Virginia Beach Mariners

Football club infobox
clubname = Virginia Beach Mariners


fullname = Virginia Beach Mariners Soccer Club
nickname = Mariners
founded = 1994
ground = Virginia Beach Sportsplex,
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
capacity = 10,000
manager = flagicon|Northern Ireland Colin Clarke
league = USL First Division
season = 2006
position = 9th
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The Virginia Beach Mariners were an American soccer club, who formerly played in the USL First Division of the United Soccer Leagues, the second division in the US Soccer hierarchy behind Major League Soccer. On March 30th, 2007 the team folded due to lack of ownership.

The Mariners played in the Virginia Beach Sportsplex in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where they played from 1999 up to their demise in 2007.

The team was founded in 1994 as the "Hampton Roads Hurricanes", but they changed their name to Mariners after the first year. For the 2003 season, the team changed their name from Hampton Roads Mariners to the more widely recognizable Virginia Beach Mariners. The team went on a one- year hiatus in 1997, after which they joined the A-League.

In 2006, the Mariners added a USL Premier Development League club, the Virginia Beach Submariners. Shortly after the termination of the Mariners, the Submariners were taken over by the Hampton Roads Piranhas, a women's W-League soccer club, who renamed the team the Hampton Roads Piranhas to reflect the change of ownership.

Year-by-year

2006 squad

Former Players

*flagicon|United States Jon Busch (1998-2000) as Hampton Roads Mariners
*flagicon|ENG Darren Caskey (2005-06) [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player2/darrencaskey.htm]
*flagicon|England Richard Logan
*flagicon|Ireland Shane McFaul (2006)
*flagicon|Trinidad and Tobago Darin Lewis (2002)
*flagicon|ENG Darren Warham (2002)

External links

* [http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=121970&ran=1035&tref=po Virginia Pilot article announcing the team's March 2007 demise]
* [http://pdl.uslsoccer.com/home/176266.html Press Release announcing Hampton Roads Pirhanas Mens PDL Team]
* [http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=132138&ran=83411 Virginia Pilot - "No one knew the hope of the tanking Mariners was broke"]