Tombstone
Born: January 1989 – CSL expansion franchise
Folded: Postseason 1989
First Game: May 28, 1989 (W 2-1 vs. Edmonton Brickmen)
Last Game: September 17, 1989 (T 0-0 @ Edmonton Brickmen)
CSL Championships: None
Stadium
Branding
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Calgary Soccer Society (Colin Austin, President)
Background
The Calgary Strikers were a One-Year Wonder that was active in the Canadian Soccer League during the summer of 1989. The Strikers replaced the Calgary Kickers (1987-1988) in the CSL after the Kickers’ franchise succumbed to financial problems at the end of the 1988 season.
The Kickers won the first championship of the CSL in 1987. Calgary’s Nick Gilbert was the league’s leading scorer and Most Valuable Player that summer. But he was sold to the Toronto Blizzard midway through the following season amidst the Kickers’ financial crisis. When the Strikers formed in early 1989, their first player move was to re-acquire Gilbert from Toronto in return for the first overall draft pick in the 1989 CSL draft.
The Strikers fared no better than the Kickers had before them. The team typically played to crowds of less than a thousand fans at ancient Mewata Stadium. In July 1989 the team made a public appeal for 700 supporters to contribute $200 each to keep the club afloat and allow it to complete the 1989 season.
The club stopped paying its players and remaining staff in August, but somehow managed to muddle along to the end of the season. Andy Smith was the Strikers’ leading scorer. Calgary lost to the Edmonton Brickmen in a two-leg playoff quarterfinal in September 1989 and quietly folded shortly thereafter.
Links
Canadian Soccer League Media Guides
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