Canton Invaders

History

The Canton Invaders were named by Michael George of Canton, Ohio. They were one of the charter members of the American Indoor Soccer Association (AISA) and played their home games at the Canton Civic Center, a municipally owned facility in downtown Canton. The AISA began play in 1984 with six teams: the Chicago Vultures, Canton Invaders, Columbus Capitals, Kalamazoo Kangaroos, Louisville Thunder, and Milwaukee Wave. The Invaders won league championships for the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons and advanced to the championship series for the 1986–87 campaign, where they were defeated by the Louisville Thunder, who folded after that season.

Over the next three seasons, Canton again captured the league championship crown, but attendance dwindled. A group of dedicated fans continued to attend home games, and the seats behind one goal area became known as The Twilight Zone, with spectators dressing in dark clothing and wearing face paint for the Invaders' motif. The area behind the other goal was the stage of the Canton Civic Center, and no spectators were permitted to sit there during games.

Prior to the 1990–91 season, the league reinvented itself as the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), expanding to ten teams from New York to Milwaukee and south to Jacksonville. To make games more equitable, players were traded among teams, and Canton's ability to win a majority of games was eliminated; they never again won a championship. For the 1996–97 season, the team relocated to Columbus, where they compiled a 5–35 record, finishing last in the Central Division of the American Conference of the NPSL.

The Invaders disbanded after one season in Columbus, and their players were distributed to the remaining dozen teams of the league. The Invaders had a rivalry with the nearby Cleveland Crunch for their last five seasons. The NPSL continued operations for ten more seasons before folding, and its ten teams then established a restructured league known as the Major Indoor Soccer League.