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16 - Wednesday, April 24, 1985 - North Shore News

Sperts —__

Colts alive, well and kicking

PROFESSIONAL SOCCER may be temporarily
dead in B.C., but its semi-professional counterpart

is very much alive.

By TIMOTHY RE!

Six teams, four based on
the Lower Mainland, two on
Vancouver Island, are in-
volved in the inaugural
season of the Pacific Rim
Soccer League (PRSL),

B.C.’s first semi-professional

soccer league.

Philosophy behind the
PRSL, says its president, Jim
Richardson, emphasizes

quality of soccer over quanti-
ty of financial return. He
adds that it fills a gaping hole
in B.C. soccer.

“Until now, when a kid
reaches 1S and wants to con-
tinue playing, his only
choices are to be held back in
an amateur league or join a
beer league and learn how to
drink beer. The PRSL fills
that void. It offers. the
amateur looking to pursue
and develop his skills a

chance to play with and com-
pete against the best amateur
and professional piayers
around.’’

For the first time in its
history, the North Shore will
be represented in a semi-
profession league. North
Shore Colts manager-coach,
Frank Pike, ex-NASL coach,
ex-Canadian National team
coach, beams with the pride
of this achievement: ‘We are
bringing soccer back to the
community level where we
believe it belongs.’’

A local semi-professicnal
team, he says, will give North

NEWS photo fan Smith

COLTS HEAD INTO ACTION. North Shore Colts Doug Adiem, left, heads practice ball
away from Bruno Accili, right, while Colts coach and manager Frank Pike surveys the rest of
his squad. The Colts, North Shore’s first semi-professional soccer team, will open at home

May 5 at Kinsmen Stadium.

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Shore talent something to
aspire towards and foster
grassroots interest in a garne
whose image has suffered
with the recent collapse of the
Whitecaps and the NASL.
Local support, according
to Pike, has been tremen-
dous. Fifty seasons tickets
for the Colts’ 30-game season
(IS home, 1S away) have
already been sold ‘“‘and the
phone is ringing off the
hook’, says Pike, in a sport
that traditionally attracts a
‘‘walk-up crowd". Break-

even home game attendance
for the Colts, as with the

other five PRSL teams, is ap-
proximately 1000 per game.
Consistent with its com-
munity philosophy , the Colts
have eight North Shore
regulars, including West
Vancouver's Michael Findlay
and Lynn Valley's Accili
brothers, Bruno and Dino.
All three prospects were pick-
ed out of the over 200
hopefuls who turned out for
the Colts’ two open tryouts
held earlier this year. Ex-
Whitecap and National Team
goalkeeper, Chris Turner is
playing for the Colts, and
Pike says the team is currert-

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ly negotiating with three in-
ternational prospects.

As with the rest of the
PRSL, the Colts are more in
business to develop local soc-
cer than to turn any large
profits. Entry into the league
requires commitment from
each team to develop a four-
fevel farm system that will
guarantee budding soccer the
opportunity of moving from
amateur to professional
ranks without having to to leave
B.C.

See page 21