Fayetteville Guard
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The Fayetteville Guard was a professional indoor football team in the
National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, A ...
(NIFL) and
American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...
(AIFA). They played home games at the
Cumberland County Crown Coliseum The Crown Complex (originally the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum) is a multi-purpose venue in Fayetteville, North Carolina that includes the Crown Coliseum, an indoor stadium. The stadium broke ground in 1995 and opened in 1997, and is currentl ...
from 2005 to 2010. The Guard were replaced by the Fayetteville Force in the
Southern Indoor Football League The Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) was an indoor football league based in the Southern and Eastern United States. The most recent incarnation of the league was a consolidation of an earlier league of the same name that was formed by Thom H ...
(SIFL) for the 2011 season. After a 3–0 start to the 2011 SIFL season, the Force collapsed and was eventually sold to the AIFA. The Force did not return in 2012 and were replaced the Cape Fear Heroes expansion team as part of
American Indoor Football American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...
.


History


Stingrays

The teams began play in 2003 as the Myrtle Beach Stingrays of the
National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, A ...
in the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, compiling a 6–8 record in their inaugural season. After two games in the 2004 season, the NIFL shut down the team due to the team owners, April Coble and Jack Bowman, failing to pay the players and other obligations. However, local investors including then head coach Terry Smith, saved the team in time to schedule a third game at the Staten Island Xtreme the last weekend of April. On April 29, the team was moved to
Florence, South Carolina Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropolit ...
, for the remainder of the season as the Carolina Stingrays with seven home games at the
Florence Civic Center The Florence Center is a 10,000-seat multipurpose arena in Florence, South Carolina. The arena was known as the Florence Civic Center until it rebranded in November 2017. It hosted the infamous eighth WWF In Your House pay-per-view in 1996, dur ...
. The relocated team finished with a 3–6 record in Florence and a final 5–7 record in their second season.


Guard

The following year, the team was purchased again and moved to Fayetteville to replace
af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...
's
Cape Fear Wildcats A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
, who had moved to
Albany, Georgia Albany ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia. Located on the Flint River, it is the seat of Dougherty County, and is the sole incorporated city in that county. Located in southwest Georgia, it is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia ...
, as the
South Georgia Wildcats The South Georgia Wildcats were a professional arena football team based in Albany, Georgia. They were member of the South Division of the American Conference of Arenafootball2 (AF2). The Wildcats joined the AF2 in 2002 as an expansion team, aft ...
. The new team had originally been called the Fayetteville Heat, but later changed their name to the Fayetteville Guard. The team started their season 0–5, but went 7–2 in their final nine regular season games, earning a 7–7 record and a playoff berth. The team defeated the Dayton Warbirds in the first round, but lost to the Cincinnati Marshals in the divisional round. The Guard did better in 2006, posting a 13–1 record in the regular season, then defeating the
Lakeland Thunderbolts The Lakeland Thunderbolts were a professional indoor football team. They were a member of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). They played their home games at the Lakeland Center. History The Lakeland Thunderbolts began in 2005 as ...
and
River City Rage The RiverCity Rage were a professional indoor football team. They played home games at the Family Arena in Saint Charles, Missouri, part of the metropolitan area of St. Louis, Missouri, in past seasons, played in the Scottrade Center in downtown ...
en route to Indoor Bowl VI, where they lost to the
Billings Outlaws The Billings Outlaws were a professional league indoor football team based in Billings, Montana. They were a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL), of which they were the 2-time defending champions. They played their home games at Rimrock A ...
. In August 2006, it was reported that the Guard were moving to the
World Indoor Football League The World Indoor Football League was an indoor football league that was to begin in 1988 to compete with the Arena Football League, which was playing its second season in 1988. Some of the teams in the league ran into financial trouble before th ...
. However, the Guard denied these rumors by announcing that they were staying in the NIFL in a press conference two months later. During the 2007 season, the Guard and
Wyoming Cavalry The Wyoming Cavalry were an American professional indoor football team based in Casper, Wyoming. They were most recently members of the Intense Conference in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Cavalry began play in 2000 as an expansion member ...
organized with owners of other independently owned NIFL teams to ensure they had a complete season, but without the approval of the rapidly falling apart NIFL management, which led to a midseason schedule split between the league-owned teams and the independent teams. Both the Guard and Cavalry were subsequently expelled from the NIFL before the post season. They played against each other in the Budweiser Indoor Football Championship Bowl, where the Guard won 48–34. Both teams joined the
American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...
(AIFA) the following 2008 season.


Force

Following the 2010 AIFA season, the league split into two leagues: the AIFA West and East. The AIFA East, of which Fayetteville was a member, then merged into the
Southern Indoor Football League The Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) was an indoor football league based in the Southern and Eastern United States. The most recent incarnation of the league was a consolidation of an earlier league of the same name that was formed by Thom H ...
(SIFL) for the 2011 season . However, a new Fayetteville-based sports marketing group claimed the rights to field a SIFL team in the Fayetteville market and the Guard did not return for the 2011 season. The new team, not affiliated with the Guard or its owners, were called the Fayetteville Force. After a 3–0 start to the 2011 SIFL season, the team collapsed. The AIFA entered into an asset purchase agreement of selected assets of the Fayetteville Force from Fanteractive, LLC, the Force's parent company, but the AIFA did not purchase the corporation that was operating the Force. Under the agreement the AIFA retained the Force name, logo, likeness, playing equipment, and the artificial turf. The AIFA guaranteed that it would play the remaining four Force games with the Southern Indoor Football League.Letter to the Fans
Due to contractual issues between the previous owner and his players and coaches at the time, the AIFA was unable to take over those contracts. On two-day notice before the Erie away game, the AIFA had to assemble a team of available players from a group of former indoor players and rookies. The AIFA selected as head coach Matt Steeple, a veteran indoor coach from the
Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams amon ...
for the balance of the 2011 season. The new Fayetteville Force never won a game and has the dubious distinction of setting a record for the largest single-game losing margin and points allowed in the history of indoor football – in any league – following a 0–138 loss to the
Erie Explosion The Erie Explosion was a professional American indoor football team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2007 as the Pittsburgh RiverRats, the Explosion played in the Professional Indoor Football League, the United Indoor Football League, the ...
on May 21, 2011.Go Erie article
/ref> The AIFA reorganized as
American Indoor Football American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...
(AIF) after the SIFL folded following its lone 2011 season. The Force did not return in 2012 and were replaced the Cape Fear Heroes expansion team in the AIF.


Season-by-season


Results


Schedules


2005


2006


2007


2008


2009


2010


2011


References


External links


Force's 2011 stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fayetteville Force (Sifl) Southern Indoor Football League teams National Indoor Football League teams American Indoor Football Association teams Sports in Fayetteville, North Carolina American football teams in North Carolina 2005 establishments in North Carolina 2010 disestablishments in North Carolina American football teams established in 2005 American football teams disestablished in 2010