The most played sport in the world staked its claim on the Front Campus lawn on Friday, as seven teams battled for supremacy in the first inter-college soccer tournament ever to be held at the University of Toronto. The event, which was arranged and executed by campus group U of T Games, ended in victory for the Innis College team, which defeated St. Michael’s College after a dramatic penalty shootout.
The event was originally intended to include nine teams, but the representatives of UTM and U of T’s Music College forfeit at the last minute. However, this did little to diminish the tournament, which kept the front lawn occupied for the better part of six hours, with two matches taking place simultaneously at all times. Between matches, teams practiced penalty shots or conserved their strength by lounging under trees.
John Kwak, organiser of the event and head of U of T Games, was pleased with the turnout, and thought that such an event was long overdue at U of T: “Toronto is a very multicultural city, and U of T reflects that,” he said. “Soccer is the world’s sport. It’s the only language that everyone can speak.”
U of T Games was founded in March 2004 and has as its goal the promotion of school spirit amongst the colleges of U of T.
Despite the enthusiasm shown for the tournament, though, the event suffered several mishaps.
Confusion arose in the closing stages of the tournament over which teams would play in the semi-finals according to the rules of advancement. Eventually, the rules were checked and Chestnut residence, which had expected to advance based on its performance in the preceding matches, was cut in favour of Woodsworth College. This drew protests from Chestnut’s players, who felt they had scored better overall in the previous rounds.
U of T Games’ troubles came to a head when a Chestnut player, taking advantage of the confusion, snatched the first place trophy and fled the scene. Tabatha Cyrus, the Chestnut Residence Council’s clubs commissioner, expressed anger and sadness at the occurrence.
“The player was not acting on behalf of [Chestnut Residence]. We take his actions very seriously,” she said. “I think this is just a prank gone awry.”
She apologized to the U of T Games committee for the incident, and said that the thief would be found and the trophy returned- but by the final whistle the trophy was still missing.
The tournament was a success despite these mishaps, as far as the soccer went. The first hard-fought semi-final match saw St. Michael’s College defeat New College 1-nil.
Innis College and Woodsworth remained deadlocked in a 1-1 draw until the referee was replaced, after it was discovered that he was involved with the Woodsworth team. The match was extended by ten minutes, during which Innis scored a further three goals, securing an undisputed victory.
The tense final match saw Innis and St. Mike’s roll back and forth across the field with neither side holding a clear advantage, although fierce soccer was played by both sides and strong goalkeeping dominated the game. Despite a ten-minute extension, the game time elapsed with a 1-1 draw, forcing a shootout.
Although neither goalie had much success in stopping the opponents’ shots, two of St. Mikes’ shots went wide, cementing victory for the Innis team. The members of the victorious team all received entries in U of T’s tuition draw, capping off a frantic day of soccer.
Innis’ captain Mohammed Soroor was understandably pleased with the victory.
“I’m really happy with the turnout,” he said, adding that he thought the tournament was reasonably orderly, although he had some misgivings about its organization. “It’s really annoying,” he added. “You’d think the rules would be set before the tournament.”
Despite its shortcomings, Kwak felt that he thought the event went well: “We just want everyone to go away happy,” he said. “It’s been a real learning experience. We want to make this an annual thing. Any negativity or bitterness will kill it.”
The inter-college soccer tournament was the third U of T Games event to be held this year. The previous two, Frosh Week’s Cheer Off and mid-September’s College Bowl trivia competition were held in the last few weeks and both deemed successful by organizers.
The next event is on October 1, where contestants will compete for the title of U of T Idol.
