Soria League

Soria League is a term coined to refer to a group of Athletic Clubs in Lisander. The term is also used beyond the sports context to refer to the clubs as a group with connotations of aristocratic or rich background, social elitism and tradition attachment. Although there is no formal association called "The Soria League" that unites the clubs, its sports departments, like those of Fencing, Mens' Rugby and Womens' Field Hockey, were responsible for the creation of very prestigious entities in national sport. Soria League Clubs were the founder members of URSA (Soria and Azhaar Rugby Union) and Metropolitan Hockey League, that later acted as founder of Lisander Hockey League.

Clubs

The Clubs usually labeled as part of the Soria League are:

• The Victorian Club
• Linville Athletic Club
• Club d'Escrime de Soria
• St. Helens' Club
• Elysium Club

Some people also include other clubs in Soria taking part on Rugby and Hockey Competitions as part of Soria League to some extent. Some of them are "Old Boys and Old Girls Club" from prestigious colleges and universities:

• Quarto Clube Naval da Armada
• Hockey and Rugby Club Astrea
• Trinity College Old Boys and Girls Club
• Saint Marian College Old Boys and Girls Club
• Saint Germain Old Boys and Girls Club
• (University of Soria) Alumni Club

There are also clubs from other cities, that also are seen as "elite" clubs and are usually linked with the Soria League:

• Academica Athletica Portia
• Athletic Club de Casterwill
• Azhaar Athletic Club
• Beaumont Athletic Club
• Club Excelsior
• Club Sparta (See Controversies below)
• Pia Mater Institute Old Girls Club
• Pines Athletic Rugby and Football Club
• Real Clube Naval de Sendas-Beaumont
• Sporting Club de Grandeville (See Controversies below)
• The Cantabrian Club

In Professional Leagues

Soria League clubs are most known for its Hockey and Rugby Clubs, but in an era of professional sport, they couldn't be oblivious to the reality of the high-level sport. Each of these clubs had pro and semi-pro teams started to compete in National level. In the club organizations, they are usually referred as First XV, First XI or First Team, but they're essentially different organizations. As expected, they're primarily in Hockey and Rugby, but also in Football and Cricket.

Linville Athletic have four of these teams. Linville Rugby plays in the TOP 12, first division of Rugby. Linville CC is a Cricket team that plays in The Alliance T20 and won Champions League T20 once. Linville Leonessa is a female spin-off club that controls hockey and women's football teams in Lisander Hockey League and Starleague respectively.

St. Helens' Club have three, with St Helens' Hockey in the Lisander Hockey League, St. Helens' Rugby in TOP 12 and St. Helens AFC in Nacional 1, the second tier of Association Football.

Same goes for Club d'Escrime de Soria. Escrime Rugby team is currently in the Championship, second division of national rugby, while Field Hockey team plays in Lisander Hockey League and Association Football is also in the Nacional 1.

Victorian Club have two. Victorian Rugby plays in TOP 12, Victorian Hockey plays in the Lisander Hockey League. There are also lots of Victorian members playing Tennis and Rugby in other teams, like TOP 12 side Harlequins, that is sometimes saw as "Victorian spin-off club". Originally, Harlequins was founded by players from both Linville and Victorian, hence the two colours of the club.

Elysium Club have Field Hockey and Football clubs, playing in Lisander Hockey League and Nacional 1, respsctively.

Among the "related clubs", there is also a lot of professional teams. Some of them are:

Athletic Casterwill have four of them: A cricket one, that also won a Champions League T20; a basketball one, the Superliga side Casterwill Roses; and two football teams, male and female. The male team has 8 national titles, the most recently in 1982, but currently is in Divisão de Honra, the fourth division of semi-professional football. The female team is in FLF D1, the second division of football for women, below Starleague.

RC Naval and Beaumont Athletic, the "cousins of the north", have teams in The Premiership, and the first one already participated in IFCF competitions.

Excelsior Club, from Sirenia, is a very specific case, since the Original Excelsior closed its doors in 1950s due to debts, but it was refounded recently by descendants of original members. The club have teams in Nacional 2, third division of national Football, and in Lisander Hockey League, where it was one of the Expansion Clubs.

Club Sparta and Sporting Grandeville, despite rejecting completely the notion of being "League-like clubs" (See Controversies below) are sometimes regarded as is. Club Sparta is the biggest winner of Lisander Football System, with 19 national titles. It has no less than 7 professional teams. Men's and Women's Football (in Premier League and Starleague), Basketball (in Superliga), Rugby (in TOP 12), Hockey (in LHL), Handball (in LNAH) and Ice Hockey (in LNH). Sporting Grandeville itself have four teams. Men's and Women's Football (in Premier League and Starleague), Hockey (in LHL) and Basketball (in NBL, second division to ring-fenced Superliga)

Controversies

Club Sparta and Sporting Grandeville are two clubs usually referred to as "League-like clubs". However, they strongly reject this denomination, presenting themselves as clubs created for all people, regardless of financial conditions or social background.

Despite being included on the list on criteria of tradition and participation in Hockey and Rugby Activities, Club Sparta is actively against any linking to social elitism. "Club Sparta was founded by Juliano Lutz, a textile industrialist, to provide sport and leisure options, as well as life quality activities to its workers and their family members. He never imagined Sparta clubhouses as elitist places", the club website claims.

The addition of Sporting Grandeville to this list is also seen as controversial by some, because the club has been entirely public since it was created and has always been maintained by the municipality, being open to all citizens regardless of social class, financial standing or invitation. It has always positioned itself as unfavorable to this type of segregation, since its founding.

Still, Grandeville is one of the cities with the highest GDP per capita in the nation and a high number of millionaire residents. The city is a hotspot for high-cost sports, with motorsports events, winter sports, golf, and horse polo. Club headquarters, training centres and clubhouses are frequented by rich and powerful people The club itself also receives high sponsorship from companies with connections to the Aristocracy, including the Harmin Group itself, an investment fund headed by Their Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Lisander (that are honorary members), and its teams take part in competitions at the highest Level.