I feel like I can work on and be the best at. You might get away with something back in England that you won’t get away with out here. It’s all about learning, and over the four years, I’ve gotten more accustomed to the way we play. 

Hargis: Playing for three-plus years, I’m sure you’ve had one or two memorable moments that come to mind. 

Hall: I think we can all agree that the last three or four years, we’ve underachieved. We should be making the Mid-American Conference tournament every year. Saying that though, there’s been parts of the game that have been fantastic. One that springs out, personally, is the Green Bay game last year where I scored that free kick. Which, you know, I wasn’t shooting. That was overtime, it was our first competitive game, the goal went in and there are still pictures and videos of the team swarming. Personally, that was fantastic, because I don’t get many opportunities to score. At that point, I was the goal scoring hero getting all the headlines. There’s been so many memorable things, playing in front of Creighton, playing at Akron every year has been special. They’ve got a fantastic crowd and atmosphere. Going out and playing in California was incredible. 

Following this interview, Richard scored the game-winning goal against Milwaukee on Sep. 21 with a similar free kick to carry the Huskies to a 2-1 win.

Hargis: And finally, an easy question: what’s your favorite club? 

Hall: Of course, Arsenal. 

Hargis: Arsenal. 

Hall: Yeah, dad took me to Highbury the former home ground of Arsenal Football Club and of course the Emirates Arsenal’s current stadium. Yeah, Arsenal has always been my favorite club. 

Hargis: Rough couple of years. 

Hall: Yeah, I know, I know. But we were invincible. 2002, 2003, the last invincibles.

Hargis: You’ll always have the memories. 

Hall: Exactly.