 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2022) |
Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alliance. In 1989, it existed for a single year as the Western Soccer League before merging with the American Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League in 1990.
After the demise of the North American Soccer League in 1984 and the United Soccer League in 1985, four independent teams—F.C. Portland, F.C. Seattle, San Jose Earthquakes and Victoria Riptides—created the Western Alliance Challenge Series in the summer of 1985. [1] They did so in order to fill the outdoor soccer void created by the failure of the NASL and USL. The Western Alliance Challenge Series would have had two more teams from Los Angeles and Edmonton, but the Los Angeles team could not obtain change or add dates on a stadium lease, and the Edmonton team was unable to accommodate additional games. [2] Many top outdoor players now languished in local semi-pro or recreational leagues. These players, along with local soccer officials, began parallel, but independent efforts to create local "super clubs". These "super clubs" then challenged other independent teams to games for little more than bragging rights. For example, in 1984 F. C. Seattle hosted the Seattle Challenge Series against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Minnesota Strikers, New York Cosmos and U.S. Olympic Team. Other teams held similar challenge series and it was from these efforts that the Western Alliance Challenge Series was born. [3]
Two of the Challenge Series' teams, F.C. Portland and F. C. Seattle were amateur teams. The other two, Victoria Riptide and San Jose Earthquakes, were barely professional although the majority of the players had prior professional experience in the NASL. However, all four teams drew their players from the ranks of ex-NASL players, local semi-pro teams, or local colleges and universities. By keeping their teams independent and amateur, Seattle and Portland could use college players without those players losing their NCAA soccer eligibility. Despite the low key nature of the teams and the loose "alliance" versus "league", the WSA would go on to attract some of the top American players of the late 1980s and early 1990s. A few of the more noteworthy alumni include Marcelo Balboa (San Diego Nomads), Paul Caligiuri (San Diego Nomads) and Kasey Keller (F.C. Portland). Others players which came through the league included John Doyle, Mike Lapper, Cle Kooiman, Hugo Perez, Dominic Kinnear, Paul Krumpe and John Stollmeyer.
In 1985, the first year of the series, the teams played a round robin, home and away tournament, called the Western Alliance Challenge Series. One of the more distinctive features of this series was the inclusion of games against outside teams, which counted in the final rankings. In this first year, the four teams played against Edmonton Brick Men and Canada. However, only the games with the Brick Men counted in the rankings. F.C. Portland hosted the first game of the series, playing F.C. Seattle in the Portland Civic Stadium. While only 2,906 fans attended this first game, the series gained significant positive attention in the U.S. soccer press.
The collapse of the NASL had shaken the U.S. soccer community, which had hoped that soccer, led by the NASL, would become quickly established as a major U.S. sport. In hindsight, it became obvious that the NASL had overexpanded. This brought teams into the league which were not financially solvent. The four WSA teams intended to use the lessons of the NASL to avoid the failure of that league. First they maintained a loose organization, using the name alliance in order to stress the semi-pro nature of the WSA. They also reduced roster costs by using the semi-pro and amateur players mentioned earlier. The regional nature of the alliance also helped minimize travel costs. Despite the good early intentions, the WSA would in many ways mimic the rise and fall of the NASL.
The success of the 1985 challenge series led the four teams into discussions regarding the establishment of something more than the ad hoc tournament of the first year. F.C. Portland, F. C. Seattle and the San Jose Earthquakes voted to create the Western Soccer Alliance and elected San Jose Earthquakes president, Peter Bridgwater, as the league's first commissioner. The Victoria Riptides disagreed and withdrew, but was replaced by the Edmonton Brick Men. Several other independent west coast teams which wanted to play beyond their local leagues also requested to join the new alliance. These included the Hollywood Kickers, Los Angeles Heat and San Diego Nomads. The WSA continued the first year practice of playing outside teams (Manchester City and Dundee this year) with results counting in the alliance standings. Each team played 16 games and the champion was crowned based on end of year standings. The alliance would not have a post season until 1987.
When the Western Soccer Alliance began its 1986 season, it was the lone U.S. "professional" outdoor league. Two professional indoor leagues did exist: the MISL and the AISA. The NASL had folded in 1984. The United Soccer League had lasted only two years, 1984 and 1985. The second American Soccer League had collapsed in 1983 and the third version of the league would not begin playing until 1988. Finally, the Lone Star Soccer Alliance would not begin play until 1987. Because of this, the WSA attracted many of the top U.S. outdoor players. Some of these players also played in the MISL or AISA during the winter so they could accept smaller salaries in the summer.
In 1987, the league saw little change, except for the Edmonton Brick Men leaving to join the newly established Canadian Soccer League. The Hollywood Kickers also changed its name to the California Kickers. With the loss of Edmonton, the alliance reduced the number of games from 12 to 10. The alliance also established a three-team, post-season. At the end of the season, the top three teams were, in order, the San Diego Nomads, F. C. Seattle and San Jose Earthquakes. In the "wild card" game, San Jose defeated Seattle 3-0. However, San Jose's success ended there when the Nomads defeated them 3-1 in the championship game.
