CNSL 75th Anniversary Annual Awards Gala.
Here are some details of the Canadian National Soccer League 75th Anniversary Awards Gala held Friday night November 8th, 1996 at the Hollywood Princess Banquet Hall in the City of Vaughan (the city 'above' Toronto).
Attendance was almost 400 people which if this was a soccer game, would have made any of the teams proud. Dinner was served at 8:00pm.
Alfonso Ciasca was the Master of Ceremony and opening speeches were given by President Peter Li Preti and Commissioner Michael Di Biase. None of the award winners got near the podium. It was handshake and wave for each winner as they posed for pictures.
The Awards:
League Champions................................Toronto Italia
Cup Champions Runner Up....................Toronto Italia
Playoff Champions..................................Toronto Italia
League Champions Runner Up..............St Catharines Wolves
Cup Champions........................................St Catharines Wolves
Playoff Champions Runner Up................St Catharines Wolves
These were the only prizes preprinted on the program. The other trophies were on display at the front but they had the new inscriptions taped over to keep the element of surprise. After having the players troop up to get one prize each, the presenters decided to get them to stay up at the front so they could give each team their medals and save some time.
Most disiplined team..........................London City
Given to the team that had the fewest yellow and red cards issued throughout the season. Noone from the team was there to accept the award.
Coach of the Year......................................Peter Pinizzotto (Toronto Italia)
Most Valuable Player..............................Michele Gioia (Toronto Italia)
Top Goal Scorer........................................Michele Gioia (Toronto Italia)
Gioia wasn't at the dinner as they announced that he was trying out for Bergomo Atalanta of the Italian Serie A. Hey, Good Luck! I also learned that I've been spelling his name incorrect all year.
Goalie of the Year..........................................Joe Ciaravino (Toronto Italia)
Rookie of the Year..........................................Gus Kouzmanis (Toronto Supra)
Referee of the Year.........................................Manuel Orlana
For picture purposes they also called up ref/lineperson Norma Clark who styled her hair and dressed tonight just like one of The Supremes.
Manager of the Year........................................Joe Mallozzi (Toronto Italia)
President of the Year.......................................Pasquale Fioccola (Toronto Italia)
Best Public Relations Director........................Sergio Giancola (Toronto Supra)
Most Improved Team.......................................North York Talons
Talons player Lincoln Williams picked up the trophy as it did not look like any team officials were there. Now this was a surprize for me. The Talons didn't win a game all year. The reasoning for the prize may be that earlier in the year they were getting pounded by about five or six goals but by the last weeks of the season they were ONLY losing 1-0. I would have expected fellow new teams Toronto Supra (however they did play in the Puma League in 1995) or Oakville Canadian Westerns (who started from scratch in 1996) to win this prize as they both finished above the .500 mark.
There were some other prizes awarded and a recap of the season. The obvious highlight of the season was the organizing and playing of the Diego Maradona game. Now for the first time would the officials admit how perilous the negotiations were. They announced to the press the game would be played a few hours before Diego actually signed the contract. The game was arranged and was played within the week to great success as a crowd of 7000 attended and headlines were generated by the mainstream media all over the world. A special prize was given to Lalo Maradona of Toronto Italia for convincing his brother to take part.
They gave a medal to various media types and one to Ennio at my table for his long service of announcing Scarborough Astro and Toronto Italia games.
I was given some pictures by Tony a pro photographer whom I offered to give him a plug on this page if he wanted but for now he's declined. I'll scan them and have them on my page in the next few weeks. I had meant to ask some of the Wolves players about their very successful trip of the Netherlands in August but they all disappeared at 11:00pm for the long trip home. Meanwhile the dance was just starting and I had a choice of trying to ask them for a quick interview or dancing with one of the beautiful ladies at my table, Margaret. ..Journalism Smernalism!..that interview will have to wait until later!
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