Well i know that they aren't around anymore...just wondering if anyone can briefly remind me of the team's history.
I am not sure about their history, but a few months ago, I was on a bus here in Chicago and saw a woman wearing on of their hats!
The washington warthogs were an indoor soccer team who played at the MCI arena in D.C. Im not sure of the leauge that they played in but I know that they were the only profitable club in it. Te leauge bankrupted and then the team dispanded.
They were in the CISL. They predated the MCI Center and played at the Cap Center/US Air Arena in Landover, Maryland.
Re: Re: Washington warthogs The team actually did really well both on the field and at the gate if I remember correctly. Any reason why the current indoor league hasn't started a Washington franchise?
It's probably the same reason why they aren't in a bunch of other cities. A local owner hasn't stepped forward to bring a franchise to the city. Also with the MCI arena also being used by the Wizards, Capitals and Geourtown basketball I don't think they would get very many good dates. So it would be hard to turn a profit if most of your games were during the week.
I went to a lot of Warthogs games. Their first season was 1994 and, coming of the World Cup, I was jonesing for some soccer and this was the best - only - thing in the area. The Warthogs weren't shy about trying gimics. They had two female players. THe first year, they trotted out some girl named Colette Cunningham who had gotten 2-3 caps with the national team but who never amounted to much. Fans would come to the games and start "play the chick" chants. She'd get a shift here or there but never any real substantial minutes. I never understood why, with all the players available, they settled on someone like Cunningham. The next year, or maybe it was 96, they had Kristine Lilly play a few games with them. It was clear she was better but she was still a bit overwhelmed. The Warthogs were coached by former US international Jim Gabarra, who just spent the last three years coaching the WUSA's Washington Freedom. The irony of Gabarra coaching a team with a female player on it was that his wife, former US international Carin, was better than the girls that played for him. I never understood why she didn't play for the Warthogs. The Warthogs had some players with some nice resumes on their roster. Dante Washington, who had already played in an Olympics and with the senior national team, played with them for a couple of seasons before going onto MLS stardom. Eric Eichmann, a member of the 1990 World Cup team, was on the team in 94. He played a year in MLS and was one of Ray Hudson's assistants with the Fusion. Goran Hunjak, who went on to play in MLS for Tampa and KC, was on that team, as was former US international Troy Snyder. Denison Cabral, who I spotted playing for Baltimore in the MISL when I watched about five minutes of the game on FSW Friday, was also a Warthog. That's about all I remember. I know that the emergence of MLS and the WNBA led to the death of the Warthogs and, presumably, the CISL. The whole business plan of the league was to provide a means to keep NBA and NHL arenas open in the summer. Once MLS started, a lot of the better players, and fans, left, and once the WNBA started, it replaced the CISL as the means to keep arenas open in the summer.
Another reason for the lack of a Washington DC team in the MISL is the Baltimore Blast. Baltimore is only an hour from DC.