GREENVILLE, S.C. – It’s now remembered fondly – you can even purchase replicas of it online – but when the current Greenville Triumph SC Head Coach John Harkes and his teammates were first shown what would become known as the Denim kit before the 1994 FIFA World Cup, their reaction was slightly different.

“Alan Rothenburg – who at the time was in charge of running the whole World Cup – was introducing that kit to us in front of the team, and when he brought it out, guys' jaws hit the ground,” Harkes told the USL’s Ryan Madden on Instagram Live on Thursday afternoon. “Everyone was kind of shocked, like ‘what is that?’ They couldn’t really tell that it was denim with stars on it. Tab Ramos was cracking up laughing, he was like, ‘I don’t know anybody who could make that jersey look good, come on, what are you doing to us?’”

That growth has opened the door to what previously hasn’t existed in the modern era of professional soccer in the United States, with USL President Jake Edwards voicing his support for a promotion and relegation system to be implemented between the Championship and League One when the opportunity arises.

It’s a discussion that Harkes believes should happen as well.

“I think it’s a tremendous question, and I think that the USL – maybe not in the near future, but the second or third year from now, it should be in discussion,” said Harkes. “It would be a perfect kind of inner-box experiment that you can do between the Championship and League One.

“I think it makes every game count. The competition is there, there’s a purpose for it. Now, if the financial stability of each of those clubs is strong, ideally in the leagues around the world they get television money at the end of the year for which position they finish in the table. That doesn’t happen here yet, but if the corporate sponsors can get involved, and from a business and financial structure it’s good, I say let’s go for it. It would be tremendous.”

That may be in the future, but in the present Harkes and the rest of Triumph SC’s leadership is putting its energy into not only ensuring a positive future for the club, but also doing what it can to help others in Greenville deal with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

“The club is certainly great, Joe Erwin and his family are great leaders. I do think Chris Lewis, Doug Erwin, all the gang there in the front office, everyone’s doing well to keep their spirits high and keep positive through this process,” said Harkes. “There’s a lot of discussion, a lot of day-to-day that we’re discussing, and also talking about how important it is to be in the community at this time. This is why I took on this job in Greenville, when I first discussed with Joe, I said we have to be a sporting club that is for the community, and he was 100 percent [on board], that was the same ideals he had for the club as well.

“From our perspective, can we do more for the hospitals right now, for the doctors and nurses that are putting themselves on the front lines. Everybody that has contributed to fighting this pandemic and trying to save souls, they’ve done such a great job, so from a club standpoint we want to make sure we’re being responsible and accountable in the community.”