CSL Memories

[Alex D]

The original CSL was before my time, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much proof of it's existence floating around on the net. I'm wondering if some of you guys would be willing to dive into history and share some pictures, videos, or stories from Canada's only attempt at a true national league.

[Bill Spiers]

The original CSL was before my time, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much proof of it's existence floating around on the net. I'm wondering if some of you guys would be willing to dive into history and share some pictures, videos, or stories from Canada's only attempt at a true national league.

Some information is there - if you know where to look.

Try here for all league standings and playoff results:

http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/csl.html

[Alex D]

I've stumbled upon that before. I can't find much in the way of pictures from back then

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

There are some clips on youtube for what it's worth:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGlXnuZa80U

[Grizzly]

Interesting video. Hard to get a complete picture based on the short amount of footage of one game but the standard of play seems surprisingly high though with players like Fashanu and many of our national team players maybe it is not that much of a surprise. Too bad this league folded.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

TSN zapped their entire archive of CSL games unfortunately so anything that's out there will be games that people videotaped at home as Krammerhead appears to have done judging by the few youtube clips that he has uploaded to youtube. The top games between the few relatively well funded franchises like the 86ers and the Steelers were of a reasonably high standard, hence why the CMNT was relatively strong in CONCACAF terms in the early to mid 90s:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kby6mrT0D8s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdlbdi4YBq8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89qDM2P6tMQ

what sunk the league was the lack of quality of the weaker teams making up the numbers. Watching fixtures like the London Lasers vs Ottawa Intrepid or North York Rockets vs Nova Scotia Clippers wasn't much different from watching a present day CSL or top Ontario Cup game.

[Winnipeg Fury]

No question Vancouver, Hamilton and Toronto Blizzard (not the Rockets) were in a different class. The Blizzard were always just as good as Vancouver, but simply could not put it together when it counted.

The Winnipeg Fury won it in 1992, and had an extremely strong squad with many national team players. Pat Onstad was playing for Winnipeg in 1992.

More importantly, over the years, Winnipeg's attendance was second only to Vancouver.

[hamiltonfan]

I get chills watching those videos. It seems so simple, yet we can't get it down and done. Thanks for sharing with us, I havent had a chance to see much old CSL action.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Three more metropolitan areas the size of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal would have helped. That's basically why there had to be a merger with the APSL in the end. Beyond that the big mistake was trying to compete against the NSL in southern Ontario rather than incorporate its top clubs i.e. Italia and Croatia. Those two plus the Blizzard, Steelers and Montreal could have formed the nucleus for a reasonably stable eastern conference that might have weathered the recession of the early 90s but unfortunately people on both sides of the ethnic team names argument were unwilling to make the compromises that could have made that happen. Out west the problem was that Vancouver was way too strong relative to the rest. Maybe there should should have been two Vancouver teams to help the other cities compete but a neat split of allegiances is not something that's easy to achieve as anyone who ever attended a Blizzard and a Rockets game on the same day will be able to grasp. The Blizzard had a genuine support base (albeit usually in the hundreds rather than thousands once they moved out to Etobicoke), while the Rockets sometimes played in front of crowds of a few dozen (i.e. mainly friends and family).

Here is an old CBC clip about the 86ers when the league was on the verge of folding in 1982:-

http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/topics/2273-13468/

[Alex D]

I can't help but wonder how that Vancouver team would match up against a top MLS side like Houston. There was no doubt some quality talent in that squad.

[redhat]

I can't help but wonder how that Vancouver team would match up against a top MLS side like Houston. There was no doubt some quality talent in that squad.

The 86ers squads were very strong. I remember an article saying that if the Vancouver 86ers represented Canada against Brazil, we may lose 4-2 but still score two goals and play well. So I think the sixers (with players in their prime: Dolan, Catliff, Mobilio, Evans, Valentine, etc.) would play well against any Dynamo squad and could even beat them. Weren't they North American champs at one point?

BTW I have quite a bit of CSL stats and magazines on file ...

