At last, indoor soccer arrives

My wait to have an indoor soccer team to call my own finally ends in 2024.

And it’ll come 46 years after my wait began.

On Thursday, the National Indoor Soccer League announced the addition of Magic City SC for the upcoming season. The team will play at the Pelham Civic Complex & Ice Arena.

“The addition of Magic City SC to the NISL family marks a significant milestone in our league’s growth,” Gary Tufford, Commissioner of the NISL, said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome the team to the league and are confident that their presence will enhance the level of competition and entertainment that our fans have come to expect.”

I’m excited – truly. Indoor soccer is fast and fun, and the arena in Pelham (also home to the SPHL Birmingham Bulls hockey team) is a great venue.

Plus, it opens up a whole new avenue for local soccer enthusiasts.

“We are thrilled that the Magic City Soccer Club has decided to make its home in Pelham,” Pelham City Manager Gretchen DiFante said. “Not only will they provide entertainment and promote soccer in the area, we will also be able to host competitive indoor soccer leagues and tournaments at the Pelham Civic Complex & Ice Arena.  This will provide another sport for both youth and adults in our community.”

I was hyped about the innovative version of the Beautiful Game back in 1978 when the Super Soccer League was supposed to call Birmingham home. 

The SSL franchise in the Magic City was known as the Bandits (predating the Continental Basketball Association Bandits by 13 years) and it was joined by clubs in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New England, New Jersey, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Shreveport, South Florida, Toronto and Washington D.C.

There would be a 32-game schedule that ran from July to October.

Birmingham was coached by Gordon Fearnley, who started his playing career at Sheffield Wednesday before coming to the United States to play in the late, great North American Soccer League.

Having finished the 1978 season as a player with the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL, he had already moved to Birmingham and began assembling a squad ahead of the July launch, working out his players in Ensley.

“Birmingham is perfect,” he told the Birmingham Post-Herald. “The weather is perfect. I think we can all work together to have something perfect.”

But …

League president Jerry Saperstein announced on June 21, 1978, that the Super Soccer League would be delayed until 1979 because, he said, “some teams were ready to play and some weren’t.”

As you might’ve guessed, the SSL never got off the ground.

Woe was me.

I had spent a lot of time cheering on the original Birmingham Bulls at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, and was fully prepared to the do the same for the guys playing downsized association football.

Luckily, I got over it, moved on with my life, and shoved the memories of the Super Soccer League deep in the back of my mind.

Now, however, I get a second chance to goob out over indoor soccer – and I plan to take full advantage of it.

Unlike the SSL, the NISL has already put balls against walls. It began play in 2021 and features men’s and women’s teams that play doubleheaders across a 16-game regular season. So, while I never got to support the Bandits, I can double my pleasure with Magic City SC.

The NISL team lineup for the upcoming season features the Central Florida (Orlando) Crusaders, Columbus (Georgia) Rapids, Fayetteville (North Carolina) Fury, Magic City SC, Memphis Americans, Tampa Bay Strikers, and a yet-to-be-named club from Albany, Georgia (finalists in the name the team contest are Soul and Aces). 

To be clear, it hasn’t been all lollipops and unicorns on the league’s business side. The 2023 playoffs were abruptly canceled in May with little explanation other than a release that read, in part, “We understand that the decision to cancel the playoffs has been a confusing and disappointing end to an otherwise successful sophomore season for our league and we’re sorry for that.”

In June, the Tampa Bay Times reported there had been complaints of non-payment to some players and coaches, which is never a good look.

Obviously, such problems must be rectified, and I’m hopeful they will be because I’m an optimistic little feller. And I’m already looking forward to the matchups against the Americans; Birmingham vs. Memphis is a great rivalry regardless of the endeavor.

As far as game play, there are five field players and one goalkeeper per side with free substitutions. NISL matches are divided into four, 15-minute quarters with three-minute breaks between the first and second and third and fourth frames, and a 10-minute halftime.

Season tickets start at $120 for all eight regular season doubleheaders and full season tickets are on sale now at https://magiccitysc.com/season-tickets.