The beginning of the
summer for the Caribbean community has
always evolved around the Iere soccer
tournament. It happens to be the second
longest active annual event in the
Toronto Caribbean Community, second only
to the Caribana festival. It is
generally a place where people meet and
greet old friends that they have not had
the opportunity to meet for quite some
time.
The tournament
originated in the mid seventies after
the Iere teams experienced the fun
associated with traveling to Brooklyn to
participate in the soccer tournament
hosted by the BWIA Sunjets Soccer Club.
It was felt that hosting their own
tournament similar to Sunjets would work
well in Toronto.
The Iere Tournament
became arguably the most popular
Caribbean tournament in the USA and
Canada. Back then it was virtually
impossible for local teams to get into
the tournament because at times there
were two teams from New York, two from
Washington, two from Trinidad and Tobago
and two from Montreal. All those talent
were mixed with the prominent West
Indies United, Iere, Unity, and
Caribbean United teams from Toronto.
Back then it was not about quantity but
quality of teams.
With the interests and commitment of the
teams from the States the organizing
committee decided to change the
customary Victoria Day long weekend in
May to the following weekend to coincide
with Memorial Day long weekend to
accommodate the US teams. The change
work well for a few years but eventually
the New York and Washington teams began
having problems attending the tournament
and the interest of the local teams
diminished as well.
With the turn of
events the organizers were struggling
and got a rude awakening when the number
of structured teams was few and the
amount of teams promising participation
was just an illusion. As a result the
number of teams was reduced to as little
as four teams and the tournaments had to
cease operation.
In 2005 the Iere
tournament was reintroduced by Caribbean
Stars which was determine to see if it
was indeed possible to locate teams
interested in participating to keep the
tradition going. The first move they
made was to change the tournament date
back to the Victoria Day weekend and
although the date switch had an impact
on the turn out the organizers is
confident that the numbers will increase
in all areas of the tournament this
year. They are anticipating a minimum of
eight teams and a maximum of 12.
Everyone is requested
to come out and support the Iere Soccer
Tournament on Victoria Day Weekend on
Saturday May 20, 2006 at Allan Lamport
Stadium, 1151 Queen St west (1 block
east of Dufferin Street). Admission $5
with DJ Music and Refreshments.