But check out:

http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/csl.html

[Alberto7]

I attended 5-6 CSL games in 1990 and still have an Ottawa Intrepid Program as well as a Montreal Supra program. I think I have a couple of JPEGs of the programs. Do you want me to post them?

[hamiltonfan]

please do so

[Winnipeg Fury]

The 86ers squads were very strong. I remember an article saying that if the Vancouver 86ers represented Canada against Brazil, we may lose 4-2 but still score two goals and play well. So I think the sixers (with players in their prime: Dolan, Catliff, Mobilio, Evans, Valentine, etc.) would play well against any Dynamo squad and could even beat them. Weren't they North American champs at one point?

BTW I have quite a bit of CSL stats and magazines on file ...

But check out:

http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/csl.html

Yes, Vancouver beat the Maryland Bays to become #1 north of the Rio Grande. It was an amazing match.

[Guest HamiltonSteelers]

The videos were beautiful. Even if I fondly remember the results.

Shoulda renamed them the Silversmiths with all the second place finishes they had...

[redhat]

I thought I would bring up some 1992 rosters for some CSL teams. See if you remember any of the players, jogging your memories. The source would be game-day programs, with the date indicated:

Vancouver 86ers (Sept 27, 1992):

GK: Paul Dolan, Rob Merkl

Defenders: Rick Celebrini, Gregor Young, Steve MacDonald, Mark Karpun, Norm Odinga, David Fiorvento, Nico Berg

For/Mids: Ivor Evans, Scott Macey, John Catliff, Dominic Mobilio, Jim Easton, Carlos Batista, David Norman, Dale Mitchell, Doug Muirhead, Doug McKinty, Sammy Saundh,

Guido Titotto, Carl Valentine

Winnipeg Fury (Sept 27, 1992):

GK: Pat Onstad, Jent Kowalski, Garrett Caldwell

Defenders: Peter Sarantopoulos, Ian Carter, Tony Nocita, Phil Wilson, Paul Fenwick, Steve Millar, Scott Thorpe

For/Mids: Constantin Ignat, Kevin Holness, John Berti, Mike Dodd, John Gasparac, Tony Capasso, Carlo Corazzin, Marcelo Paolucci, Brent Pence

London Lasers (July 26, 1992):

GK: Tim Rosenfeld

Defenders: Paul James, George Janovich, Mark Worton, Dino Lopez, Jason De Vos

For/Mids: Lucio Ianiero, Colin Samuels, Jorge Rodriguez, Geoff Aunger, Peter Ntakos, Jeff Cambridge, Mike Vigh, Nikolas Berg, Steve Gill, Troy Woods, Hunter Madeley

[b]Montreal Supra (June 5, 1992):

GK: Pat Harrington, Frank Depatie

Defenders: Andre Belotte, Rudy Doliscat, Marco Ricci, Neil Sedgwick, Patrick Diotte, Mark Watson

For/Mids: Mostafa Sahrane, Nick De Santis, Dennis Larsen, Grant Needham, Frank Aliaga, Tom Kouzmanis, Cam Walker, Eric Puig, Warren Dupont, Abdel Sahrane, Pierre-Richard Thomas

North York Rockets (Sept 16, 1992):

GK: Paolo Ceccarelli, Joe Buntic

Defenders: Peter Gilfillan, Jens Kraemer, Jack Copetti, Nick Dasovic

For/Mids: Ralph Golen, Joseph Majcher, Peter Gaslia, Eddy Berdusco, Billy Domazetis, Tomasz Radzinski, Angelo DeMichele, Cosmo Commisso, Marco Antonucci

Toronto Blizzard (Sept 7, 1992):

GK: Roberto Marinaro

Defenders: Srdjan Delibakic, Marco Tremarco, Carl Fletcher, Steve Jansen, Ivan Jurisic, Sean Samuels

For/Mids: Fernando Aguiar, Marco Abascal, Lyndon Hooper, Paul Peschisolido, Rodrigo Flores, Franco Lofranco, John Fitzgerald, Sandor Szucs

I will try to get other rosters when I can find those copies/archives.

