Club
history courtesy of Peter Denby.
The history of the
Club is one of growth from
a single team in the 40's to the 110+ youth and adult
Bays United teams of today. An underlying theme in the
story has been the struggle to effectively combine the
senior and juvenile organizations.
The original Oak Bay Soccer team, formed in 1946 by men
such as Ernie Costain and Neil Swainson, played in the
Victoria and District League until it disbanded in 1951.
In that short period it left its' mark by winning the
1948-49 Jackson Cup and the 1949-50 McGavin Cup.
The Oak Bay name next appeared in local soccer as the
Oak Bay Optimists youth organization, formed in 1958
to promote boys' soccer in Oak Bay. Ernie Costain, Jack
Okell and Harry Youson were among the founders of the
Optimists who sponsored seven teams, one in each division
of the Victoria and District Juvenile Soccer League.
In the early 60's, a senior team bearing the name Oak
Bay played in the Combination League. Dave Edgar, Hamish
Simpson, Len Lane and Stan Turner were among the Oak
Bay players. This group disbanded before the end of the
decade, and in 1969, the amalgamation of the Canadian
Scottish and the Oak Bay Optimists juvenile teams laid
the foundation for the present day format of the club.
At the close of the 1968-69 season, the members of the
Canadian Scottish Soccer Club saw the need for a regional
soccer association similar to that of the successful
Gorge organization. At the time, several members of the
Canadian Scottish, such as Arthur Rostron and Ken Hibbert,
were also involved with the Oak Bay Optimists juvenile
teams, so it was natural that these two organizations
should amalgamate to form the Oak Bay Soccer Association.
In August 1969, the first elected executive of the association
consisted of Arthur Rostrun-chairman, Ken Wright-treasurer,
Ken Hibbert-secretary, Stan Turner and Arthur Welman-members
at large, David Keith-director of coaching, Derick Sewell-director
of public relations and Ernie Costain-auditor. It should
be noted that the senior and juvenile teams retained
their own executive. Although this may have seemed logical
at the time it turned out to be an obstacle to the development
of a strong and effective organization.
For the 1969-70 season, the fledgling organization fielded
teams in the 1st and 3rd Divisions of the Victoria and
District League, as well as seven juvenile teams. The
first team was managed by Art Roston with Rob Jantzen
(then Ron Jenkins) as coach and Derick Sewell as trainer.
Among the players were Kjeld Brodsgaard, Rick Couch,
Stan Wiseman, Jerry Home, Russ Lamb, Tony Quinn, Franz
Van Doesburg, John Hughes, John Rostron Jr., Peter Mason
and George Pakos.
The next significant date was 1972 when the Oak Bay Soccer
Association joined forces with the Oak Bay Wanderers
Rugby Club under the umbrella organization of the Oak
Bay Sports Club which purchased a property at 1928 Oak
Bay Avenue to be used as a clubhouse. The initiative
for this move came from Peter Denby on the soccer side
and Mike Antolin on the rugby side. These two Brits,
who had recently moved to Victoria from Bermuda, missed
the Old-country pub and club atmosphere and started to
promote the idea of a joint venture to their respective
teams. Joe Grosso, a local businessman associated with
the soccer club, liked the idea and put his considerable
business skills to work to make the dream a reality.
The clubhouse proved to be a great social gathering place
for the players and their families and, as a result,
other teams were attracted to it. Oak Bay cricket and
grass hockey teams became associate members. Except for
some of those invited to attended VISL disciplinary hearings,
held at the clubhouse for some years, a good time was
had by all and it looked as though the Oak Bay Sports
Club would go from strength to strength. Unfortunately,
the ensuing years proved otherwise. For various reasons
the associate teams dropped out, with the final straw
coming in 1991 when the rugby team moved out to combine
forces with the Castaways Club. The soccer club became
the sole owners of the property but found the financial
demands too great and sold the building in 1993.
The clubhouse, however, had played in important role
in the development of the Oak Bay Soccer Club. The camaraderie
developed by the many social functions and after game
gatherings together with the work of people like Tina
Barristolo, Jos De Bruin, Peter Denby, Chuck Dilba, Jim
King, Stan Turner and Scott Taylor attracted players
to the club. In the 21 years that the clubhouse existed
the number of teams increased from three to eleven. When
the doors closed in 1993, Oak Bay Soccer Club was fielding
the following teams: VISL Divisions 1 to 3 (2 teams),
Div's. 4, 5 and Over-30s (2 teams), Victoria Master Soccer
League (1), LIWGSA Divisions 1 to 3 (1 team in each).
The juvenile teams, now known as Bays United Youth Soccer
Association, had also grown in numbers but the link between
the two organizations was tenuous at best. Juvenile teams
did use the clubhouse for storage and the occasional
meetings and some senior teams brought juvenile players
up to gain experience. This was not what Art Rostron
and friends had envisioned for the association in 1969,
but this situation soon changed.
As in 1969, it was someone with strong ties to both senior
and juvenile teams who initiated the change. In 1993,
Scott Taylor was president of Bays United and player-manager
of a senior men's team. Thanks to his efforts, the senior
and juvenile teams were finally combined under the name
and crest of Bays United Soccer, although maintaining
their independent organizations and executives. The only
exception was the Oak Bay Old Boys of the South Vancouver
Island Classics Soccer Association - these senior and
long serving members of the club prefer to keep their
original name.
In 2006, Hazel Braithwaite, president of the Bays Youth
organization and Scott Taylor, president of the Bays
Senior organization began proceedings which would lead
to the final realization of Art Rostron's dream, a fully
unified club under the new name Bays United FC, where
players can play their entire soccer career from age
5 to 50 and onward!
|
