The Philadelphia Fury was an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, that last competed in the

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is previously in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season for ...

(NISA). The club formerly competed in the American Soccer League and is currently owned by Martin E. Judge and Matt Driver. The team continues to sport the colors of the original NASL team.

Kit, crest, and colors

Like the team name, the current iteration of the club uses both the original colors and crest of the original

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

team.

History

The original Philadelphia Fury was an expansion franchise in the original

and played for three seasons in

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street (Philadelphia), Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating ca ...

starting in 1978. Among the club's investors were rock musicians

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a s ...

and

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

. They were the NASL's second attempt in Philadelphia, the first being the

Philadelphia Atoms The Philadelphia Atoms were an American soccer team based out of Philadelphia that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1973 to 1976, at Veterans Stadium (1973–75) and Franklin Field (1976). The club's colors ...

(1973–76). Although never posting a winning season, they did make the playoffs in two of their three seasons. Attendance declined with each season and in 1980, the club was sold and moved to Montreal, becoming the

Montreal Manic The Montreal Manic or the Manic de Montréal were a professional soccer team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that played in the North American Soccer League. History "Le Manic" as they were called by the locals, were Montreal's first professi ...

. After the team ceased operations, the Fury name remained dormant until 2011 when the teams

Intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

rights were purchased by Matt Driver, a former player and coach. The team began play in 2012 as an amateur team in the regional adult league the United States Club Soccer's National Adult League. However, soon after the re-founding of the team it joined the American Soccer League, a league created and ran by Driver. The team played its games in Southern

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. In 2016, it was reported that the Fury were attempting to join the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL) in a partnership with Driver, investors from the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, and Spanish club

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

. This deal would have also seen the ASL become a development league for the NASL. However, in 2018 the NASL went on hiatus after not receiving division II sanctioning and losing many of its teams to the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

and the NPSL. In 2019 it was reported that the Fury and Driver were again attempted to join a professional soccer league, this time it was the new

. It was further reported that the team would play their inaugural season at the historic

Franklin Field Franklin Field is a sports stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the eastern edge of the University of Pennsylvania's campus. Named after Penn's founder, Benjamin Franklin, it is the home stadium for the Penn Relays, and the university's ve ...

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Although there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the n ...

. In June 2019, it was reported that the primary benefactors of the team would be Martin Judge and the Judge Group with Judge serving as the Chairman of the Board and Driver serving as the team's CEO and Sporting Director. It was announced that the Fury would take part in the inaugural NISA season. The regular season is split into two halves, fall and spring, with playoffs at the end. The fall season, named "NISA Showcase", will feature 8 teams, with the East and West champions earning berths into the 2020 playoffs. While more teams are expected to compete in the Spring half in the season, the Fury will take part in both the second half "full" season and the fall "NISA Showcase." On September 18, 2019, it was announced that the Fury's lead investor had pulled out of the project, and the team would pull out of the NISA Showcase in order to reorganize for the Spring Season, though the team has since been inactive.

Year-by-year

References

External links

* {{Philadelphia Sports Association football clubs established in 2014 F Soccer clubs in Pennsylvania Phoenix clubs (association football) 2014 establishments in Pennsylvania National Independent Soccer Association teams American Soccer League (2014–2017) teams

Kit, crest, and colors

History

Year-by-year

See also

References

External links