Neighborhood Spotlight: Octagon Field

Hey Footy Family,

Most New Yorkers know Roosevelt Island as "that place where tourists go to ride the gondola", but few know that it's home to one of the nicest fields in the city. Secluded, beautiful, and surprisingly easy to access, let's discover why NYC Footy's leagues on Roosevelt Island should have your attention.

Up next: Roosevelt Island's Octagon Field

The Field: 

The Octagon Field is a gem hidden in plain sight. Renovated just before Covid, the field has stayed entirely pristine during the pandemic and since it's situated on Roosevelt Island. Since it doesn't get a lot of foot traffic, it will stay that way for a long time.

Expect a well-kept, clean field, clear painted lines, well maintained equipment, and great lighting for evening play. It’s everything you’d want in a field.

There is also an uncanny, captivating feeling afforded to anyone playing here as the field is at once surrounded by a low panorama of open space in one direction, and the stunning Manhattan midtown skyline in the other. I cannot overstate how beautiful this field is and how excellent it is to play here, nor recommend it highly enough.

The Neighborhood:

The Jeffery is an old favorite of mine that you can find heading back into Manhattan, just across the corner from the gondola. It has hosts two bars, at one a large, local, and ever-changing beer list, while the other is made specifically for custom cocktails. They have an excellent array food, and a staff that just puts it a cut above. As welcoming as it is laudable, there’s plenty of room either inside or in the backyard for you and your teammates to relax after your game.

Granny Annie’s should be the first bar on your list when leaving your game on the island. Only a quick five minute walk from the field (and one of only a handful of bars on the island), they boast a wide selection of drinks, including their own home brew, fish and chips, bangers and mash, and every kind of bar food your heart desires.

"Fun" Fact: Roosevelt Island is home to not one, but two hospitals that have at one point burned down. The ruins of the Small Pox Hospital, the first hospital in the country dedicated to the treatment of the disease, remain standing near the Southern tip of the island in all their stygian beauty. To the North, The Octagon, the last remaining part of the Metropolitan Hospital that has long since vanished from the island, has been repurposed as the entrance to two apartment buildings. Both of these site can still be visited today.

Directions: 

Transportation/Directions: One might think that the field is difficult to get to, but the city has gone to great pains to make Roosevelt Island very accessible.

Subway: The F Train, which runs through South Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, stops on the island at the Roosevelt Island Station, making it easily accessible for subway commuters. 

Gondola: The most well known way to get there is to take the gondola (The Roosevelt Island Tramway) on East 60th street. The gondola serves daily commuters to and from the island everyday and is accessible with a metro card. 

Bus: If you’d like to take the Bus, the Q102 runs from Queens into Roosevelt Island via the Roosevelt Island Bridge, connecting the island to Queens. 

Bike/Foot: If you’d like to bike or walk to the field, the Roosevelt Island Bridge connects the island and Queens and puts you within 100 yards of the field. There are CitiBike stations on the island and on both ends of the Roosevelt Island Bridge. 

Boat: You can also take the Ferry to Roosevelt Island. Look for the Astoria Line, which makes stops all across Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. The ferry often runs a lot faster than the subway and affords you a great view of the city instead of forcing you to play eye-contact chicken with strangers on the subway. You can even buy wine on the boat, just don't fall overboard.

Thanks for listening.

- James