Toronto
Caribbean Soccer League held two
“Stop the Violence” benefit games at
Ester ShinerStadium on Labour Day Sunday September
4, 2005. The first game was between Somalia All Stars
and Toronto Caribbean All Stars.
The Caribbean All Stars
won 4-1 in a game that showcased talent but not much
teamwork. The second game was very entertaining
and featured Jamaican National player Onandi Lowe and
Toronto Caribbean Int'l Stars versus Scarborough Azzurri.
The 0-0 score to the first half was similar to the
opening rounds of a boxing match where the champion took
no chances. As a result the crowd was getting restless
until the halftime show courtesy of Madskills.com. The
show certainly put things back in perspective and set
the tone for the second half. Madskills.com is a
professional ball juggling team who presented gifts to
the people in the stands while they amused and
amazed the crowd with their dazzling displayed of ball
control skills. They catch soccer balls with every
imaginable part of their body.
The second
half was a clinical display of team soccer by the Int'l
Stars team and a lesson in scoring by their leader Onandi
Lowe. He scored the opening goal of the game when he
collected a through pass at inside left position just
over the half line and advanced to the left edge of the
18 yard box. He then faked to the left and turned
completely around to his right and while turning hit a
low left footed shot that skim the inside of the near
post and squeezed into the Azzurri net. He then
ran past the goal and did his celebration dance. This
was the action everyone was waiting for and the crowd
went wild.
Onandi Lowe scored his second
and then a third to give him the hat trick. His third
was the game stopper when he received a pass from the
left corner flag at the edge of the 6 yard, faked a left
foot shot that sent the goal keeper and defenders down
on the carpet, chopped the ball to his right with the
inside of the left foot, fake again with his right foot
to send the goalkeeper in the opposite direction, and
then turned around and crack his favourite left
footer into the goal at the near post.
The crowd was
making noise on every one of those moves and erupted
when he scored. The crowd was enjoying every minute of
it but someone forgot to invite the Azzurri goalkeeper
to the Onandi Lowe show. He was noticeably upset at
these turn of events. Reality stepped in when on the
fourth goal an Int'l player dribbled several Azzurri
players and advanced from the left, faked out the
goalkeeper again with a same move and shot hard into the
net. This was the end, Azzurri goalkeeper did not take
that too kindly. He took the ball out of the net, kicked
it out of the stadium, and head for the dressing
room. All this was still fun and entertainment, no one
was hurt and Azzurri replaced him in net with one of
Madskills.com performers.
Azzurri continued to play and
eventually scored towards the end of the game from the
penalty spot. A fun filled entertaining event was what
the community needed because this is not what we are
experiencing in our homes, neighbourhoods, schools, and
public transport system. We are contributing and
subsidizing a system that seem to be hijacked by our
youths who are shooting and killing each other and
sometimes taking innocent lives with them.
Stop the
violence was the theme and the
sentiment was conveyed on the PA by Ron Nelson of
Radio Station 88.1 Reggaemania program. As usual there
were no incidents at this event and rarely are there at
sporting events in the community. Large dosage of
community sporting events may be a good start to remedy
some of the problems in the community. The TCSL
International Stars won the game 4-1 on the shoulders of
Onandi Lowe three goals and as a good jester Lowe stayed around after the game to take
questions from the crowd.
