Puerto Rico Islanders
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| Puerto Rico Islanders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Puerto Rico Islanders FC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Tropa Naranja (Orange Troops) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium, Bayamon, Puerto Rico |
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| Capacity | 12,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Andy Guillemard-Noble |
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| Manager |  Toribio Rojas |
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| League | USL First Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 6th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Puerto Rico Islanders are a Puerto Rican soccer team, founded in 2003. The team is a member of the United Soccer Leagues First Division, the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. They currently play their home games at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The team's colors are Orange, Navy Blue and White.
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[edit] "La Hinchada"
El Batallón S-10
During the course of the club's three first years a group of fans banded together and formed the Hinchas Isleños Autoconvocados which after a while became known as Batallon S-10, which comes from the area where the group sits (on top of Section 10), the Islanders most hardcore supporters. The group is known as one of the loudest and energetic ultras groups in the league, present at every home game and with members from California to Spain. Its loyalty to the Islanders goes unquestioned.
El "UDP"
Another band of supporters is the "UDP" or "Ultras de Populoso" named after the famous bear mascot of the Islanders, Populoso. The UDP are made up of a number ex-pats and locals living in San Juan. Sometimes this group numbers around 30 fans.
A feature of the UDP is that they drape the flags of the various countries they come from on the seats behind the goal. Flags such as Puerto Rico, Great Britain, England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia and others. Within their ranks is a Scottish bagpiper and St. Mirren fan who performs the fans with various tunes. The UDP members wear various European club football shirts of which Arsenal of England and Cork City of Ireland are the most prominent.
The UDP are also known for drinking large quantities of beer at matches, and for being very loud and offering funny comments to the opposition over a megaphone.
Goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was an UDP favorite until his departure in early 2007.
[edit] Club Rivalries
Charleston Battery
During the 2005-2006 seasons the Islanders have developed a pretty nasty rivalry between the Charleston Battery due to several trivial games between them, the fact that Charleston was the first club that the Islanders beat, and the fact that the Islanders win most of the time when they play each other.
The Battery have taken upon themselves to complain about anything, move, play the Islander's players make when they play each other blaming their bad record against the team on bad referring and fictional dirty plays by the Islander's players.
This is why they have been given the nicknames the "Blabery ", "Cry-ston", and "Nuestros Hijos"("Our Sons" in Spanish) by the Islander fans.
Islanders Record up to 2006 against Charleston: 5-3-2
Carolina Railhawks
Even though the Carolina RailHawks and Puerto Rico Islanders have yet to play a match against each other, a fledgling rivalry is brewing among the two clubs. Although Islanders supporters were not wild about Carolina's choice to mimic their blue and orange kit colors, the rivalry begun in earnest when Islanders President Andrés Guillemard-Noble accused the RailHawks of piracy[1] in the signing of Islanders' free agent Caleb Norkus. While the club executive insists that the Islanders had a verbal agreement with Norkus to return to Puerto Rico for the 2007 season, the player refutes that accusation[2], saying the two sides never reached terms and cites the lack of an offered written contract as evidence of their lack of agreement.
[edit] Current Squad
Current as of February 26, 2007
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[edit] Colors
The Islanders current colors are Orange, Navy Blue and White, the wear Navy Blue with 2 Orange vertical stripes and Navy blue shorts at home and Orange with 2 White vertical strips and Orange shorts at away games. Originally in the 2004 the team wore full Light Blue at home and full White away, in 2005 seasons the team wore full White at home and full Light Blue at away games. In 2006 this changed for the current color. Currently Goalkeepers wear Grey at home and Navy Blue at away games.
[edit] Head Coach
Hugo Hernán Maradona - (2004 - 2005)
Jorge Alvial - (2006)
Toribio Rojas - (2006 - current)
[edit] Notable Former Players
Mauricio Salles- Sebastian Rozental
Dan Kennedy
Alen Marcina- Joshua Caleb Norkus
- Gustavo Barros Schelotto
Raúl Díaz Arce
[edit] Year-by-Year
| Year | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | Puerto Rican National Cup | CFU Club Championship |
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| 2004 | USL A-League | 9th, Eastern | Did not qualify | N/A | Did not participate |
| 2005 | USL First Division | 7th | Did not qualify | N/A | Did not participate |
| 2006 | USL First Division | 6th | Quarterfinals | Champion | 2nd round |
| 2007 | USL First Division | N/A | N/A | N/A | Qualified |
[edit] History
The Islanders were founded late in 2003, although another team by that name existed several years earlier. Their first season would be the 2004 A-League season, in which they finished with a disappointing record of 5 wins, 17 losses, and 6 ties. However, in 2005 the team improved to 8 wins, 12 losses, and 8 ties, almost making the playoffs.
