American Indoor Soccer Association (1988)
Tombstone
Born: 1988 – AISA expansion franchise
Folded: 1988
First Game: February 17, 1988 (W 3-2 @ Dayton Dynamo)
Last Game: April 1, 1988 (W 6-5 vs. Milwaukee Wave)
AISA Championships: None
Arenas
Jacksonville Coliseum
Opened: 1960
Demolished: 2003
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Ed Rosetti
Attendance
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*The Generals competed only in the AISA’s 12-game showcase tournament known as the Challenge Cup. Generals attendance in the chart below is based on the 6 home games the club hosted during this tournament. But the league wide attendance figure of 2,652 is based on an 18-game home schedule for the four clubs who played in both the AISA’s 24-game regular season and the 12-game Challenge Cup that followed. I can’t imagine anyone cares about this distinction, but this disclaimer is for that one guy out there…
Source: 1997-98 National Professional Soccer League Official Guide & Record Book
Background
The Jacksonville Generals represent a strange footnote from the 1980’s indoor soccer phenomenon. The Generals appeared only in a 12-game postseason showcase tournament known as the “Challenge Cup” put on by the American Indoor Soccer Association (AISA) during the late winter and spring of 1988.
The AISA limped through a 24-game regular season earlier that winter with a barely legitimate line-up of just four clubs. Rather than hold a conventional playoffs and crown a champion, league officials decided to put on the Challenge Cup and to invite two provisional 1988-89 expansion clubs – the Generals and the Dayton Dynamo – to join in and boost the tournament line-up to six teams.
Not long after finishing the Challenge Cup with a 6-6 record, the Generals decided not to join the AISA for the 1988-89 season after all. In later years, the AISA and the various successor leagues who claimed its stats and records as their own would consider the 1988 Challenge Cup to be part of their “Playoff” history. All of this combines to give the Jacksonville Generals the odd distinction of playing in 12 playoff games without ever competing in a regular season contest.
On The Carpet
The Generals put together a solid veteran squad that included a number of the best players from the Jacksonville Tea Men teams of the early 1980’s from the North American Soccer League. Former U.S. National Team goalkeeper Arnie Mausser manned the nets. Top Tea Men scorers Ricardo Alonso and Alan Green returned as well. Alonso led all AISA players in scoring during the 12-game Challenge Cup with 12 goals and 13 assists.
Former Manchester United star and Munich Air Disaster survivor Dennis Viollet coached the Generals. Viollet was a fixture on the Jacksonville soccer scene throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, coaching at every level of the game, including all three of the city’s indoor and outdoor pro teams of the era: the Tea Men, the Generals and the Cyclones.
The Generals completed the Challenge Cup with a respectable 6-6 record, tied for 3rd place in the 6-team tourney. They played their final contest at the Jacksonville Coliseum on April Fools Day 1988. Sometime between May and July of that year, the Generals withdrew from the AISA and disbanded.1Long, Dave. “Dynamo trades 1st pick in soccer player draft”. The Daily News (Dayton, OH). August 1, 1988
Jacksonville Generals Shop
In Memoriam
Head Coach Dennis Viollet passed on March 6th, 1999 at age of 65 following a battle with brain cancer. The Guardian obituary.
Links
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