In 1988, The alliance kept the same teams as the 1987 season, but played 12 games, including games against two Canadian Soccer League teams, the Calgary Kickers and Vancouver 86ers. The Seattle team, which had been known variably as F.C. Seattle, and the F.C. Seattle Storm, dropped the "F.C." from its name and became officially the Seattle Storm. The league also began naming an All Star team. The alliance continued its practice from 1987 of playing only two post-season games, a "wild card" game and championship. This year, San Jose defeated San Diego 1-1 (6-5 PK) in penalty kicks. On July 30, 1987, Seattle gained revenge on San Jose for its 1987 wild card defeat by crushing the Earthquakes, 5-0, at Seattle's Memorial Stadium.
The Western Soccer Alliance had seen nothing but success since its inception as a challenge cup in 1985. In 1989, it continued to build for the future. The alliance decided to become a formal league and with it came a name change to the Western Soccer League (WSL), with Bill Sage as league chairman. [4] The WSL also added three new teams, Real Santa Barbara, Arizona Condors and Sacramento Senators. Several established teams also saw name changes, the San Jose Earthquakes became the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks and F.C. Portland resurrected the old local NASL name and became the Portland Timbers. With the additional teams came a change in the league structure. Through the 1988 season, the WSA played as a single Division. With the addition of more teams, the league split into two divisions - North and South. The North Division comprised the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, Portland Timbers, Seattle Storm and newly added Sacramento Senators. The South Division had the San Diego Nomads, Los Angeles Heat, California Kickers and two new teams, Real Santa Barbara and the Arizona Condors.
As the league began its 1989 season, things appeared to be going well, but the seeds of the WSL's eventual collapse had now been sown. The league, only four years from its founding as a semi-pro challenge cup, was now officially a league with two separate divisions and three new franchises. Salary and travel costs also began to rise as the league began to plan for the possibility of becoming a new national soccer league, similar to the NASL in its heyday. One of the factors pushing the WSL in this direction was the creation of the third version of the American Soccer League on the east coast. Another was the announcement in July 1988 that USSF intended to create a national, first division league in the United States to fulfill a FIFA requirement for the award of the 1994 FIFA World Cup to the United States. The WSL was concerned that USSF would designate the new ASL as the Division One league, leaving the WSL as a permanent minor league. [4] In February 1989, the ASL and WSL announced they would merge for the 1990 season.
The 1989 season continued much as the season before, except for post season play, the league replaced the former "wild card" game with two semi-final games in which the top teams in the two divisions played the second place team in the other division. In the first semi-final, San Francisco Bay defeated Los Angeles 1-1(2-1 PK). In the other semifinal, San Diego defeated Portland 2-1. The championship game became a defensive battle, with San Diego defeating San Francisco Bay 1-0.
Following this game, the San Diego Nomads played the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the ASL in the 1989 National Pro Soccer Championship in order to crown a "national" champion. The game, played before 8,632 fans in San Jose's Spartan Stadium on September 9, 1989, remained scoreless until the 74th minute when San Diego's Jerome Watson scored on a Thien Nguyen free kick. Just over a minute later, national team forward Eric Eichmann scored for Fort Lauderdale. His strike was followed by one from Troy Edwards from a Marcelo Carrera assist in the 85th minute. Marcelo Carrera got a goal to join his assist when he scored in the 90th minute on an assist from Victor Moreland. The game was televised live by Pacific Sports Network. JP Dellacamera provided play by play and Rick Davis added color commentary. [4]
In 1990, the WSL formally merged with the American Soccer League (ASL) to form the American Professional Soccer League which would itself one day become known as the A-League, be absorbed by the United Soccer Leagues and be called USL-1, the predecessor to USL Pro. Despite the hopes of the WSL leadership, USSF did not designate the new APSL as the top U.S. league. That honor would eventually go Major League Soccer which began play in 1996. Instead, the WSL had a much less dignified end. At the end of the 1990 APSL season, nearly all of the 1989 WSL teams folded, leaving only the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks to carry on as the lone WSA/WSL survivor in the APSL.
| Season | Winner | Runners-up | Top scorer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | San Jose Earthquakes | Victoria Riptides | |
| 1986 | Hollywood Kickers | F.C. Portland | Brent Goulet |
| 1987 | San Diego Nomads | F.C. Seattle | Joe Mihaljevic |
| 1988 | F.C. Seattle Storm | San Jose Earthquakes | Scott Benedetti |
| 1989 | San Diego Nomads | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | Steve Corpening |
| Year | Winner | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3–1 | San Diego Nomads | Spartan Stadium | San Jose, California | 8,632 |
John Joseph Doyle is an American former professional soccer player who played professionally in both Europe and the United States including the Western Soccer League, American Professional Soccer League and Major League Soccer. He was the 1995 A-League Defender of the Year and the 1996 MLS Defender of the Year. He also earned fifty-three caps with the U.S. national team between 1987 and 1994 including two games at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He was a member of the U.S. team at the 1988 Summer Olympics and was most recently the general manager of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer before resigning on August 29, 2016.
