British Columbia Adult Soccer Championships the History of BC Soccer Adult Provincial Cups: 1892 - 2018
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A BC Soccer History Series Report British Columbia Adult Soccer Championships The History of BC Soccer Adult Provincial Cups: 1892 - 2018 Since 1892, British Columbian adult amateur soccer Provincial Cup took place just 20 years after the first teams have competed to be crowned provincial FA Cup in England. champions. The history of the Provincial Cup From 1892 to 1904, the trophy for provincial play competitions covers much of the story of the growth was the “Nanaimo Football Association Grand and development of the sport in the province over Challenge Cup”, which the Nanaimo district had the last 125 years. Until the late 1970s, all commissioned for its own championship in 1891. In competitions were for men. 1891, four Nanaimo region clubs founded the “BC This report covers the history of the eight provincial Football Association”. This was in no way a championships now arranged, men’s and women’s, provincial governing body, its only role being the of different ages and calibres. The brief written organising committee for a provincial championship history is followed by a listing of all cup winners in which two to six teams entered each year. The Coal these competitions. City clubs ensured they controlled the tournament by initially neglecting to advise clubs from other Men’s Open ‘A’ Cup cities of meetings and decreeing all AGMs and the The first BC Provincial Cup was held just three years Final must be held in Nanaimo. The Nanaimo after the first recorded soccer game in BC, played in Challenge Cup was presented as the trophy. Victoria in November 1888. Vancouver Island was In this 13 year period, Island teams won every soccer’s first hotbed, as Victoria’s naval base was championship, perhaps due to their strength, but home to many British sailors and the Nanaimo perhaps also due to Mainland disenchantment that district coalfields attracted European miners, who competition was not open and fair. In the first year, brought association football with them. The first BC Westminster AFC entered, and won their semi-final 4-0 in New Westminster. Following a protest that the goalposts were too tall, a replay in Nanaimo was ordered by the (Nanaimo) executive. Westminster refused to play, and no other mainland team entered for eight years. However, there is no doubt other clubs were invited to enter, and the Island had strong teams. Nanaimo Rangers won the first cup, and three in total, with Wellington, Victoria AFC and Garrison (Victoria) also repeat winners. Island supremacy was demonstrated in an 1899 invitational tournament in Vancouver, with Wellington Rangers, Nanaimo Thistles, Vancouver AFC and Kamloops. Wellington, then the provincial champions, defeated Vancouver 4-1 in the final. In 1904, the Rev. William Bolton of Victoria proposed a new inclusive association be formed to govern soccer in BC. This BC Football Association included representatives from both Island centres and the mainland. Soccer was also played in the Interior at the time, but it was limited. Due to distance, population base and the different playing season in BC Soccer Daily Province Cup the Interior, BC’s Open championships have largely Men’s Open Cup: 1922 to Date been coastal competitions. This provincial association, formed on 29th December After rapid growth, in 1981 two lower mainland 1904, was soccer’s first real governing body in BC. women’s leagues joined BC Soccer and became One of its functions was arranging play for the “BC eligible for provincial and national championships, Cup” through to 1910, which Vancouver Island followed by Island women’s teams in 1982. teams won every year played. In 1911, Sir Richard The inaugural Women’s Open ‘A Cup’ was won by McBride, the Premier of BC, presented the “McBride Burnaby Edmonds in 1982. Richmond teams won Shield”, which was the provincial trophy through to three of the first five competitions, following which 1921. Regional honours were split, with Victoria two dynasties dominated the Provincial Cup. UBC West AA winning in 1911 and Cumberland United in Alumni, whose players included Andrea Neil and 1920 and 1921, but Coquitlam Ranchers won twice Silvana Burtini, won five successive years from 1996 for the mainland’s first victories. However, in four of to 2000. In 2004 Surrey United started their these 11 years, the Shield was not awarded due to remarkable run of 11 straight championship victories disputes or protests over ineligible players. through to 2014. The champions represent BC in In 1922, the “Daily Province Cup” (named for the Canada Soccer’s national championship, the Jubilee Vancouver newspaper) was presented to the BC Trophy, BC teams winning ten times since 1987. Football Association by its