New Jersey Ironmen

Major Indoor Soccer League (2007-2008)
Xtreme Soccer League (2008-2009)

Tombstone

Born: June 2007 – MISL expansion franchise
Folded: 2009

First Game: October 26, 2007 (W 7-4 @ Orlando Sharks)
Last Game: April 5, 2009 (W 17-14 vs. Detroit Ignition)

MISL Championships: None
XSL Championships: None

Arena

Prudential Center
Opened: 2007

Marketing

Team Colors:

Ownership

Owners: Jeff Vanderbeek & Michael Gilfillan

Our Favorite Stuff

Xtreme Soccer League
Logo T-Shirt

The Xtreme Soccer League was just one of the countless leagues and re-configurations spawned by the sport of indoor soccer’s 21st century identity crisis. The league featured only four teams and staged only forty total matches during its brief existence in 2008 and 2009.

This XSL tee is available in sizes Small through 5XL today at Old School Shirts!

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Background

The Ironmen were a short-lived indoor soccer team out of Newark, New Jersey operated by truly the last rich men in the indoor game: the co-owners of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

NBA and NHL owners bet on indoor soccer a number of times over the years. The owners of the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers backed clubs in the original Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1980’s. More than a half dozen NBA owners invested in the mid-1990’s Continental Indoor Soccer League. But by the early 2000’s the indoor game was in steady decline. When Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek appeared alongside Newark Mayor Cory Booker at a press conference in June 2007 to unveil an MISL expansion franchise for the soon-to-open $375 million Prudential Center, the announcement felt like relic of a bygone era.

Debut Season

The Ironmen made a couple of moves to capture the attention of area soccer junkies during their debut season in the 9-team MISL. Pele picked up an appearance fee to be the Honorary Captain for the Ironmen’s home debut at the Prudential Center against the Detroit Ignition on December 1, 2007. The opener, an 8-6 Ironmen victory paced by a hat trick from Dan Antoniuk, drew an announced crowd of 13,249.

The Ironmen signed 38-year old former U.S. National Team, MetroStars and Red Bulls goalkeeper Tony Meola. The Kearny, New Jersey native was a former Major League Soccer and MLS Cup Most Valuable Player and, by a wide margin, the biggest name player in the MISL during the 2007-08 season. Meola would see most of the action in goal for the Ironmen as the team went 14-16 and snuck into the MISL playoffs.

The Baltimore Blast eliminated the Ironmen in the 2008 MISL playoff quarterfinals. Tony Meola retired at the end of the season. Attendance dipped sharply from the heady numbers of the opener, finishing 4th in the MISL at 4,965 per game.

XSL & Demise

The MISL split apart during the summer of 2008 amidst infighting among the league’s owners. The Ironmen, along with the Chicago Storm, Detroit Ignition and Milwaukee Wave, broke away to form something called the Xtreme Soccer League.

Everything about the XSL was smaller and, frankly, lamer than the previous season’s MISL. Meola was gone, replaced by no one of equal stature. The Ironmen’s home schedule was reduced from 15 to 10 home matches and attendance dropped 40% to 3,051 per match. The XSL held no playoffs at the end of the season.

Both the Ironmen and the XSL closed their doors at the end of the 2008-09 season. No other NBA or NHL franchise owners have invested in indoor soccer in the decade since the Ironmen folded.