Soccer Back Then

In the late 1960s West Indians in Toronto wanted to play soccer for more than just fun and exercise, they wanted 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 got involved and as the only local West Indian paper back then, they sponsored the Contrast Cup. The original teams of the Contrast Cup were the more prominent teams such as West Indies United, Iere, and Unity and as the years past, teams such as Simba, Marlee United and a number of newly formed teams participated. 

In the early seventies the Contrast League was the first taste of organize soccer for blacks in the community and the league also gave people an opportunity to make friends. In reality it brought the West Indian community together.

 However at the grass root level, there were other talented players that were not members of the elite teams that were willing to play soccer as a form of recreation and exercise, while having fun at the same time. As a result Street Guys league was formed by Arthur Cato, Renrick Jupiter, Michael Williams, Desmond Marcial, Andrew Grant and a few others who are to 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 was very convenient  back then because, there was a Banquet Hall at 1348 St Clair Ave West which was the action and the place to go.

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

"FLEM"

However after the 1975 season, the Street Guys league relocated to Flemingdon Park soccer fields under the “Hydro wire” and the the new location was 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 the Flemingdon in North York area but after the move the Contrast league  was losing in prominence and popularity to the competition. 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 and after Exhibitors team ceased operation, the rivalry switched  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 Serette, Dennis Theodore, Rudolph Ottley, Selwyn Cowie, Desmond Marcial, Winston Haywood, Michael Williams, Ronald Austin, Auburn Baptiste, Winston Hackett, Victor Haywood, Anthony Loney, Vivian Manswell, Neville "Burtiste" Belle, 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 Part 1

After years of listening to all the talk about the fun, comraderary and the high level of soccer played at Flemingdon Park, Caribbean Stars decided to organize a Flemingdon Reunion in an effort to see some of the faces of the past and try to rekindle the good times.  The Flemingdon Street Guys league played under the Hydro wires at Flemingdon Park from 1976 to 1993. The league name was later changed to Toronto Caribbean Soccer League to present a better image (About Us).

The Flemingdon Reunion in 2003 was well attended as 16 teams attended but only 14 teams participated. Caribbean Stars are in the process of acquiring some of the pictures of that day and would like to apologize to teams like Exhibitors, Ebony and Ballers for not having their pictures available for viewing at this time. Exhibitors was one of the original teams of the league and they participated at the Reunion with approximately 20 players and Ebony out of the Brampton was as supportive as they have always been.

 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.