The Greenville Lions have launched a new website which can be found at WWW.GREENVILLE-LIONS.COM The site is up and running but we will be continuing to build it during the next few weeks.

It looks like a good enough start although it appears to be with the same design that the D3 club used before that loaded slowly even over the T1 here at work. How soon before the schedule comes out for the PDL?

PDL Soccer Schedule will be announced Monday, February 3rd at 3:00pm.

Actually I recognize the basic framework of the site, it has similar features to another USL site, but I won't give it away.

Schedules may be coming out but don't expect them to be set in stone, I know there was one change made just this morning. When the USL changes the schedule, they don't just say 'this is the new one' at least not in this case, they get an email from the league announcing what was wrong and the proposition to fix it and then they are given a chance to say whether it will work for them or not. My explanation is longer than the email that it sent, but that is the way it works, at least some times.

Does anyone know if the Greenville Lions are still in existence? I live about 30 minutes from Greenville and would appreciate any info regarding their recent activity.

I have read some extraordinarily critical things about the owners/managers of the Lions. I am loathe to believe everything I read, but if their website is any indication...

WWW.GREENVILLE-LIONS.COM

This comes from 3SoccerSons (above). If anyone knows of an active site for the Lions, please let me know.

CD

I just tried the site, I dont think a soccer site is supposed to have an adults only warning, which is what I got when I clicked on it.

www.soccersheet.com
(Covering the hounds and Sparks-is there a future?)

Looking for more readers

In another discussion, I learned that the Lions are not playing this year, so that explains why they let their site get taken over. I am not sure if this is a temporary hiatas for the Lions or if they are permanently out of business.

3SoccerSons, do you know anything more about the status of the Lions? What happened to them? Will they be back?

CD

The Greenville Lions franchise owned by Miguel Banda did not operate in 2004 and will not be in existence in the future as far as I know. Originally Miguel's franchise was a D3Pro (PSL),and then it moved down to PDL in 2003.

At that time, the PDL franchise which my family had owned and operated(originally in MN, Twin Cities Phoenix, and then in SC, Greenville Lions Premier)was put up for sale, as we could not have 2 PDL franchises in Greenville. Even so, we did the work for Miguel in 2003 without any compensation, but he decided not to continue on with his franchise in 2004.

My husband and I were too busy with our jobs and family to be able to do this work any longer or to reactivate our franchise - it is a massive undertaking which requires extreme devotion and a large financial commitment. We gave 5 years of our lives and money to the PDL league and felt we could no longer do so. We still do have the franchise for sale, and it can be moved anywhere in the US which is approved by USL..........so if someone is interested, you can contact us.

The PDL is a very important league for collegiate players and definitely helps to add to their development as players. Most college coaches recognize this and encourage their players to play on a PDL team in the summer months. During our 5 years in the league, we have had more than 14 of our players advance to some level of professional soccer, not to mention be better prepared for their collegiate seasons.

Interesting! You basically went to work for Banda when he scaled down to PDL, putting your own PDL up for sale. How ironic that a small market like Greenville briefly had TWO teams, but sadly now has none.

I understand why you had to get out after a while. It sounds like a grueling business... perhaps more of a love than a business? So, when you left, why did Banda decide to fold rather than find another manager? I see that he went from D3 to PDL, then closed the shop. What happened? What did him in? Lack of fans? Lack of facilities? Lack of players? I have trouble seeing any of these obvious possibilities, though. There's a large hispanic population here I've noticed, and it seems like they would support soccer, especially when the owner is named Miguel! There are lots of college facilities and land is cheap here to build on. Finally, there are plenty of players who would leap at the chance to play in front of a crowd.

It would be very interesting to understand why this club had to fold. Unfortunately for soccer enthusiasts, club closures are a reality, and it would be educational for us to know what happens in a case like this... and what we can do to help a team. Please share, and if you are still friends with Banda, it would be great if he were willing to share.

CD

P.S. I read that the minor league baseball team left Greenville this year, so maybe that will make your PDL franchise more attractive to someone. I hope you find a buyer, especially one who will keep the team here! What's a team like this cost? Up front and annual operating expense? Ballpark.

3SuccerSons,

Your silence tells me that your only reason for contributing was the remote chance of snagging a buyer for your defunct team. That's rather sad. You presented your work with the Lions as a labor of love, but it looks like you're just chasing the bucks like anyone else. I can't speak for any other forum members, but I was genuinely interested in learning about what happened to your ball club, what challenges you faced, etc., but you apparently don't care enough to spend 10 minutes on the subject. That's your perogative, of course. But it's the kind of myopia that may have lead to the demise of the Lions in the first place. The more I think about the implications of your silence, the more credence I give to some of the outright brutal critiques of your management that I read here last spring. Having said all this, I hope to see the Lions revived soon. With great AYSO, high school and college participation, I believe the Upstate is a fertile soccer community that could easily sustain a pro or semi-pro team under the right management... which you guys, with increasing apparency, are/were not. Sorry if this is overly harsh, but that's how it is.