The North East Soccer Alliance Wednesday announced its six founding members.

The group includes, Monmouth Generals FC, New York International FC, Astoria Knights FC , Sporting Astoria SC , Boston Siege FC and Motorik FC Alexandria.

The mission of the alliance is to work together, as partners, not competitors to grow the game in the region, according to a press release.

John Frusciante, founder of the Alliance and Montmouth Generals FC owner, said the organization is not a regional league – yet.

“It’s a collective of soccer clubs throughout the region sharing best practices and we will leverage all of the clubs followers/fanbase to create a better environment for these clubs to operate,” he said. “The long term vision is to launch a regional league, but that’s the importance of the alliance to establish those relationships and further our commercial relationships now so when the league is launched, we can continue those relationships and most likely we will have further growth.”

He added that he didn’t believe that lower division clubs “are working together to grow the sport.”

“It seems like we are all competitors. That has to change. That’s why the alliance is very important. Yes we all compete in different leagues and competitions, but why can’t we work together and share best practices and bring more resources to the table as a collective? That’s the plan.”

Frusciante said that there will be more announcements in the coming weeks.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.