The Philadelphia Independence was an American professional

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 ...

club that was based in the

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 ...

suburb of

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...

. The team joined

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

as an expansion team in 2010 and played its home games at

West Chester University West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university located in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the ...

's John A. Farrell Stadium. The team played at

Widener University Widener University is a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. Established in 1821, the university was known as the Pennsylvania Military College until 1972. Widener enrolls approximately 3,500 undergraduate students across s ...

's Leslie Quick Stadium in 2011. The

league folded on May 18, 2012, after an earlier announcement that the 2012 season would be suspended.

History

Women's Professional Soccer formally announced the Philadelphia market as its eighth franchise on March 17, 2009. Two months later, the Independence formally unveiled its name and colors at the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...

in Center City. The "Independence" name referred to the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

, adopted at

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers of ...

July 4, 1776 Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental ...

. The official motto was "We the People", referring to the

Preamble to the United States Constitution The Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words We the People, is a brief introductory statement of the Constitution's fundamental purposes and guiding principles. Courts have referred to it as reliable evidence of ...

. The Independence succeeded the former Philadelphia Charge of the defunct

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

2010 season

In the inaugural season, the Independence finished the regular season as the league's three seed, then won two playoff games in overtime to advance to the WPS Championship. The Independence defeated Washington Freedom at home in the Quarterfinal, then won at Boston in the WPS Super Semifinal. In the championship, the Independence were defeated by FC Gold Pride.

2011 season

In the 2011 season, the Independence finished the regular season as the league's two seed, then won the WPS Super Semifinal 2-0 over the magicJack to advance to the WPS Championship. Goals were scored by Tasha Kai 46' and Amy Rodriguez 81'. The Independence faced the Western New York Flash for the WPS Championship where they lost by penalty shootout 1(5) - 1(4).

Colors and badge

The Independence's colors were steel grey, alluding to the city’s industrial history; pearl blue, derived from the civic flag of Philadelphia and further symbolizing the city’s

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...

heritage; and blazing yellow, representing the Swedish immigrants who first came to the city in 1638. The Independence unveiled its brand on July 4, 2009, to commemorate

American Independence Day Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...

. The primary logo's contour was a stylized keystone, an architectural shape that referred to

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 ...

's official nickname, "The Keystone State." This nickname alluded to the commonwealth's economic, social, and political relevance in the original

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

. An eighteenth-century

war flag A war ensign, also known as a military flag, battle flag, or standard, is a variant of a national flag for use by a country's military forces when on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign. Under the strictest sense of the term, few co ...

, featuring the team's name and motto, is superimposed across the shield.

Stadium

PPL Park before Independence Playoff Game 2010

For the 2010 season, the club played at

's John A. Farrell Stadium. For 2011, it played its home games at

's Leslie Quick Stadium in

. The Independence elected to utilize PPL Park to host playoff games in 2011. The Independence practiced and held preseason games at their training home, United Sports, in West Bradford Township, Pennsylvania.

Supporters

Grassroots support was instrumental in bringing top-tier women's professional soccer back to the Philadelphia area. The Philadelphia Independence masterfully cultivated relationships with Philadelphia-area girls' travel soccer teams, offering workshops all over the region with Independence players at reasonable costs, sending emails about games, inviting teams to have a formal relationship with the Independence, having local girls' teams on the field for the teams' introductions at every game, and having all players on the field for an extensive post-game autograph and conversation time after every game. The formal grassroots support group for the Independence was nicknamed "The Cheesesteaks". For men's soccer, this backing came in the form of a supporters' association known as the Sons of Ben, named for Founding Father and Philadelphia icon

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

, founded in January 2007. The Sons of Ben petitioned the men's

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

league to expand to the Philadelphia market until the official expansion announcement of the men's team, later named the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

, was made in January 2008.

Players

2012 roster

(2012 draft pick) (2012 draft pick) (2012 draft pick) (2012 draft pick)

Free agents

Coaching staff

:''As of April 7, 2009.'' Paul Riley, Steven Fraser and Skip Thorp were selected as coaches for the 2010 WPS All-Star game held in Atlanta. Paul Riley was voted the WPS Coach of the Year in 2010 for his team's third place regular season performance as an expansion franchise and subsequent playoff berth.

Year-by-year

Ownership

The Philadelphia Independence was owned and operated by David and Linda Halstead. The Halsteads purchased the franchise from WPS in March 2009 and orchestrated the team's success in both 2010 and 2011 seasons (they never won a championship, but were runners-up both years). Their first coach was Paul Riley. After the league folded in 2012, the name stopped being used.

League suspension

On January 30, 2012,

announced suspension of the 2012 season, citing several internal organization struggles as the primary cause. Some of these included an ongoing legal battle with an ex-franchise owner and the lack of resources invested into the league.

References

External links

{{Pennsylvania Sports Association football clubs established in 2009 Soccer clubs in Pennsylvania I Women's Professional Soccer teams Women's soccer clubs in the United States 2009 establishments in Pennsylvania 2012 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Association football clubs disestablished in 2012