publisher, Walter Nichol, Men’s (Recreational) ‘B’ Cup the Lieutenant-Governor. This trophy, on display in BC Soccer’s office, has been emblematic of the In addition to the men’s Open championship, there men’s provincial championship for nearly 100 years. has also been competition for lower tiers of play. Multiple winners have included the most-storied There were BC championships for Intermediate teams in BC’s soccer history: Westminster Royals, St. and/or Junior teams at various times before the Andrews, North Shore United, Victoria West, Gorge, 1970s, research on which is in progress. Firefighters and Columbus. In 1978, the first BC Summer Games was held in The mainland has dominated since the 1930s, except Penticton, with men’s soccer being one of the sports from 1975 to 1984 when the Island won seven times. included for play between eight regions of the Since 1892, the mainland has 82 championships; the province. With the help of BC Soccer’s appointed Island has won 40 times. Interior standouts include liaison, the BC Summer Games served as a province- Kamloops Merchants reaching the 1984 final. Since wide competitive tournament for teams below the A 1961, the A Cup has doubled as the Canadian club Cup level, in effect the equivalent of the current B nationals qualifier, which BC teams have won 40 Cup. Winners came from across the province in times since Nanaimo Wanderers’ first win in 1923. these years, Kamloops in particular claiming four victories between 1989 and 1994. Women’s Open (A) Cup In 1996, when the BC Summer Games became a Women’s soccer leagues were instituted in the mid- youth event, BC Soccer filled the void by introducing 1970s, but they initially played outside BC Soccer. its own “B Cup” championships, named for North The Women’s Open A Cup was instituted in 1982, Shore’s Keith Millar, for many years the liaison to the when women’s leagues joined the Association. BC Summer Games. Until 2010, BC Soccer’s B Cup The first recorded women’s soccer game in BC had was a four-day tournament held in early-summer, been in 1933, between two Nanaimo softball teams, but after many Interior leagues dropped out of play, the Northfield Wideawakes and the Brechin Dodo the B Cup has been an exclusively coastal Kids. Northfield won that game and a rematch a competition held in April-May with the other cups. month later, with goals from Dot Beban. Women’s (Recreational) ‘B’ Cup Girls’ soccer was recorded in some schools in the Beginning with the BC Summer Games held in 1950s, but the 1970s saw female soccer firmly Richmond in 1979, a province-wide recreational level established in BC. A First Nations women’s tournament (equivalent to the current B Cup) was tournament was won by Alert Bay in 1974, a held as part of these games through to 1995. Teams mainland women’s league first played in 1973-1974, from Burnaby won the first three years’ the BC Girls Soccer Association was formed in 1975 competitions. Later the Surrey Marlins won three and varsity women’s soccer was established. years straight and the Chehalis-Agassiz Rainbow Stars won two years straight in the 1980s. In 1996 the BC Summer Games moved away from competition has been over-35. The Master’s adult play, so BC Soccer introduced its own B Cup for championship trophy is named for Deryl Hughes, the women, the trophy named for Leeta Sokalski, the long-serving BC Soccer Registrar from 1969 to 1998. association’s first female President. Also initially a Many of the clubs with success in men’s open age summer coastal/interior event, this was also play have later been successful in men’s Master’s switched to April/May timing in 2011. Since 1996, competitions as their players aged. Firefighters won there has been a rich variety of cup winners from the first two Master’s championships and have won across the Coastal region, no city providing winners six times in total, a record matched by Columbus. in two successive years. Westside and Surrey United have each won three Men’s Masters and Women’s Classics/Masters Cup times. Provincial championship winners represent the province in Canada Soccer’s Western regional In 1991, BC Soccer introduced the first Masters level men’s masters’ championships each September. provincial championship for male players aged over 30, recognizing that playing careers were lasting In 2018, BC Soccer introduced a second tier of men’s longer, with increased desire to play competitively in masters’ play, the Master’s B Cup. age-restricted leagues and competitions. In 2001, a provincial age-restricted championship for In 2000, BC introduced provincial championships for women aged over-30 was instituted, which leads to men’s Over-35 play, as Canada Soccer switched its Canada Soccer’s regional competition. regional Master’s championships to the over-35 age Over nearly two decades of competition, four group.