Continental Indoor Soccer League (1993-1995, 1997)
Tombstone
Born: August 3, 1992 – CISL founding franchise11997 Continental Indoor Soccer League Official Guide
Folded: December 23, 1997
First Game: June 17, 1993 (W 6-4 vs. L.A. United)
Last Game: September 28, 1997 (L 7-6 vs. Washington Warthogs)
CISL Championships: None
Arena
America West Arena (15,505)21997 Continental Indoor Soccer League Official Guide
Opened: 1992
Branding
Team Colors: Red, Silver & Grey31997 Continental Indoor Soccer League Official Guide
Ownership
Owners:
- 1993-1995: Jerry Colangelo
- 1997: Kerry Dunne & Brian Weymouth
Attendance
Note: The Sandsharks did not play the 1996 season
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Sources:
- 1997 Continental Indoor Soccer League Official Guide (1993-1995 figures)
- Kenn.com Attendance Project (1997 figures)
FWIL FAVORITE
Arizona Sandsharks
Logo T-Shirt
The Euro-fetishization of American club soccer branding in recent years can be exasperating. When I’m feeling cranky about the proliferation of clubs named City FC, City United or City United FC, I find it helpful to pull a t-shirt like this one out of the closet as a reminder of what the current trend is a reaction against. When we tried to do it in the American Way circa 1997, it seems the best we could do was Clip Art sharks wearing sun glasses.
This Arizona Sandsharks monstrosity is also available in women’s V-neck and women’s Tank Top styles from the guys at Old School Shirts!
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Background
The Arizona Sandsharks were an indoor soccer team that played four summertime seasons in the now-defunct Continental Indoor Soccer League during the mid-1990’s.
The ‘Sharks were originally formed by Phoenix sports mogul Jerry Colangelo in August 1992, to begin play with the CISL’s debut the following summer. Colangelo owned the NBA’s Phoenix Suns in 1992 and would soon win the expansion rights to the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. He was also one of the key backers of the 15,000-seat America West Arena that opened in Phoenix in 1992. With the arrival of the Arena, Colangelo assembled a stable of second-tier sports franchises to fill the dates in the building, launching the Sandsharks, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League, and the Phoenix Smash of World Team Tennis within a 12-month period in 1992 and 1993.
Veteran Club
The Sandsharks signed a number of indoor veterans. While not household names to the casual sports fan or soccer mom, players like Wes Wade, Franklin McIntosh and Terry Woodberry were well-known to indoor diehards in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The Sandsharks also signed local product Mark Kerlin, who had played for the city’s previous indoor soccer teams the Phoenix Inferno and Phoenix Pride of the Major Indoor Soccer League back in the early 1980’s.
The Sandsharks never put together a strong side in the CISL. In four years of operation, the team never made the playoffs and finished in last place three times. In 1995, Colangelo hired Ron Newman, the architect of the San Diego Sockers indoor dynasty of the 1980’s, to coach the team. But Newman only got in one season of rebuilding work before Colangelo decided to get out of the CISL.
Ownership Transition & Demise
New owners Kerri Dunne and Brian Weymouth stepped forward to keep the Sandsharks afloat. But the deal came together so late in the offseason, that the club sat out the 1996 campaign. When the Sandsharks returned in 1997 (without Ron Newman), they returned to their former ways and finished in last place with an 8-20 record.
The CISL folded amidst investor squabbling after the 1997 season. Several ex-CISL franchises re-organized in 1998 as the Premier Soccer Alliance. The Sandsharks were not among them, but a Phoenix-based entry called the Arizona Thunder joined the new league and played three more losing campaigns before folding in 2000.
Arizona Sandsharks Shop
In Memoriam
Forward Paul Kitson(’93) suffered a fatal brain aneurysm while conducting a soccer clinic on August 25, 2005. Kitson was 49. Baltimore Sun obituary.
Links
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3 Responses
I have been counting the Thunder as an extension/continuation of the Sandsharks, do you not?
Hi Kenn,
I’ve given that a lot of thought over the years (not the Sandsharks/Thunder, but just re-branding efforts in general) and what I’ve defaulted to is that if there is a significant re-brand, I’ll make separate entries. This example is significant in a couple different ways – league changed, major name change, colors changed, etc. So I would make that into separate entries, even if the ownership, arena, etc. stayed the same.
Conversely, if a re-brand is very subtle, I wouldn’t split it up. Good examples would be the Kansas City Wiz becoming the “Wizards” after their first season in MLS. Or their was a CBA basketball team in Minnesota in the mid-1990’s called the Rochester Renegade (singular) who changed their names to the “Renegades” (plural) after their first season. It’s a judgment call.
Related to this – I don’t have a Wiz/Wizards entry on FWiL but I would do it someday. I will put a dead brand on here even if the underlying franchise still exists in the original city.
AC
Since this conversation five years ago, I have come around to the idea that the Thunder and Sandsharks were separate franchises. Completely different ownership.