I wouldn't say it's as cut and dry as that...posted in another thread by:LION
Most of the top players in the Valley move on to the VMSL.
period.
it might never change.
From the early 90's most of the top talent from the Valley (in youth) went to the College or Uni ranks first... Then from there, they would filter into the VMSL... UBC and SFU players (if from the Valley?) were now accustomed to going into Vancouver/Bby for top flight football... Their school teammates (if not from the Valley) would end up there, so the best talent from the sticks would stay "in town" to play...
Ex. 1996 Langara's best players were all from ND (Skinner, AK, Tish, etc.) Previously they all played for Delta Metro under John Mantai (sp) in the FVSL, but then all went to Firemen VMSL with John...
This type of filtering into the VMSL from Valley grown talent was very typical and made the Metro League a higher caliber league... Back then the best teams were made up of many Valley players...
Metro Ford - Keith Izzat & Graham Brown
Firemen - Ritchie Pasqua, Neil Wilkenson, Todd Bailey & Steve Millar
North Shore Pegasus - Rob Reed, Nial Thompson, Regs & Troy Wood
To name a few of the Provincial Cup winners in the 90's...
1998-99 the FVSL's top two teams were awarded VMSL berths... Surrey United and Surrey FC... United stayed up and is now one of the perenial powerhouses each year (90% Valley talent)... FC went down finishing ahead of three teams, but bottom of their side...
Since 2000 the better Valley players are staying closer to home... Surrey United has just been a place to go for young players looking to play at the highest level locally... Others have been choosing teams in the Valley like Langley, PAU, Delta & ND Lions as FVSL teams looking to keep more talent at home...
IMO, the balance of the league's will shift over the next 10 years as housing is a joke in the greater Vancouver area and expansion is rapid all over the Valley... It wouldn't be a stretch to suggest a super league of sorts or a team like SU coming back to play in the FVSL...
The FVSL must be better, after all our allstar squad beat the Whitecaps!!! Did the VMSL's??? (even with Valley boys Millar, Skinner, Blakeway and Dormer in the line up)