Street Guys League Archives

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Flemingdon Park Archives

A brief summary of “Soccer Back Then”

In the late 1960s, West Indians in Toronto sought to play soccer for more than just fun and exercise; they also aimed to compete. Thus, the Club West Indies United was formed. Unfortunately, a few years later, there was a parting of ways and some of the members formed their own Club, called the Iere Sports Club.  Both clubs played in the Toronto and District Soccer League (T&D).

The Contrast Newspaper became involved, and as the only local West Indian newspaper at the time, it sponsored the Contrast Cup. The original teams of the Contrast Cup were the more prominent teams, such as West Indies United, Iere, and Unity. As the years passed, teams like Simba, Marlee United, and several newly formed teams also participated.

In the early 1970s, the Contrast League was the first organized soccer experience for blacks in the community, and it also provided an opportunity for people to make friends. In reality, it brought the West Indian community together.

However, at the grassroots level, other talented players were not members of the elite teams who were willing to play soccer as a form of recreation and exercise, while having fun at the same time. As a result, the Street Guys league was formed by Arthur Cato, Renrick Jupiter, Michael Williams, Desmond Marcial, Andrew Grant and a few others who are too numerous to mention.

The Street Guys league began its operation out of the Oakwood Collegiate school field, and due to the unavailability of the school field later in the season, the Street Guys league moved its operation to the Bathurst Heights field.  Those locations of play were very convenient back then because there was a Banquet Hall at 1348 St. Clair Ave—West, which was the hub of activity and the place to be.

1348 Hall was opened on weekday evenings for cultural activities, such as table tennis and liming, while on weekend nights, the hall hosted the best Parties (fetes) in the city of Toronto. So much so that the Street Guys league’s first end-of-season presentation of Awards was held at “1348”. The hall was so popular that the number of the Hall’s address was the only information needed to find the party. The St Clair Street name became a non-factor.

However, after the 1975 season, the Street Guys league relocated to Flemingdon Park soccer fields under the “Hydro wire,” and this new location would become the foundation for Caribbean Soccer in Toronto. If a player could have had success on the park (Flemingdon) then he was considered to be ready to play in the big leagues.

The Contrast League also moved from the University of Toronto (Harbour & Wellesley Street area) to the Thorncliffe Park field close to Flemingdon Park in North York. Still, after the move, the Contrast League was losing prominence and popularity to its competitors. The Street Guys League had the big rivalries, and as such, their games attracted large crowds. The big game back then in the Street Guys league was between Exhibitors and Players. After the Exhibitors team ceased operation, the rivalry shifted to Parkdale Cosmos versus Players.

Stay tuned for more Flemingdon history from teams such as Wandos, Driftwood Utd, Flemingdon Utd, Genesis, G T Continental, East West Connection, Unity, Exhibitors, and much more.

A Special Thank You

Caribbean Stars would like to thank the following companies, individuals, and organizations that supported us throughout the years:

Roots: Renwick Jupiter, Roy John, Adolphus Serrette, Dennis Theodore, Rudolph Ottley, Selwyn Cowie, Desmond Marcial, Winston Haywood, Michael Williams, Ronald Austin, Auburn Baptiste, Winston Hackett, Victor Haywood, Anthony Loney, Vivian Manswell, Pedro Haywood,  B.W.I.A, Arnold Auguste and Ron Fanfair, of �Share Newspaper and all others who are too numerous to mention.

Support; Noel Denny, John Williams, Hugh Foster, Ronald Austin, Peter Kovacs, Mike Nickie, Ken Mollineau, Howard Cyrus, Dixon Modeste, Ian Barron, Dave Sidhu, Norma Clarke, Lucky Boothe, George Gomez, Ian Hypolite, Winston Molligan, McIver Broomes, Gary Bryan, Val Sebro, Wayne “Nicko” Constance (God Bless), Tyrell McGill, Anton Skerritt, Richard Husbands,”Magic Athletic“, “West Indies United“, “G.S. United“,  “Admiral Canada“, Bell Canada, Titan Tours, Brampton East, Pickering, Ajax and S.S.A Youth Clubs, Toronto Lynx, The City of Toronto, and all the businesses, clubs,  players, and supporters that helped establish �Caribbean Stars Soccer Club

Flemingdon Reunion

nion Part 1

After years of hearing about the fun, camaraderie, and high level of soccer played at Flemingdon Park, Caribbean Stars decided to organize a Flemingdon Reunion to attract some of the faces of the past and rekindle the good times.  The Flemingdon Street Guys league played under the Hydro wires at Flemingdon Park from 1976 to 1993. In 1982, the league’s name was changed to Toronto Caribbean Soccer League to present a more positive image (Caribbean Stars About Us).

The Flemingdon Reunion took place in the summer of 2003 and was attended by 16 of the alumni teams, although only 14 teams participated. More pictures of the event will be made available. We want to apologize to teams such as Exhibitors, Ebony, and Ballers for not having their images available for viewing at this time.

Exhibitors were one of the original teams of the league and were well represented at the Reunion with approximately 20 players. Ebony, out of the Brampton area, was as supportive as they have always been. Still, in fairness to our organization, the team pictures were taken by an outsourced photographer, and we realized that some teams were camped in the outlying areas of the park.

 Youlou United and D’Hawks (files to follow)

Diplomats (files to follow)

Colts International and E/W Connection (files to follow)

Driftwood United (files to follow)

Flemingdon United (files to follow)

Players and Spoilers (files to follow)

Unity (files to follow)

Santos (files to follow)

Flemingdon Reunion II

The weather at the second Flemingdon Reunion was beautiful, with temperatures soaring over 30 degrees Celsius and no rain although it rained in other parts of the city.  Flemingdon Park was hot, festive, and relaxing with lawn chairs the order of the day.

The Reunion opened with a combine team of past players from Exhibitor, Players, Spoilers, Colts and East West Connection playing against an energetic All Star team that had some players from the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL).  The game ended 5-4 for the All Stars.

 In the second game the Street Guys combine team played the Park Boys who had Bobby Harry Persaud, owner of the popular night club Caribbean Flavour on their team.  The game attracted more spectators than the first due to the support for the home team, Flavour Park Boys. The game ended 5-3 in favour of Park Boys.