1999 CPSL Awards Dinner.
by Rocket Robin
The awards dinner for the Canadian Premier Soccer League was held Sunday afternoon, November 21, 1999 at The Hollywood Princess in Concord Ontario.
The awards were given out near the end of the dinner. About 110 people were in attendance, mostly a mix of players and team officials and the local media.
Team awards were given to Cup runner ups Toronto Croatia and Cup champions Toronto Olympians. These teams were also Playoff finalist and Playoff champions respectively. Medals were also given out to the players on the other six teams who played in the special exhibition game against the Canada Development team on Cup day.
The Leading Goalscorer was Eddie Berdusco of Toronto Olympians.
The Referee of the year was Silviu Petrescu.
The Oshawa Flames had a few minutes to give out team awards: their MVP Anthony Whitney and leading goalscorer Dave Cohen. Al Foggetti was also given an award.
The Fair Play Award was given to the Toronto Olympians for the fewest Red and Yellow cards accumulated.
The Goalkeeper of the Year Award was given to George Azcurra of Toronto Croatia.
Coach of the Year was a tie between David Gee of Toronto Olympians and Tony Laferrara of London City.
An informal award of response time was given by the league offices to London City for providing quick results with 97% efficiency.
The 1999 Media Award for press release promptness was given to Lisa from Oshawa Flames.
Team awards for the League runners up Glen Shields Sun Devils and League champions Toronto Olympians were given out next with the players each getting medals.
The Rookie of The Year award went to Semir Mesanovic of London City (who it was also mentioned played for Canada Development Team).
The League MVP was named as Elvis Thomas of the Toronto Olympians. He wasn't there but was teaching soccer in the Cayman Islands. It was mentioned that on short notice he was called up for the Canadian national team in Gold Cup qualifying.
A special award for his long years of service was given to Walter Kirchner who is leaving as Chief of Referees. He was given a trophy and a gold whistle.
Two monetary awards were given to players by the newly formed Canadian National Soccer Foundation. First winners were Elvis Thomas and Semir Mesanovic.
The Toronto Olympian official even got lucky by winning the best door prize, a trip to Atlantic City.
Final special award was to Tom Michalopoulos, the owner of Toronto Olympians and a huge league supporter.
On a personal note, I would wait until Tuesday to pass a driving test to keep my auto licence. This was very important if I'm to cover the league in any depth for their 2000 season. I was in a daze most of the day but did find out there was no CPSL league run Indoor League this winter.
Rocket Robin
robing@clo.com
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