Almost all local soccer opens this weekend at a variety of parks across Vancouver Island, as well as Saltspring, Penelakut, and Powell River. As we enter our 122nd year, the one thing that does not grow old – the excitement of the first game!
81 teams across 10 different divisions of play.
This year has already had some excitement as the off season had several players exercise the “free agent” market and many have decided to move to other teams. This will no doubt add an extra element to the games that take place.
Our flagship division; Division 1, has a different flavor to it this year. It still has defending Garrison Cup Divisional Champions Cowichan FC. It still has Jackson Cup Champions Nanaimo FC. It still has defending McGavin Cup Champions Gorge. There are 2 new teams into the fold; they are once very dominating Vantreights and the newer kids on the block – Westcastle United.
Here is what is on tap for the opening weekend sponsored by Teamsales:

Friday, September 8th, 2017
07:00 PM
Lakehill FC – (D1) @ Gorge FC – (D1)
Hampton Park **
08:00 PM
VI Wave – (D1) @ Bays United Liquor Plus – (D1)
Oak Bay High School

Saturday, September 9th, 2017
04:00 PM
Westcastle United – (D1) @ Cowichan FC – (D1)
Sherman Road
07:00 PM
Comox Valley United – (D1) @ Nanaimo United FC – (D1)
Merle Logan Turf

Sunday, September 10th, 2017
02:00 PM
Vic West FC – (D1) @ Vantreights – (D1)
Finlayson Turf

**Our Game of the Week – has a revitalized Lakehill FC group vs the defending McGavin Cup Champions Gorge FC.
Lakehill was busy in the offseason and have picked up some new players; of note, a handful from the Cowichan United team that had an excellent year winning Division 2 last year. Gorge will be back with the solid core of players from last year that narrowly missed on qualifying for BC Soccer Provincial Cup.
Our Game of the Week is sponsored by 1550’s Pub Style Restaurant and Heineken. Game MVP will be treated to promotional goods from both of those Gold Partners to the VISL.

We look forward to an exciting weekend and year ahead and hope you do as well.

Support local soccer and the community.

Vince Greco
VISL President
www.visl.org
Cell: 250-889-1213

The schedules for all Divisions are now posted. (or portions of) Please contact the League Scheduler if there are conflicts, otherwise contact your Score Recorder for all other matters regarding games.

Attached you will see a Key Dates Listing.
This is the direction we plan to go should everything go according to plan.
As we experienced last year, sometimes things do not go according to plan and we have to adjust some. Hopefully that does not happen again!
There are still some details to confirm like Cup Finals venue and times, but the weekend should be the one listed.
Any questions can be emailed to me in advance of the meeting if possible.

We hope to have the website rolled over this morning by TeamPages, we then can proceed with giving out passwords so teams that have paid can start registering their players and admin.
If you are not playing this year and do not get registered, you will no longer receive the emails with League business.

Vince Greco
VISL President
www.visl.org
Cell: 250-889-1213
vincentgreco@shaw.ca

Monday is approaching quickly, we hope to see all at the Organizational Meeting that starts at 7 pm at Club Distrikt in the basement of the Strathcona Hotel. Doors will be open at 6:30 if you want to avoid the rush. This is a mandatory meeting for all teams south of the Malahat and we also encourage north of the Malahat teams to attend as well.

-Attached is the Agenda for the evening.
-Sign in sheets will be at the front door.
-Please bring Registration $ payable to Vancouver Island Soccer League.
-Umbro game balls will be available for pickup if an email is sent to vincentgreco@shaw.ca by Sunday night. Please bring your $ for them.
-Hopefully the website will be up and running and we can give out registration passwords.

Here are the teams on tap for the upcoming year; hopefully no more changes:

Bays United Liquor Plus FC Div 1
Comox Valley United Div 1
Cowichan FC Div 1
Gorge FC Div 1
Lakehill FC Div 1
Nanaimo United FC Div 1
Vantreights FC Div 1
VI Wave Div 1
Vic West Div 1
Westcastle Div 1

Fernwood Town Div 2
Gorge United Div 2
Juan de Fuca Div 2
Lakehill Div 2
Mid Isle Mariners Div 2
Nanaimo United FC Div 2
Prospect Lake Lakers Div 2
Saanich Fusion Div 2
Sooke (Fred Milne) Rangers Div 2
Vic West Casuals Div 2

3A
Powell River.
Cowichan
JDF Pilgrims
Prospect Lake Kaltire.
Gorge Us-Guys
Vic West Beavers.
FC Sagres
Bays Utd

Campbell River
SF Colonial
Saanich Braves
Prospect Lake Lakers
Gorge FC
Hellas
Castaways
Zgoda

4A.
JDF Bombers.
Prospect Lake Lakers
SF Spartans.
Saltspring.
Sooke
Castaways.
Bays Utd
Lakehill
SPL.
Vic West Casualest.

4B
JDF United
Prospect Lake Lakers (new)
SF Squadron
Nanaimo FC
Peninsula.
FC Sagres
Fernwood
Gorge
Tritons
Penelakut Utd

Cowichan 49ers Masters A
Gorge FC Backfit Masters A
Nanaimo United FC Masters A
UVic Alumni Masters A

Castaways Juniors Masters B
CB Red Barn Bobcats Masters B
Cowichan Steelheads Masters B
Fernwood Dragons Masters B
Gorge Masters B [NEW TEAM]
Juan de Fuca Orange Masters B
Lakehill Monkey Tree Masters B
Peninsula FC Masters B
Prospect Lake Lakers Masters B
SFFC Internationals Masters B
Vic West H2X Consulting Masters B

Bays United FC Masters C
CB Bobcats Alumni Masters C
SFFC Forest Masters C
Vic West FC Masters C

Bays United U21
Cowichan United U21
Juan de Fuca U21
Lakehill U21
Lakers U21
Mid Isle Mariners U21
Vic West U21

Have a good weekend.

Vince Greco
VISL President
www.visl.org
Cell: 250-889-1213

The new Umbro game balls are ready to go and will be available for pickup at our Organizational Meeting (7:00 pm, Monday, August 21st, at The Strath). $160 will get you two brand new balls. You can either pay ahead of time through the website, via Paypal, or bring a cheque / cash to the meeting. If you are planning on bringing a cheque or cash to the meeting, please email Vince (vincentgreco@shaw.ca) ahead of time so he can bring along the appropriate number of balls. It would be great to get as many of these out as possible that night to prevent extra running around down the road.

The previous version of the game balls will still be accepted assuming they are still in good shape. All teams are expected to arrive to their games with two proper game balls.

Regards,

Jake Nemec
VISL Secretary