[Ivan]

^ Classic!

[Alberto7]

As promised here are two programs from the 1990 CSL season. The first from the Montreal Supra vs Victoria Vistas game from August 12, 1990. The second from the Ottawa Intrepid vs Kitchener Spirit game on June 3rd, 1990.

On the Supra program, Marco Rizi of the Supra is playing against John Kowal (no. 00) in goal and Mark Watson on defense.

[Alberto7]

Here are the rosters for both games from the programs I posted:

Ottawa: 1 Gary Kraft GK, 00 John Kowal GK, 2 Lino Tomasetti D, 3 Dave McGill D, 8 Julian Loy M, 4 Fred Juett D, 5 Drew Ferguson D, 6 Mark Watson D, 7 Mike McAnenay M, 9 Tal Ziv F, 10 Marco Lucchetta M, 11 Ross Simpson F, 12 Bill Sutherland M, 14 Dennis Taylor M, 16 Ian Martin M, 17 Lloyd Barker F, 18 James Prescott D, 19 Rick Curran M, 20 Dylan Loy D

Kitchener: 1 James Buchan GK, 22 Scott McQuillin GK, 2 Peter Gilfillin D, 3 Dean Carey M, 4 Orville Reynolds M, 5 Trevor McCallum D, 6 Colin Ridge M, 7 Gary Williams F, 8 Miroslav Piekos M, 9 Dean Walling F, 10 Miroslav Jelic M, 11 Mike Carter F, 12 Woody Bailey M, 14 Paul Masson M, 15 Steve Warren D, Paul Fennick (no number or position specified)

Montreal: 01 Daniel Coutois GK, 1 Pat Harrington GK, 2 Steve Demaine D, 3 Rudy Doliscat M, 4 Nick Albanis D, 5 Lino Tomassetti D, 6 Michael Araujo M, 7 Nick De Santis M, 8 Marco Rizi F, 9 Grant Needham F, 10 Simon Keith M, 11 Franky Aliaga M, 12 Patrick Diotte D, 14 Cameron Walker F, 15 Iain Fraser M, 16 Tasso Koutsoukos M, 17 Pierre-Richard Thomas F (Head coach Roy Wiggemansen)

Victoria: 1 Grant Darley GK, 22 Shel Brodsgaard GK, 2 Frank Woods M, 3 John Hughes D, 4 Allan Evans D, 5 Ian Bridge D, 6 Randy Ragan M, 7 Rick Jaskens F, 8 Ken Andrews F, 9 Dallas Moen F, 10 Gerry McCabe M, 11 Steve Cecchi F, 12 Richard Hill F, 14 Jamie Porpaczy D, 15 Brian Penk M, 16 Ron Budisa F, 17 David Ravenhill M, 18 Geoff Aunger F, 20 Kevin Wasden D (Head Coach Bruce Wilson)

[Burnsie]

No question Vancouver, Hamilton and Toronto Blizzard (not the Rockets) were in a different class. The Blizzard were always just as good as Vancouver, but simply could not put it together when it counted.

The Winnipeg Fury won it in 1992, and had an extremely strong squad with many national team players. Pat Onstad was playing for Winnipeg in 1992.

More importantly, over the years, Winnipeg's attendance was second only to Vancouver.

I played for Winnipeg in 1989......had a great time there before moving back to Vancouver for the next few season. The CSL was a great summer job for players like myself who were going to University at the time. Winnipeg is a fantastic party city.

[Burnsie]

Yes, Vancouver beat the Maryland Bays to become #1 north of the Rio Grande. It was an amazing match.

Played in that game.........3 - 2 for us. They had a lot of pace out wide and it was a very entertaining game for the supporters and a great match to play in.

[coppercanuck]

I've been typing up articles relating to the formation of the CSL, and at some point I might post them. I've also been trying my best to copy all line-ups, scorers, and attendances that I can find. Obviously, there will be holes in the data.

My goal is to create an archive online.

Wikipedia seems like a good online archive. It might help encourage others to fill the holes.