The first Friday of October saw the return of a long-standing U of T sports event: the World Cup of Clubs Tournament. U of T students took to King’s College Circle in the cold and early morning hoping for a warm victory, and as the rain started coming down, male and female athletes, undergrad and grad alike, slid through the muddy field, their club jerseys plastered to their backs.
The soccer tournament, founded by the University of Toronto Italian-Canadian Association, has been running for over a decade, bringing together a number of U of T clubs to fight for the championship. This year’s teams were all culturally oriented: competing with UTICA were the Étudiants Francophones de l’Université de Toronto, the Chinese Undergrad Association of U of T, the university’s Korean-Canadian, Portuguese, Croatian, and Greek students’ associations, and the Iranian Students’ Union. The tournament is not restricted to cultural clubs, though it began as an imitation of the World Cup with four competitors: Italy, Portugal, China, and Croatia.
Vince Messina, assistant coach of the Portuguese team, explained that due to restrictions, the tournament’s organizers are forced to give priority to teams that have participated in previous years, making it difficult to expand the event to include other kinds of university clubs.
The mentioned restrictions include, notably, space and play time. “The play time is short, standard time being only forty-five minutes, and the field should get more protection,” said Chinese undergrad student Richard Yako-Ming, who was playing for the second year and was disappointed by the conditions. The season’s rainy weather made the open Front Campus field, in one student’s words, “a mudpie.” “The Office of Space Management doesn’t give us enough time on the pitch,” said Antonin Mongeau, coach of the EFUT team. “We want to expand the tournament to draw in more students, but the administration seems to resist that. OSM needs to step its game up.”
Increased university support, with a designated field dedicated to the event for an entire day, would allow a broader range of clubs to participate, and help develop a more colourful event.
Nonetheless, the only regulation demanded of this year’s participating teams was that 11 players be on the field at all times, and that at least one of those players be female. Francesca Imbrogno, an Italian student originally playing for UTICA, switched to the Croatian team during one of their matches in order to help them fulfill the female player regulation and stay in the game. “I think it’s a great rule that one girl has to be on each team,” Imbrogno said. “It brings balance to the teams and gives some real star female players a chance to shine.”
Attention to detail on the part of the organizers resulted in a successful event and good sportsmanship from the participants. Relations remained friendly although the players showed a great deal of dedication, many of them not having had the opportunity to play in a league since high school. “After years of playing pick-up, the World Cup of Clubs gives these guys a chance to get competitive,” added Imbrogno.
According to Massimo Rotondo, UTICA member and alumni advisor, the advantage of such an event is that “it’s not just about soccer. The idea is gaining membership, exposing clubs.”
As many students have learned, at a university with such large campuses, clubs are an important way to find solidarity and a sense of community. In one of the most multicultural cities in the world, the tournament is a way to combine school spirit with personal cultural pride. Each team had a gathering of supporters screaming words of encouragement through the rainy fog. “I came out to support my team because it’s an opportunity to see people I know and meet new people,” said Silvija Metelko, a member of the Croatian club. For many students the game carries more weight as a cultural event within U of T than as a sports championship.
The final game between Korea and Greece ended in a 4-2 victory for the Koreans, breaking a tug of war between Italy and Croatia and marking Korea’s first year as the champion club. Andrew Park, coach of the winning team, embodied Korea’s gracious approach to the game. “We’re very excited and we’ll definitely be back next year,” he said. The tournament’s character can be best judged by the reactions of the Greek coach, Dimitri Kyriakakis, who smiled under the tumbling rain after a tough defeat: “16 players came out at 7:30 a.m. on a Friday morning, we played two to three girls at all times, we brought out very passionate, young players, most of whom were first-years, we had an excellent turnout, and we’re very proud of everyone.”
