Vancouver Royals
The Vancouver Royals were a football - Franchise from the Canadian city of Vancouver , which at the premiere season of the 1968 North American Soccer League participated (NASL). It emerged from the merger of the two franchises of the previous league United Soccer Association (USA), the Vancouver Royal Canadians and the California San Francisco Golden Gate Gales , neither of which had a team of their own in the only season of the USA in 1967 - like all participants in the league , but rather the squad of Sunderland FC (Vancouver) and ADO Den Haag (San Francisco) , which were bought completely for the free time in Europe .
United States
San Francisco Golden Gate Gales
The Gales franchise was founded by businessman George Fleharty , who also owned shares in the NHL - California Seals , which was founded at the same time . When the teams recruited abroad by the USA were allocated, the ADO Den Haag franchise was allocated. The game was played at Kezar Stadium , the home ground of the NFL club San Francisco 49ers at the time .
The Gales could hold their own in sport; At 25, the club scored the most goals in the league, no other team achieved more than the five wins of the Gales, but due to two more defeats than division rival Los Angeles Wolves they missed the championship game. Outstanding players were Henk Houwaart as the second best and Rene Pas fifth best scorer in the league. With an average attendance of under 5,500, it was significantly below the league average of 7,900.
| year | league | Victories | Defeats | draw | Points | Regular season | Play-offs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | United States | 5 | 4th | 3 | 13 | 2nd, Western Division | not qualified |
Vancouver Royal Canadians
When the imported teams were allocated, the franchise was allocated to the English first division club Fc Sunderland, who always played against relegation in the second half of the 1960s. As Vancouver Royal Canadians mostly briefly Vancouver Canadians, they played in the Empire Stadium built for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 ; which, like most stadiums in the USA League, could never even begin to be filled; with a capacity of over 30,000, the average attendance was only 7,019. The season was very bad in terms of sport; 28 goals conceded was the worst performance in the league, overall the club was third worst in the league in terms of points, wins and losses. Despite the club's performance, Jim Baxter was voted into the league's all-star team.
| year | league | Victories | Defeats | draw | Points | Regular season | Play-offs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | United States | 3 | 4th | 5 | 11 | 5th, Western Division | not qualified |
NASL
During the merger negotiations between the USA and its competitor National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) it was agreed that the Gales , the owners of the Gales, would not be allowed to continue to exist in the city because of San Francisco's proximity to the NPSL franchise Oakland Clippers and thus the competition for spectators therefore acquired the Vancouver franchise to merge the two.
For the 1968 season, a separate squad was put together for each of the franchises, from which the two coaches excelled, Ferenc Puskás was hired for San Francisco , while Vancouver was to be supervised by the later English national coach Bobby Robson as a player- coach . When the two clubs merged, Puskás was elected as head coach, while Robson, who was assigned an assistant post, left the club in January 1968. Mainly because of Puskás' time at Real Madrid , then also known as Royal in Canada, the short name of the club was changed from Canadians to Royals.
In terms of sport, the season was bad for Vancouver; Although the Luxembourgish Henri Klein was the third top scorer in the league with 20 goals, the Royals were fourth-worst team in the league with twelve wins, five draws and 15 defeats and the last of their own Pacific Division. Even if the club had the third-best average attendance in the 1968 season with 6,200, the approximately 20,000 required to cover costs were missed by a long way.
In addition to the league game operations, the Royals played some friendly games against foreign teams on a North American tour, so they won two and lost one of three games against the club Bonsucesso FC from Rio de Janeiro, against two other clubs they lost one friendly game each; 4: 1 against the Argentine Racing Club Avellaneda , as well as 2: 1 against Borussia Dortmund ; from the Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic they parted goalless draw.
| year | league | Victories | Defeats | draw | Points | Regular season | Play-offs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | NASL | 12 | 15th | 5 | 136 | 4th, Pacific Division | not qualified |
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Steve Holroyd: " The Year in American Soccer - 1967 ", The USA Soccer History Archives, ( as of August 15, 2008, visited July 22, 2009 ).
- ^ A b c d Steve Holroyd: " The Year in American Soccer - 1968 ", The USA Soccer History Archives, ( as of June 15, 2008, visited July 22, 2009 ).
- ↑ Bobby Robson : "Going underground". Farewell but Not Goodbye . 2005, ISBN 0-340-82347-X , p. 61.
- ^ Alan Twigg: Full-Time: A Soccer Story . 2008, ISBN 978-0-7710-8645-8 , p. 1 4.
- ↑ NASL International Friendlies ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( Visited July 22, 2009 ).
- ↑ The NASL's point system differed greatly from traditional ones; There were six points for a win, three for a draw and no point for a defeat, and every goal scored up to and including the third was awarded an extra point.
