Big Soccer League History

 

Much like the origins of Major League Baseball and early European football, the origins of the Big Soccer League are shrouded in myth and mystery. Much of the league’s early history has been lost and in its place, hundreds of romantic Abner Doubleday-like yarns have sprung up to fill in the cracks of the rich history that is the Big Soccer League. According to one league historian, the league origins begin and end with a blog, and a man known as DynamoKev.

 

DynamoKev, a blog poster on the bigsoccer.com blog initially setup the league and asked posters to join. DynamoKev, presumably a Houston Dynamo supporter, invited many to the league and perhaps his Texas roots could explain the league’s early Texas origins. In fact, several key clubs today still exist largely based on their Texas managerial roots. One such manager invited into the mix was Roblar, from nearby Oklahoma. Roblar was one of a handful of managers, along with DynamoKev to form the “Big Soccer YA League,” where YA stood for “Yanks Abroad.” Just like that, Big Soccer was born.

 

FC Columbia saw early success, winning the first two Big Soccer League Championships.  DynamoKev’s team, Dynamo FC, failed to produce on the pitch. After just two seasons, the man known as DynamoKev exited as quickly as he entered. He of short attention span and zero commitment left the league in the hands of Roblar.

 

“After two or three seasons, I forget which, I logged in, and I had a message from the SYSTEM and one from DynamoKev. Both told me that I was the new admin of the league.” Roblar told the Big Soccer press room. “DynamoKev said something like, ‘I might be back in a few seasons, but you post a lot of news, so you're the Admin now.’”

 

In fact, DynamoKev never returned. The embers of the Big Soccer League might have burned out in those early years if not for Roblar’s nurturing touch in stoking the fire. Shortly after the departure of DynamoKev, Roblar began it’s ascent from league also-ran to league powerhouse.

 

Alongside FC Roblar, much like the early X-Men, were other original clubs. The aforementioned FC Columbia was a strong side, but so too were Camus in Goal FC, Tres Mujeres, Forest Albion FC, the now defunct FC Clobbersaurus and the now defunct Wolverines FC, winners of several early Big Soccer championships.

 

“Wolverines had a very strong team too --- and FC Roblar and Wolverines ended up in the same divisions a lot, so we had a good rivalry for a while. Wolverines dominated early, FC Roblar later on.” Roblar said.

 

Desperate for more teams to fill out the fixtures list, Tres Mujeres was born.

“They were one of the fun teams early on. Never a powerhouse, but eventually becoming a decent side.” Roblar recalled. “I think it was started by someone's girlfriend at the time.”

Several years later, Tres Mujeres would be adopted by another manager who would change the club’s name to Tres Gringos. Early success, followed by years of futility and then eventually conquest, the name still stands. The clubs original three women adorn the Tres Gringos shield, watching over their hallowed club.

 

More teams continued to join the league, including Gundas FC, hailing from Minnesota. The league, which at the time was split into several divisions, floundered a bit early as Roblar managed to get his legs.

 

“I experimented with several different season plans and division set-ups. We had a couple of LONG seasons that didn't go over so well, a bunch of short seasons that also didn't go over so well. We had long off-seasons and short ones. I didn't know what I was doing.” Roblar said. “Eventually I settled in on a relatively stable format.”

 

It was at about this time that Camus in Goal FC claimed their only BS Cup to-date, behind, excellent keeper Albert Camus. Camus in Goal, founded by a man named Malcolm McDonald, stressed intelligent play amongst his club. A voracious reader and perhaps the most witty and humorous poster if Big Soccer pressroom history, McDonald guided the existentialists to early success. Many members of the club were named after famous authors and thinkers of earlier times.

 

Shortly after the triumph of Camus, a little known club was born in the second division. Good or bad, that club, and the club’s manager, would come to change the face of the Big Soccer YA League forever. That club was Delirium FC and the manager was Rockafowla.

 

Named after the beer native to Melle, Belgium, Rockafowla took over Delirium FC as an expansion team. Due to an error in the system, Delirium was far weaker than any team in the league. The roster was a calculated composite average of the lowest division, not the entire league, putting Rockafowla at quite the disadvantage. Still, the young team persevered battling longtime clubs like Worthington FC and Goldstrikers 80 for league footing.

 

At about the time Delirium FC finally garnered promotion to the first division, a radical shift in league format occurred and the divisions were eliminated. The remaining clubs, about 12 at the time, were rounded up into a single-table, as the health of the league faded. A long winter season ensued, and out of the winter season came rebirth.

