MediaThis spotlight feature originally appeared in Canadian Lower League Soccer Magazine, the full PDF of which is viewable at the bottom of this article. The feature on Cook Street can be read below
Vancouver Island has a rich heritage when it comes to soccer – the VISL was founded over
120 years ago. It also has long history of attracting migrants from all over the world, the
impact of which can be felt all over the provincial capital, Victoria. Cook Street United is a new VISL team based in the city,
established in the summer of 2020 designed to bring the best of European football and combine it with the things that make
Canada uniquely great.
After six months of discussing the concept of forming a new club over the occasional beer, a small group of VISL players decided to leave their current clubs Gorge FC, Bays United and Fernwood Town and try to create something new. This small cohort of early players had an international feel from the start, with four Englishmen, an Irishman and two Canadians forming the basis of the first practice session. The group mostly knew each other through a casual 7-a-side team notorious for wearing pink socks: a flourish that inspired the design of Cook Street’s away uniform. The idea would be to embrace the local values, like sportsmanship, professionalism and kindness but also to add aspects of the English game that are sometimes missing from island football. That meant finding a balance between a fierce competitive attitude and ensuring that it would always be fun to participate. Crucially, the club was focused on finding players that would not only win every game but also genuinely enjoy drinking a few beers together afterwards, with the core belief that what happens off the field influences what happens on it.
In July 2020 club president Kieren Parfey and vice president George Lucas started formalizing the process of creating the new club, while head coach Joel Windels began populating the player roster. Cook Street United is named after the vibrant, alternative Cook Street Village area of Victoria, nestled right next to Heywood Park in the beautiful Beacon Hill grounds. Beacon Hill is famous for its large population of roaming peacocks, which has since naturally become the club’s nickname. Cook Street United had a community feel from the very start, with players like the experienced Kale Haley, prolific Jonathan Hand and hard-working Dan Collins contributing to a recruitment drive to find the right kind of player. Izak Brussow, the club’s South African winger put it simply: “my teammates are the sort of people you want to pass to and train with, but they’re also the kind that you want to hang out with outside of football”.
Informal playing sessions each Thursday slowly attracted more players as word-of-mouth spread about an exciting new club, with the pub just as full afterwards as the field was during it. Players from Vic West, FC Sagres and Prospect Lake all decided to make the switch as the hype continued to build. With four weeks to go before the first match, the final list of players was selected and the Peacocks registered the uncommonly large number of 27 players for the season, which would begin in VISL division 4. The club made special efforts to be welcoming to newcomers to Canada, with players hailing from over a dozen different countries including the UK, Australia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Serbia. Many were happy to be part of something special even if it meant less playing time than they might get at other clubs. Local favourites Driftwood Brewery also joined as the club’s flagship sponsor, forming a partnership well suited to the club’s cultural values.
After securing a training venue, home and away kits, a home field, equipment, a website and a thousand other tasks to ensure football could be played safely amidst a global pandemic, Cook Street United were ready to start their inaugural season. A comfortable 4-0 win at Pace FC was the perfect way to start life as a new club, and a third of the way into the schedule the Peacocks sit unbeaten and top of division 4 with sights on an ‘invincible’ 20/21 season. Cook Street leadership hopes it can create something a little different to the large, established clubs on the island, and so far it looks like they’re on the right path.
