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HISTORY OF
THE SITE
Since
we formed, many fans have always asked 'Just where did SAS come
from?' Fans like to know the roots of sites like this and we've got
the whole history of Soccer All Stars from the moment it was first
made up until this day!
There's a big debate over the history of the SAS league. Many people
seem to think it started in November 1998. This seemed the most
accurate as ScreamKing, the founder of Soccer All Stars had
originally said that the site had evolved at that time. However this
is in fact incorrect. ScreamKing actually started off the SAS as the
SSA which stood for Scream Soccer Association. The SSA began during
March 1998 and lasted three months before closing down in June the
same year. ScreamKing then revamped the SSA and also changed it's
name to Soccer All Stars (SAS) before re-opening during November
1998.
ScreamKing though didn't want to link SAS with the revamp as he felt
the SSA was a very poor site which made the new look SAS look
unprofessional. However, SAS was the natural evolution from the SSA
and that's where it all began. During November 1998 and January 1999
the Soccer All Stars league was booming as fans across the globe
enjoyed playing the game regularly. The site enjoyed 6,000 hits in
that time before ScreamKing stepped down. He basically was a victim
of his own success and due to probable bad planning to begin with,
errors and problems were soon going to crop up down the line.
During the time of November 1998 and January 1999, ScreamKing
appointed several co-workers of the site. These included William
Geddes (Raw), Alex Jans (Maverick), Ørjan Knutsen (BrannBergen),
Simon Godfrey (Simmo) and Neil Morris (Neil). These appointments
helped in the massive success of SAS. However in January 1999,
ScreamKing passed over the site to a new team which was Guernsey
based. Out went ScreamKing, Simon Godfrey, Neil Morris and William
Geddes. In came Matt Gaudion (New Chairman), Otto Marais and Matt
Seeds. Ørjan Knutsen and Alex Jans stayed on with the new team. The
move stunned the Fantasy Soccer world and they were left outraged at
the sudden change during the season.
With many opinions flying about, nobody really had let the new team
settle in and prove themselves, which they did. In February 1999,
the new team started off very impressively and the site enjoyed even
greater success for a short period of time. They revamped some
pages, added some new features and announced future plans for the
site. All of which looked bright and better for the game. SAS though
soon came to an abrupt end when several board members and managers
resigned over ScreamKing's resignation and the poor updating of the
site. The new SAS Internet Management team promised a site revamp, a
domain name and more divisions to play in. However the fans waited
and waited but nothing ever came.
It's rumoured that there was a bitter row between ScreamKing, the
new SAS Internet Management Team and Dream Teams (another fantasy
football site). SAS was then taken back by ScreamKing who closed the
site down during February 1999. This left fans in confusion as
ScreamKing had reclaimed his site. However the new SAS Internet
Management team though promised the site would continue with a new
domain. Several other features were also promised, such as flash
graphics and easy drag and drop pages, but they along with the
revamp and new domain, never came and the confusion continued to who
was in control of SAS. Was it ScreamKing or the new SAS Internet
Management Team? It was later revealed that ScreamKing was back in
control of SAS but it was to remain closed for the foreseeable
future whilst the Guernsey based team had other ideas planned.
The original SAS site stayed inactive from February 1999 until
September 1999 where a small image appeared announcing that SAS
would be returning. The graphical image was very pretty and left
fans confused. Was it ScreamKing returning or had the new SAS
Internet Management Team finally got the site up? It was actually in
fact ScreamKing. Many people wondered what exactly was going on as
almost an identical image and site style appeared all over Euro
League (a one-time SAS affiliate). ScreamKing, who had planned to
re-open the SAS decided against it and opted to help out Euro
League as Acting Vice Chairman. Euro League, which was
already booming at the time enjoyed further success and were seen by
many (including ScreamKing and SAS) as the number one site in
Fantasy Football.
Soccer All Stars though stayed inactive like that until, October 4th
1999 when SAS put up a message that they we're back! Some fans were
given 'sneak' previews of the site while others were beta testers
for it. The new SAS underwent a revamp, got it's own domain and
changed it's title slightly to SAS Internet Soccer Management
although it's still mainly referred to as SAS, even by the Executive
Board!
The new site is incredibly impressive compared to when it first
emerged. The amount of content tripled what the previous site had
and it now offered support for other sites. The new SAS site also
then changed it's political running of the league. No longer was
their a single Chairman orchestrating the site. Previously
ScreamKing and Matt Gaudion we're Chairman. However SAS introduced a
new 'Executive Board' which saw ScreamKing returning with Alex Jans,
Simon Godfrey and Ørjan Knutsen. The Executive Board were a
committee which ran the league. This means that a voting system was
installed on each and every topic. This in turn would ensure the
fairest, best and easiest solutions to all topics, ideas and
situations found within the league.
However during the course of the opening season SAS encountered
several problems as many Board members quit due to the enormous
workload and pressure with the top jobs. Alex Jans was the first to
go and Ørjan Knutsen soon followed. During this time Simon Godfrey
and ScreamKing maintained control and Ant Coombes soon joined the
Board but left due to the workload until SAS finally appointed
Stuart Gibson to the team.
The three of them ran the show extremely well until both Stuart
Gibson and Simon Godfrey stepped down only 48 hours apart from each
other. This left ScreamKing alone again and he once again vowed to
see the season through by himself. The departure of Simon Godfrey
was the most surprising one as the 18 month partnership between
ScreamKing and Godfrey finally came to an end. They'd done it all
together and basically Godfrey needed a change, a new challenge and
something fresh to keep him interested. His name will always live in
the memory of SAS as will Stuart Gibson, whose hard work will also
never be forgotten. ScreamKing though, insisted that the beat went on...
As ScreamKing worked tirelessly alone for several months he somehow
managed to keep SAS afloat and gained immense pleasure through
completing the site's first season as scheduled. There were a few
hiccups along the way but SK still was up to his old tricks. Season
2 was just around the corner and along with that came Dean Birkett
and Jeet Padaruth, who were appointed as Board Members and a flash
new design too! There was only one thing left to say after that..
the future's bright, the future's SAS!

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