[nas] New inductees into Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame for 2005

NATIONAL TEAM COACH FRANK YALLOP TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE CANADIAN SOCCER HALL OF 
FAME.

    Current national team coach Frank Yallop is one of eleven new members who 
will be inducted into The Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in Vaughan, Ontario on 
April 30, 2005, it was announced today.  Yallop, who is being inducted as a 
player, joins former national team coaches Don Petrie, Bobby Lenarduzzi and Tony 
Waiters in the Hall.

    Also being inducted next April are former national team players Colin 
Miller, Wes McLeod, Terry Moore, Garry Ayre, Norman McLeod and Michelle Ring, 
Making up the eight players being inducted is former England international Sam 
Chedgzoy, who played and coached in Montreal from 1930 to 1940 and continued to 
live in Montreal after he retired.

    The three builders being inducted are Steve Stavro, who was president of 
the Toronto City Soccer Club in the old Eastern Canada Professional Soccer 
League, former FIFA referee Sonia Denoncourt, and Georges Schwartz, a former 
member of the FIFA Amateur Committee, who has been prominent in Quebec soccer 
for many years.

    In addition the Hall of Fame has chosen its third Team of Distinction, this 
time the Westminster Royals of 1928, who were national champions in that year.

    Yallop, who became Canada's national team coach earlier this year, played 
52 times for Canada's full national team and 316 games for Ipswich Town over 14 
seasons in England.  When his career in England was over he joined Tampa Bay 
Mutiny of Major League Soccer in the United States and played there from 1996 to 
1998, before turning to coaching.

    Wes McLeod, Terry Moore, Garry Ayre and Colin Miller all played in the 
North American Soccer League.  McLeod for Tampa Bay Rowdies, Moore for San Diego 
Sockers, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Tulsa Roughnecks, Ayre for Vancouver Whitecaps, 
New York Cosmos and Portland Timbers and Miller for Toronto Blizzard.  McLeod, 
who played 18 full internationals for Canada, also represented Canada at the 
1976 Olympics in Montreal, and was selected to the NASL North American All-Star 
team five times.  He played eight seasons in the NASL for the Rowdies who were 
one of the NASLs glamour teams.

    Moore, who was born in Moncton, New Brunswick, is the first player from the 
Martimes to be inducted.  He was a member of the national team that qualified 
for the Olympic quarter finals in 1984 and then lost to Brazil on penalty kicks. 
 He was a member of the Tulsa team that upset the favoured Toronto Blizzard in 
Soccer Bowl 1983 in Vancouver, and a member of the 1986 World Cup team in Mexico.

    Ayre, played 21 times for Canada and like McLeod was a member of the 1976 
World Cup team in Montreal.  He played 38 games for the Whitecaps in 1977 and 
1978 before being transferred to the Cosmos where he played in Soccer Bowl 1978. 
 Later that same year he was a member of the Cosmos team that toured Europe. 
He was with the national team in World Cup qualifying in 1976 and 1977, but a 
serious knee injury kept him off the 1980 roster.

    Miller, was a member of the Toronto Blizzard squad that reached the NASL 
final in 1983 and 1984 as a young player.  When the NASL folded he moved to 
Scotland and joined Glasgow Rangers before moving on to play for Doncaster 
Rovers in England and then back to Scotland to play for Hamilton Academicals, 
Hearts and Dunfermline Athletic.  He regularly returned home to Canada and 
played 61 times for the national team.  He also played in the Canadian Soccer 
League in the summer months for Hamilton Steelers in 1988 and 1990, and was 
interim coach of the national team before Frank Yallop's appointment.

    Norman McLeod was a member of the 1957 World Cup team and toured the old 
Soviet Union with the national team in 1960.  Michelle Ring played 45 times for 
Canada, including the 1995 World Cup in Sweden, and is a member of the 
University of British Columbia's Sports Hall of Fame.

    Sam Chedgzoy holds a unique place in soccer history in that in 1924 he 
forced a change in the law that governs taking corner kicks.  He played eight 
times for England and 300 times for Everton over eleven seasons.  In the summer 
of 1924 he came to Montreal while still an Everton player to coach the Grenadier 
Guards team, returning to the city in 1930 to become player coach of Montreal 
Carsteel, one of the top Canadian teams of that decade.  In 1939 at the age of 
50 he played in the Canadian Cup Final and continued to live in Montreal until 
his death in 1967.

    Steve Stavro, better known for his connection with hockey and the Toronto 
Maple Leafs, is a life member of the Canadian Soccer Association.  His life long 
love of soccer led him to become president of the International Soccer League of 
Ontario in 1959 and in 1961 he played a major role in forming the Eastern Canada 
Professional Soccer League and owned the Toronto City team.  In 1967 he was a 
member of a group that formed the United Soccer Association (USA), the 
forerunner of the NASL, and owned the Toronto City franchise.  When the league 
merged with the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) later that year, he 
sold his rights to Joe Peters, who owned the Toronto Falcons.  After that he 
promoted international exhibition games in Toronto and has retained his interest 
in the game ever since.

    Sonia Denoncourt has long been recognized as the leading official in the 
women's game and refereed the Olympic final in Sydney in 2000 between Norway and 
the United States.  She also refereed at the 1995, 1999 and 2003 Women's World 
Cups, often having the task of handling the more difficult games.  She retired 
earlier this year.

    Georges Schwartz has long been a key administrator in Quebec soccer and was 
a commentator for the CBCs French Network at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. 
 He also served as a member of FIFAs Amateur Committee.

    The Westminster Royals of 1928 were voted Canada's team of the half century 
by the Canadian Press late in 1950, for having won the national championship in 
1928.  The "New" in the name was dropped in the case of the soccer team to 
distinguish it from the cities hockey team of the same name.  Incredibly one 
member of this team, goalkeeper Stanley Ball, is still alive at the age of 99, 
and living in Toronto.

Contact:  Colin Jose.  (905) 561-3885

colinjose@sympatico,ca





---
See all of today's Soccer News Links at:  http://www.sams-army.com/
NAS is hosted by America Kicks (http://www.americakicks.com)
To subscribe or unsubscribe: http://nas.americakicks.com
To post, send an email to nas@americakicks.com