Local Men's League Championships- yesterday and today.

In the earlier days of the Men's soccer league,  say from the late Seventies when the Portland Park Bureau stimulated a growth spurt  until about a dozen years ago,  there was one playing season.  It started in the fall and trudged deep into the mucky month of December at times.
The season was split with a break over the holidays,  and recommenced after the first of the year.   As you can see from the accompanying cover of the 1994 Championship program,  that led to the championship games being held in the spring following a season of about eighteen games. 


I can't think back on those years without a shout out to the memory of Ted Zyelinske who was the dynamo behind much of men's league soccer in Portland.   It was largely due to Ted's efforts that there were soccer programs for the championships.  Each team got its picture and record included.   Not only that but the championship games were played at PGE Park...then called Civic Stadium.  I remember how vast the old, artificial turf field seemed in the couple of times I had the honor of being out there.  (Our team had a talented forward by the name of Alex Addy who scored a record 36 goals in one season.  The rest of us just tried to get him the ball.)  And there was no friction to speak of,  so the ball would shoot off into the distance.   Ted was a tireless promoter of the local men's game.  He was cheerful,  knew everyone,  sold ideas and advertising and sponsorships.   A Brazilian by birth,  Ted's playing days were ended early by an injury but as a result,  his efforts made the local game an excellent experience.  Sadly,  he died in 1995 at the age of 59, suffering a heart attack while visiting family in Brazil.

In more recent years,  the heavy demand for field use by a variety of other sports like lacrosse and ultimate frisbee coupled with the massive growth of youth soccer led to changes in how the men's league unfolded.   No longer did the season run into December nor start in January.  No more games with snow encrusting the ground or a layer of water over ice. ( In this picture,  Brian Porter of SJO Irregulars battles for the ball in a 1978 match.)
Instead,  there are now 2.5 seasons.  The League sponsors a short season in January on artificial turf fields.  The primary league season consists of ten games starting in September and ending before Thanksgiving.   And a secondary,  Spring-Summer season unrolls with ten games between April and July.   That season has just ended,  and I'm sad to say that no FC77 Club team made it to the top of the heap yet,  though our Over40 First Division team,  FC77 PBR has a showdown coming up next week.   There are playoff matches over several divisions with the results being posted on the GPSD website.