When John Thorrington joined the Los Angeles Football Club in 2015, there wasn’t much to work with. No uniforms, no stadium, not even an office.
Flash forward to 2022, Thorrington, co-president and general manager of the organization, helped assemble the dream team. It led to the LAFC’s first Major League Soccer Cup.
Thorrington has traveled the world as a soccer player. Born in South Africa, his family moved to California, where he discovered his love of that sport over others. At 17, he signed with Manchester United and went pro. He played abroad and in the U.S. until retiring at 25.
The 2022 victory was both professional and personal for Thorrington.
“The MLS Cup just felt like this culmination of years and years of hard work, of smart, dedicated, focused people that wanted to bring a championship to L.A.,” Thorrington told KTLA.
Another point of pride for the GM is the large red, blue and orange Armenian flags that are waved during home games representing his Armenian heritage very few people know about.
He said people are surprised to learn he is half Armenian, or, “more Armenian than anything else.”
“It’s certainly something I identify with very strongly,” Thorrington said.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
The “Los Armenios” is the Armenian supporter group for the team, but the best thing about LAFC is that it brings all kinds of people together in a very diverse city, he added.
“The way this all came together, for soccer to be the thing that brought me back after 20 years elsewhere, it just felt like the stars aligned.”
LAFC will be hosting Armenian Heritage Night at BMO Stadium on May 31.