Historically, the team has relied largely on Argentinean, Brazilian and other Latin American nationals, although many native Puerto Ricans were in the roster in the club's first year. The team had three major Puerto Rican players in the 2005 season, namely defender Marco Vélez, and defender/midfielders Alexis Rivera and Rafael Ortiz, both of whom started 27 of 30 games. These three were supplemented by a significant foreign contingent, including Salvadoran Raúl Díaz Arce, Brazilian Mauricio Salles de Alencar, Honduran Ricardo Alcerro, and American Christopher Gores.
In 2006 the Islanders played in the CFU Club Championship for the first time, in a attempt to reach the CONCACAF Champions Cup. But fell in their second group stage game to Trinidad and Tobago champions W Connection. The Islanders have qualified for the 2007 edition of the cup by winning the Puerto Rican cup with their reserve team, the Islanders B.
[edit] USISL
In 1995, a team called the ISLANDERS joined the USISL, now the United Soccer Leagues (USL), was founded by Mr. Joe Serralta and other Puerto Rican business men. The team played only four games in Puerto Rico and then folded, after an abrupt ending of that first season, Mr. Serralta decided to move the franchise to Houston, Texas, and the team’s name changed to the "Houston Hurricanes". Even with such a horrible field record this team marked the beginning of new era for Puerto Rican soccer. No less than ten year lates Serralta comes back to remake the Islanders into the current Puerto Rico Islanders FC.
[edit] 2006 Season
The Islanders opened their 2006 season with a mix of new players like Argentinean Gustavo Barros-Schelotto, Chilean Arturo Norambuena, Canadian Alen Marcina, and homegrown talent Marco Vélez, Alexis Rivera, Joshua Norkus, and Dan Kennedy to create one of the strongest lineups in the clubs short history in a serious attempt to take the USL Div. 1 title for the first time.
Formed under and coached by Jorge Alvial up to early June the team's current lineup had the best record in the franchise's history with a 3-2-1, but after his resignation, the clubs future seems uncertain under new coach Toribio Rojas who has added one win, one loss and one tie for a record of 4-3-2. In 2006 the Islanders qualified for the Playoffs, playing a series of matches against Charleston Battery. Unfortunately for the Islanders, Charleston won the game 1:0 ending the successful 2006 season for the Puerto Ricans.
In the weekend before the 2006 playoffs the Islanders twice hosted Miami FC who had Brazilians Romario and Zinho in their line up. The Friday night match was shown live on Fox Soccer Channel. The Islanders needed four points to qualify for the Playoffs for the first time. After going down 0-2 in the first half the Islanders stormed back in exciting fashion to win 4-2 in front of 8,600 fans.
The final day of the season against Miami on September 10, 2006 attracted a record crowd for the Islanders of nearly 11,000 excited fans. A draw was sufficient for the Islanders to qualify in front of Seattle and Atlanta but early in the second half Miami took the lead. It was not until the 43rd minute of the second half that the Islanders equalised in high drama through an Arturo Norambuena penalty. Great celebrations took place on the pitch after the match.
The Islanders are known as the "Tropa Naranja" or Orange Troops after their distinctive home colors of orange and navy Blue stripes and away colors of orange and white stripes.
The beloved mascot of the Islanders is a large bear called Populoso.
In November 2006 the Islanders took part for the first time in the CFU Club Championship in attempt to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup. This is possible because Puerto Rican football is governed by the Federación Puertorriqueña de Fútbol instead of the United States Soccer Federation.
The Islanders were drawn to play Hoppers FC from Antigua and Barbuda and W Connection from Trinidad and Tobago in Bayamon. The Islanders beat Hoppers FC 3-1 but lost to W-Connection 0-1 to be eliminated from the tournament.
[edit] Reserve Squad and Womens Team
The Islanders Reserve Squad is called Islanders B and plays in La Liga Premier de Puerto Rico, wail the Islanders also created in 2006 the Lady Islanders that plays in one of Puerto Rico's Women Leagues.
[edit] Past Squads
2006 USL Division 1 Season
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2005 USL Division 1 Season
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2004 USL A-League Season
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[edit] External Links
- Official site (Spanish)
- Batallon S-10 Supporters Group (Spanish/English)
- Islander FC Fan Site (Spanish)
- United Soccer League Official Site
[edit] References
- ^ Pirates of the Caribbean?. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
- ^ Norkus Refutes Islanders' Piracy Claims. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
