On Friday night, South Georgia Tormenta FC President Darin Van Tassell formally announced the club’s intention to form a committee to research the possibility of moving into the ranks of professional soccer at the ‘First Friday’ event, downtown..
Tormenta FC first came to life in the summer of 2015, the culmination of a dream for Statesboro to have a soccer franchise to call its own. In 2016, Tormenta FC officially took the field and had a solid first season in the Premier Development League (PDL). With a new PDL season comes new goals, and with the 2017 campaign starting in a week, Tormenta FC is not shy about stating its ultimate goal of competing for and winning a league championship. However, if the club is successful in its efforts, the Tormenta might only get a couple more shots at that particular title and instead, find itself competing in the professional levels of the U.S. soccer landscape.
Tormenta FC has been closely following the development of the new USL Division III since the announcement in April and has begun exploring the application process. Tormenta FC has also kept the USL aware of its accomplishments during the club’s brief existence.
In the current infrastructure of soccer in the United States, Major League Soccer sits at Division I, with the United Soccer League in Division II. The third professional division is currently vacant, but the USL announced in March its intention to launch a new third-division league in 2019.
“That’s where we’d like to be,” Van Tassell said. “We’ve already taken steps to expand our ownership to comply with the standards of the new league. The next step is to ensure more success and support this season as we look to grow our fan base.”
A professional team would require a professional venue – a fact Van Tassell addressed with his second big announcement of the night.
“We’re going to begin the process of looking into building our own soccer-specific stadium,” Van Tassell said. “Our intentions are to locate it on the current property at The Clubhouse (where the Hackers driving range presently sits).”
The USL is focused on expanding into new markets that possess a strong local ownership group, an established fan base comprised of millennials and families and a proper venue to showcase the sport for fans and players.
“My instinct tells me that this is something we can do,” Van Tassell said. “I think it’s similar to what we’ve just seen Georgia Southern do with its jump up to the FBS.
“Our fans can certainly help by cheering us on at games and growing our season-ticket base, but the community as a whole is already benefitting us. When the USL looks at what Statesboro did in the ‘America’s Best Community’ competition and sees that we’re hosting the Sun Belt baseball tournament soon, it shows that we come together to build great things. It’s also big for us that the Tormenta Youth Academy has great support in the Savannah area.”
Additional information about the findings of the explorations into both the move into Division III and the new stadium will be announced throughout the season and into the fall and winter.
Tormenta FC players have already begun filing into town, with the first official practice scheduled for Monday. Tormenta FC will take on USL member Charleston Battery in an exhibition match on May 10 in Savannah before opening its PDL season against Myrtle Beach in Statesboro on May 13.