What ever happened to the NJ TeamsterzzzzzzZzZzZzZ?? Anything go on with them? They were also supposed to have a women's team at some point....
See kids, this is one of the reasons why MLS and the USL system have all those fees and hoops you gotta jump through in order to be in their respective leagues.
Great article from Protagonist Soccer on what has gone down with Valley United FC: https://www.protagonistsoccer.com/coverage-blog/nisa-valleyunited-immigration-issues In my opinion, this is just as bad - if not worse - than the Laurence Girard fiasco. Like its "spiritual predecessor," the NASL, NISA is plagued by plenty of issues. As much as the pro/rel for USA crowd doesn't want to admit or see this, again I say THIS is why MLS and the USL have franchise fees.
This is why >D1 football in the United States is interesting. So many crazy "I couldn't dream this up" stories. Not new stories or limited to NISA btw. I remember the ASL, Edmonton Aviators, the teams in Puerto Rico etc; teams not showing for matches, disappearing mid-season or not paying players. I'm just trying to understand a coach and GM wanting to win so much in NISA that they would bring in illegal players, pay them illegally; to win, in NISA, as if it matters to....who? I'm guessing they couldn't help themselves; that cheating is fine because winning is so important. Sound familiar? And ethics? Ethics is for tragedians, this is a comedy and the shame is all the hard honest work trying to grow a D3 football league. It's just crazy!
NASL and NISA have definitely given us some interesting stories: co-owners removing parts of artificial pitches at night, SF Deltas winning NASL while their owners berated their fanes, NISA refs not getting paid, etc. In this case though, you have to respect the owner, he identified the issue and brought it to the league.
A $ bond to operate a team for at least one year beyond the current season should be the minimum commitment and not just in the US. Bury FC and WSL team Notts County Ladies might still be around had that been a requirement.
Flower City Union @FlowerCityUnion 10h We are headed back to Batavia! We loved Vandetta Stadium and the Batavia community so much that we are going to be bringing them another match on Wednesday, June 15th against LA Force
"alleged illegal immigration and employment activities" "Protagonist Soccer can confirm those issues include multiple severe roster violations, including falsified immigration documentation and improper classification of player statuses. Both head coach Adrian “AJ” Gaitan and Yuvall Raichman have stepped down from their positions with the team. Protagonist can also confirm that former U.S. Men’s National team player Eric Wynalda has gotten involved with Valley United FC ahead of this situation. The Fullerton, California native has been brought in as a consultant to help the team navigate its current situation." There's nothing accidental here. They had too many amateur status players on their roster and they were playing some of them under the table. And then there are the alleged green cards forgeries... https://www.protagonistsoccer.com/coverage-blog/nisa-valleyunited-immigration-issues
and if there is one guy you want to bring in to help you make sure you do all your paperwork correctly, it's waldo.
Gold Star FC posted a video that states 2023 will be the team's inaugural season in the NISA. https://www.facebook.com/goldstarfootballclub
This is all grass roots, doing it the right way, pure soccer stuff here. Right? I mean pro/rel would fix all of this. Right? Good grief.
Some really, really random thoughts: Seems soccer has broken into various camps now, especially now with the MLS creating its own "levels" and having severed its working relationship with USL. #1/ We have MLS, MLS Next Pro, MLS Next, MLS Academy's #2/ USL-C, USL-1, USL-2 and the academy's they are building. #3/ the various pieces of the NASL>NISA>NPSL "pyramid" #4/ UPSL and all other amateur #5 do we even consider NCAA- NAIA-JC now that so many teams have established academy's paths where a player does not really have to go college early in their career? The NCAA kind of always does its own thing. Do we need to worry about them? Do we still need to have an entry point for college grads to "go pro"? Does anyone see the "draft" eventually going away? (I know it has less rounds). If MLS is still drafting, were do these players go now in the new order of things- MLS Next Pro? I guess the feeling was that #3 was really hoping to establish pro/rel. Has there ever been any talk by #2 of creating pro/rel? I guess I have always wondered that if MLS most likely will never go pro/rel due to the massive investments the owners have made, how do the lower levels ever hope to make that happen with much smaller investments/budgets? I just don't see it happening ever at the lower levels. Ok, better end this now....so many questions, too few good answers.
every now and again, usl makes noise about potentially adopting pro/rel between its divisions, but, realistically, it can only be between their two pro levels, as the amateur teams in what used to be called the pdl absolutely don't have the wherewithal to turn pro, for the most part. and even the distance between the championship and usl-1 is growing. teams in the top half are building stadiums and signing and selling players and acting like a high-level league. they aren't going to want to be shunted off to play forward madison and fc tucson any more than sporting kc wants to have to go down to usl-c. it's the same challenges, just on a smaller scale. they can float it, and get some press out of the tension created by talking about it, but greenville can't afford the higher level any more than the la force or whoever the hell is left in the nisa. this same conversation has been going on for a decade and my sense is we will still be having it in another five and there will still be people insisting it is going to happen and must happen and blah blah blah blah.
As long as teams are self promoting and relegating it seems pointless to introduce a meritorious form of pro/rel.
The Houston Dynamo drafted 3 college players this year. One is starting on the MLS team, one is playing with HD2, Houston's MLS Next team, and one was cut and signed with a USL-C team. I'd guess that is reasonably typical although starting in the first year rather than being a bench player might be an outlier since the entire Houston roster was pretty bad.