Toronto Inferno 1999 Season Summary.
October 20,1999.
Toronto Inferno completed their first year in the W-League with an unimpressive won-loss record of 3-11. There record against fellow Division 1 competition was only 1-10. This is something they'll have to improve on. They were always competitive except for their last home game (against Chicago Cobras) when they had no bench strength against the best team in the league. In most of their Division 1 home games they were just not quite good enough.
Attendance was poor but it wasn't unusually low for other teams in the W-League. The game times did not conflict with the A-League Toronto Lynx nor the CPSL League and I was able to catch all their home games. I noticed there was no overlap of fan support between the leagues. All the games took place as scheduled which was much better than 1998 when the Inferno was a provisional team and half their games were cancelled. They'll have to do more marketing for the 2000 season.
I think the future overall success of the W-League will be determined by what happens to the American players who played in the World Cup in 1998. If they split up and get assigned one or two players per team, I think the league will succeed. If there is another league formed with some big owners with big money playing in the same cities, I can see this league never getting any bigger.
Rocket Robin
robing@clo.com
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