Category: American Professional Soccer League

1990 Washington Diplomats program from the American Professional Soccer League

Washington Diplomats (1987-1990)

September 20, 2013

Here we have the third – and presumably last – incarnation of the Washington Diplomats soccer club. The latter day Dips, like their two North American Soccer League predecessors of 1974-1981, played at RFK Stadium. But NFL stadium aside, the 1987-1990 Diplomats were a far more frugal affair than the NASL club that once paid a million transfer fee for Johan Cruyff. On the plus side, Dips 3.0 accomplished something their NASL forebears never managed, capturing a league championship in 1988.

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Salt Lake Sting

September 17, 2013

The Salt Lake Sting were a professional club that enjoyed a short, strange ride for parts of two seasons in the early 1990’s.  The Sting were formed as an expansion team in the Western Soccer League in September 1989.  Club founder Jack Donovan and his partners were a subset of the ownership group of the Salt Lake Trappers of minor league baseball.  The Sting shared 40-year old Derks Field with the Trappers, with the soccer pitch awkwardly stretched across the outfield and portions of the dirt infield. Despite setting a league attendance record in 1990, the club foundered badly under new management in 1991 and folded without completing their schedule.

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Boston Bolts Soccer

Boston Bolts (1988-1990)

April 2, 2012

American Soccer League (1988-1989) American Professional Soccer League (1990) Born: 1987 – ASL founding franchise Folded: Postseason 1990 First Game: April 17, 1988 (L 3-1 @ Maryland Bays)

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1988 Washington Stars Program from the American Soccer League

Washington Stars (1988-1990)

January 22, 2012

The Washington Stars were a professional soccer franchise based in Fairfax, Virginia that operated for three seasons between 1988 and 1990. The Stars were a founding franchise in the American Soccer League, which debuted in the summer of 1988 with ten East Coast franchises stretching from Albany to Miami. Stars midfielder Bruce Murray went on to earn 86 caps with the U.S. National Team and induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011.

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