SIASL History
The Southern Illinois Adult Soccer League was formed in 2002 by its first president Jeff Doyle
when he became "frustrated at the lack of soccer-playing opportunities in the area", as he expressed
in an article in
The Southern Illinoisan newspaper during the 2006 World Cup.
Details about
the beginnings of the league have been put in writing by Jeff Doyle himself.
There are two campaigns per year - Spring and Fall. The league featured four teams in its inaugural
season of Fall 2002 - teams Red, White,
Gold, and Green.
Team Blue started out as Gold,
but changed colors and name before the Fall 2003 season in order to be more distinguishable from the referees'
yellow uniforms. Interestingly, the first two seasons were played in a tournament style.
The game-winning team was awarded six points, while a tie was worth three points.
A point was alloted for every goal scored up to three. So a 3:0 victory counted for nine points.
That way the regular season winners of Fall 2002 and Spring 2003 ended up with 68 and 57 points, respectively.
Rather fascinating.
The first ever champion was Team Green.
Since Fall 2003, games have been played according to MLS rules in terms of points awarded. That season
also saw the introduction of the first expansion team - Orange. This step was
significant as it showed the potential of soccer in Southern Illinois.
One season later, in Spring 2004, SIASL added another side - Purple - to bring
the total number of teams to six. In only one season since, the league has fielded just five teams (Fall 2005).
Nonetheless, the ultimate goal of the SIASL is the establishment of eight teams.
Team Purple managed to win the SIASL Cup in Fall 2004 after finishing dead-last in the regular
season. From last to first - only possible in the SIASL!
In 2006, teams Red and Orange changed their names to Big Red and
Orange Revolution, respectively.
The Fall 2006 was a season of transition. With its founder, Jeff Doyle, leaving
Southern Illinois for personal reasons, the Board of Directors of the SIASL experienced a complete make-over.
New people are in charge of the league, but with the same commitment and dedication.
A landmark was reached on October 21st 2006, when Tom Schaffnit scored the 1000th goal in the history of the SIASL.
With the addition of the Brown Baggers in Spring 2007, the SIASL
expanded again and featured seven teams for the first time.
For the Fall 2007 season teams White and Purple merged and played as Whiple, giving White's players the opportunity
to return to their original team at the next expansion. When the league was able to add a 7th team again in the following
Spring 2008 season these players decided to stay on their new team which would play as Purple again. The White team that
entered the league in the spring of 2008 is a new side and has little to do with the original team. At the beginning of
the same season team Blue changed its name to Azzurris.
The Baggers changed their colors and name to Black Panthers at the start of the fall
campaign of 2008.
In memory of Edgar Montano, a long-serving referee who passed away in July of 2008, the “Edgar Montano Sportsmanship Award”
is given to a team or individual for acts of fairness on the soccer field. Team White won the inaugural award in Fall 2008.
A true milestone was reached in Fall 2008 when the Skyblue Crew entered the SIASL as
eigth team, making a long-standing and ambitious goal of the league become reality. Eight teams translates to about
150 players, a clear sign of the popularity of soccer in Southern Illinois. At the same time it's very much the maximum
number of teams the league can sustain for organizational and management reasons.
In February of 2009, team White changed its name to White Flames, followed by teams Green
and Purple who changed theirs to Green Death and Purple Rain,
respectively during the Spring 2009 season.
The Spring 2009 season turned out to be rather difficult. Bad weather leading to some game cancellations culminated in
The Storm on May 8th, which, at least temporarily, affected the lives of a lot of people in the Carbondale-Marion area.
The SIASL was no exception. As a consequence, there was no soccer in the league between April 25th and May 20th, a period
of almost four weeks resulting in an unusually high number of forfeits and short-handed teams when play resumed.
November 14th 2009 was a special day in the history of the Southern Illinois Adult Soccer League. The president of the
Illinois State Soccer Association (ISSA), Branko Ilic, came to Carbondale to watch the championship game and discuss the
significance of the SIASL within the ISSA. For some pictures click here
Honors:
For complete results and standings click the corresponding links above.
