Monterrey Fury / Monterrey Tigres

Major Indoor Soccer League (2001-2005)

Background

During the 1990’s, the city of Monterrey, Mexico boasted one of the finest teams in the primarily American sport of indoor soccer. In seven seasons between 1993 and 2000, Monterrey La Raza never posted a losing season and won three titles in the Continental Indoor Soccer League and the World Indoor Soccer League.

Off the field, La Raza intended to play at a 15,000-seat palace known as Arena Monterrey. But the project turned into a decade-long boondoggle and the building sat unfinished for nearly a decade between 1994 and 2003.

By the summer of 2003, La Raza and both of the American-based leagues that the club competed in were out of business. But Arena Monterrey was finally due to open that November and so the newest indoor circuit on the block, the Major Indoor Soccer League, hastily awarded an expansion franchise to Monterrey. The new club was dubbed the Monterrey Fury and had only two months to prepare for opening day.

On The Carpet

Simply put, the 2003-04 Fury season was a disaster. Head coach Andres Carranza was dismissed with one month remaining in the season. Erich Geyer, who coached Monterrey La Raza in all seven of their earlier seasons, took over for Carranza. Two weeks later,  MISL officials punished the Fury for using three ineligible players over the course of nine matches earlier in the season. The four matches that the Fury won during that stretch were converted to forfeit losses and the club’s management was reportedly fined an undisclosed sum. Monterrey finished with the worst record (10-26) in the 9-team MISL.

One bright spot in the dismal campaign was the play of defender Genoni Martinez, who earned the MISL’s Defender of the Year award.

Collapse & Aftermath

As the MISL headed into the 2004-05 season, the Fury remained on the schedule. The league’s lack of American press coverage obscured deep troubles behind the scenes, however. On October 22, 2004, just two days before the Fury’s scheduled season opener against the Kansas City Comets, the MISL’s management committee voted to expel the Monterrey Fury from the league.

“This termination decision was precipitated by a long series of of noncompliance and disregard for the obligations and responsibilities of an MISL member club,” the league declared in a press release.⁵NO BYLINE. “MISL halts Monterrey season before it can start”. The Sun (Baltimore, MD). October 23, 2004

The MISL desperately attempted to paper over the Fury’s collapse by  attempting to sell a new Monterrey franchise to the management of Tigres UANL from Mexico’s top-flight outdoor league. Erich Geyer – the mainstay of all Monterrey indoor soccer efforts – stayed on to coach the club, now re-named Monterrey Tigres.

The effort swiftly collapsed into farce. Tigres UANL pulled out of the deal. The MISL was forced to shut down Monterrey Tigres in December 2004 after the re-jiggered club played just six matches, compiling a record of 1-5.

Surprisingly, the MISL returned to Monterrey three years later with another expansion team at Arena Monterrey. This club – coached as always by Erich Geyer – took back the old “La Raza” identity and played three seasons before going out of business in 2010.

Monterrey Fury Shop

Links

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