Vancouver Whitecaps

This is a page on both the current Vancouver soccer club Whitecaps F.C. and the former North American Soccer League franchise, the Vancouver Whitecaps

The Vancouver Whitecaps (officially Whitecaps F.C.) are a Canadian professional soccer team, which currently plays in the USL First Division (formerly the A-League) of the United Soccer Leagues (USL), the largest system of national soccer leagues in North America. They play at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, British Columbia. The team was originally known as the Vancouver 86ers of both the A-League and the now-defunct Canadian Soccer League (CSL).

The Whitecap colors are white, and blue. Primary kit: white shirt with blue horizontal bar across chest, blue shorts, white socks. Second kit: blue shirt with white horizontal bar across chest, white shorts, blue socks.

History

The original Vancouver Whitecaps were founded in 1974 and during the 1970s and 1980s played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Whitecaps achieved good success, winning the 1979 Soccer Bowl for Vancouver's only major-sport championship. The Whitecaps of that era included international players such as Peter Beardsley and Alan Ball. Due to the demise of the NASL, in 1984 the Whitecaps, along with many other teams in the NASL, were forced to fold.

In 1986, a professional soccer team was again launched in Vancouver, the Vancouver 86ers -- so named because of both the year of the team's founding, and to commemorate the hosting of the World's Fair Expo '86 by the city of Vancouver in that year. The Vancouver 86ers played in the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) winning 4 straight CSL Championships (1988-1991) until that league too folded, at which point the team joined the American Professional Soccer League (A-League).

In 2001, the team reverted back to the old Vancouver Whitecaps moniker (signifying both the 'white caps' of the nearby mountains, and the waves of the Pacific Ocean), and in 2003 the name was again changed, albeit only slightly, to Whitecaps F.C. which encompasses the men's, women's, and youth development teams within the organization.

The Fans

Fans of the Whitecaps may be referred to as the "Blue and White Army" or the "Southsiders". The Southsiders (so named for the area of the stands they gather by) often chant and sing and are easily the most vocal and loyal component of the Whitecaps' support base.

External links

• Vancouver Whitecaps Official Site