LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Mr. Azzi will not let go...
And neither will Mr. Mills. Never let facts get in the way of a good story:
Super soccer league off
Super soccer league off
Vancouver Metro league teams lead pullout
Dan Olson, The Record
Published: Saturday, March 27, 2010
What was to be a B.C. super soccer league is now just a super mess.
Vancouver Metro Soccer League president William Azzi said that the disintegration of a proposed B.C. Premier Soccer League wasn't pretty, nor was it healthy. It was, however, the equivalent to a really tough loss.
"I'm definitely not going to go and take this up again," Azzi said of the pitch that involved men's premier clubs from the Vancouver, Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island leagues.
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...r27.jpg?size=lhttp://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...ine_bigger.gif View Larger Image The highs and lows: The concept for a men's super soccer league is currently off the table, at least for the present.
Larry Wright/THE RECORD"I had a bad time personally, I had trouble sleeping but I take this stuff too seriously."
Pushing the proposal for the past couple of years, the retired school teacher and longtime league president had hammered out an agreement between the three circuits and the membership that would have seen a B.C. premier league begin play this September, composed of the top four VMSL and top three each from FVSL and VISL from the 2009/10 season.
At his league's AGM last May, all teams voted to support it, with some questions about funding and travel being the only sticking points. The Vancouver Island league began to build a contingency fund for travel subsidies.
But confusion and disagreement from some members in the Vancouver circuit - considered the province's top amateur loop - created enough dissent to throw a fistful of wrenches into the works.
One of the main issues was composition, with a handful of VMSL teams unhappy that only four of its members would be included in the original 10-team format. So Azzi approached the other two leagues in January with their concerns, and the parties agreed to include two more Vancouver squads, turning it into a 12-team league.
However, eventually the people questioning the move began to sway the majority and last month Azzi notified his fellow league presidents that the VMSL was pulling out of the proposal.
"I guess it boiled down to a couple of shepherds and a bunch of sheep," Azzi said of his membership's change of heart.
The Vancouver league's sudden withdrawal didn't sit well with PoCo's Thomas Mills.
"It was a strange situation - everyone wants to get it going, even the people who don't want it to go were in agreement at the beginning," sighed the Fraser Valley Soccer League president. "In the end, they just couldn't agree on how to get it going. They acted like spoiled children."
Mills, who is also head coach of the PoCo FC Rangers, who placed second in the FVSL and would have been promoted to the proposed super league, said the B.C. circuit would have created a great opportunity to build soccer around the province.
He noted that the Vancouver Island league had already raised its registration fees to help build a travel subsidy reserve fund that all teams could draw from.
"This was a great opportunity to do something very positive together. I think it came down to some of the (VMSL) veterans who decided that they had it good, they didn't want to see the bigger picture."
In reaction to VMSL's move, the Fraser Valley has cancelled its annual all-star contest with the metro circuit, and is now focusing on creating an annual Fraser Valley-Island Cup tournament.
Both Azzi and Mills said the project is likely off the table for now.
"Who's to say if we'll be ready if (the VMSL) decides it wants it now?" Mills asked. "They have to come back to the table and approach us, but I can't say how we'd welcome it without some assurances that we're not all wasting our breath again."
Dan Olson is sports editor for the Coquitlam NOW
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Regs