San Francisco Bay Blackhawks were a professional soccer team which came into existence in 1989 as a team in the Western Soccer League (WSL). The Blackhawks spent time in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL). In 1993, the team competed in USISL as the San Jose Hawks, but left organized competition at the end of the season.
The Edmonton Brick Men were a Canadian soccer team in Edmonton, Alberta that competed in the Canadian Soccer League and the Western Soccer Alliance. During their time in the WSA and the CSL, the team played at both John Ducey Park and Clarke Stadium for their matches. The choice of John Ducey Park was due in part to the sharing of costs with the Edmonton Trappers.
Football Club Seattle Storm, also known as the F.C. Seattle Storm, was an American soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. F.C. Seattle was a "super club" created to provide Seattle players an opportunity to play at a higher level than the local recreational and semi-pro leagues. In addition to playing exhibition matches against top international teams, F.C. Seattle was a member of the short lived Western Soccer Alliance, was a founding member of the American Professional Soccer League and later spent three seasons in the Pacific Coast Soccer League.
Bob Rigby is an American retired soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He played twelve seasons in the North American Soccer League, three in the Major Indoor Soccer League, one in the Western Soccer Alliance and earned six caps with the United States men's national soccer team. Rigby was the color commentator with the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer.
Portland Timbers, previously known as F.C. Portland, came into existence in 1985 as an independent U.S. soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. In 1989, the team adopted the name Portland Timbers. Portland was composed of both professional and amateur players. The amateur players largely came from local Portland amateur leagues. It played its games in Portland's Civic Stadium.
Scott "Benny" Benedetti is an American retired soccer player. He began his professional career with the semi-professional F.C. Portland in 1986 and ended it with the U.S. second division club Portland Timbers in 2005. While he spent most of his career in the U.S. divisions, he had just over a season in Major League Soccer and half a season in the Primera División de México with UNAM Pumas. He earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1996. He played in such places as South Korea, Thailand, England, Austria and Scotland.
Chance Fry is a retired U.S. soccer forward who began his career straight out of high school with the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League. With the collapse of the NASL, he moved to indoor soccer as well as U.S. minor leagues. Since retiring from playing, Fry has become a college soccer coach. He also earned five caps with the U.S. national team in 1984 and was the 1990 American Professional Soccer League leading goal scorer.
Anton Nistl is a retired U.S. soccer goalkeeper. He was the 1989 ISAA Goalkeeper of the Year and spent three seasons in the Western Soccer Alliance and one in the American Professional Soccer League.
Robert Zipp is a retired U.S. soccer player who currently serves as a youth soccer referee.
Victoria Riptides were a professional soccer team based out of Victoria, British Columbia. The team played for two seasons; the 1984 season of the Pacific Coast Soccer League, and 1985 season of the Western Alliance Challenge Series. Their home games were played at Royal Athletic Park.
Billy Crook is a former U.S. soccer defender who spent two seasons in the North American Soccer League, eight in Major Indoor Soccer League, two in the Western Soccer Alliance, at least two in the Continental Indoor Soccer League, and four in the American Professional Soccer League. He also earned one cap with the U.S. national team. He currently coaches youth soccer in Sumner, Washington.
Rick Brian Blubaugh is an American former Professional Soccer Player. He spent four seasons in the Western Soccer Alliance, one in the Major Indoor Soccer League and one in the Continental Indoor Soccer League.
The inaugural edition of the Western Alliance Challenge Series, a soccer competition between teams in the United States and Canada, took place in 1985. The four participating teams were F.C. Seattle, the Victoria Riptide, F.C. Portland, and the San Jose Earthquakes; these teams later joined the Western Soccer Alliance, which later merged with the American Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League, the forerunner of the USL First Division.
History of the 1986 Western Soccer Alliance season.
Todd Saldana is a retired American soccer midfielder. He played four seasons in the North American Soccer League, two in the United Soccer League and two in the Western Soccer Alliance. He was a member of the United States U-20 men's national soccer team at the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship and has coached at the collegiate level including three seasons as the head coach of the UCLA Bruins men's soccer team.
Barney Boyce is a retired American soccer player who played professionally in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and Western Soccer Alliance. He coached the San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Soccer Alliance.
The history of the Portland Timbers stretches back to 1975, when the original Timbers club joined the North American Soccer League, to the present club that plays in Major League Soccer.
The 1989 Portland Timbers season was the ninth season for a club bearing the Portland Timbers name. The club, previously known as F.C. Portland, changed its name to the Portland Timbers prior to the beginning of the 1989 Western Soccer League season.
The 1987 San Jose Earthquakes season was the fourteenth overall for the Earthquakes franchise, and the club's third in the Western Soccer Alliance. The Earthquakes finished the season in third place, then shut out the second place Seattle Storm in the Wild Card playoff game. In the Final, they were defeated by the San Diego Nomads, 3-1.