 

Rockafowla graciously accepted the reigns of league commissioner from Roblar. He changed the name from “Big Soccer YA League” to simply, “The Big Soccer League.”

 

“I didn’t know what YA meant at the time.” Rockafowla sheepishly admitted. “I would have kept it had I known, but Big Soccer League just sounded cleaner and I couldn’t come up with anything else.”

 

Seeing that the league had a deep division between the strong clubs and the weaker clubs, Rockafowla instituted a radical idea: American-style playoffs.

 

“Roblar was so strong at that time, I remember.” Rockafowla said. “I knew so many of our clubs were good clubs, capable of winning. They could beat Roblar once, but not over the course of an entire season. I knew playoffs were the answer.”

 

Playoffs meant league expansion to 16 and two divisions of eight, followed by an 8-team playoff. Several new clubs including Yonsei Athletic (now Cassino FC), Rossoneri, Het Nederlands Elftal and FC Borussia Berlin came into the fold. The playoffs were a success, as clubs began to advance further and more DV opportunities were created for younger clubs.

 

Perhaps foolishly, Rockafowla liked the idea of shorter seasons in addition to the new playoff. He wanted to shorten the time it would take a team to grow to be able to beat the best. Having not been a member of the league during an earlier time when shorter seasons were unpopular, Rockafowla unknowingly moved forward. Turkish Delight (now Full City Roasters), FC Unknown Quantity, Tatfield FC and New Belgium FC joined to provide the league with 18 teams and three divisions. Additionally, divisions were fixed by region, allowing the formation of rivalries to grow. A ten-game slate followed by an 8-team playoff shortened the overall season. It was these original 18 teams that managed to exist in harmony for several seasons.

 

Two seasons later, more proof in the playoff plan. Assanova, a longtime manager of the now-defunct FC Clobbersaurus, had taken the reigns at Forest Albion FC, a longtime powerhouse, and finally snatched the Big Soccer cup from FC Roblar in the final. It was just the second time in nine seasons the trophy did not rest with Roblar at John Crain Field in the offseason. Two seasons later, in season 21, another victory for Forest Albion – the league competitive balance was changing.

 

The culmination of that change took place in the Season 23 Big Soccer Final. Upstar Rossoneri defeated FC Roblar in the final behind a brilliant performance by Maurio Pirelli. It was the first time in more than two decades that an original member of the old Big Soccer guard did not win the title. Furthermore, it proved that any team was capable of winning a title in the new system. This win gave birth to the “Golden Era.”

 

Two seasons later, another title for a newcomer to the mountaintop: Gundas FC. The orange and blue had long been a dominant side, but never a title contender. The news of the balanced league caught the attention of the Xpert Eleven community and soon, new clubs wanted to join. Hoping to keep his divisional format intact, Rockafowla expanded the league through some aggressive recruiting efforts, to 24 teams. Maul Rats, Golden Bears (now Venetian Reds), Atlanta F.C., FC Bruklin Soyuza (now Wiltshire Wanderers), British Empire (now SC Cobra Kai) were among the clubs to join.

 

A final push to 30 teams was made after the numbers were once again set out of balance the following season. AS Leucadia, Havoc, City Islanders FC, Oglala Sioux, Sporting Shanghai (now Fort Ripley Bearcats) and Carolina FC rounded out the group. Drunken Irishmen (now Boulder Sixty Niners) joined a year later after an unmemorable expansion team folded after one season. This final expansion ushered in a new era of Big Soccer – Six seasons of unprecedented growth and success and retention for the league.

 

With the golden era still underway FC Roblar managed back-to-back championships the following two seasons and Forest Albion added another to the trophy case the following year. It was at this time that Rockafowla approached Roblar about a radical idea: a championship draft, in which the league’s top squad would give a player away each year they won the title. Roblar agreed and felt the brunt of the new rule. While the origins of this rule was largely swept under the rug in BS History, the sacrifice of Roblar cannot be overstated. In the seasons since the rule was implemented and Roblar lost two valuable players, they have yet to win a title.

 

Following Forest’s victory, Delirium FC reached claimed its first Big Soccer Cup. A season later, the unthinkable. Tres Gringos behind manager Bawjaws, went from worst to first, winning the 30th Big Soccer cup. It was this shocking turnaround that ultimately proved the balance of Big Soccer and the ultimate health and strength and balance of the league.