Durham Flames

Durham Flames were a semi-professional Canadian football club based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The club competed in the Canadian Professional Soccer League for five seasons from 1999 to 2003.

Durham Flames
Full nameDurham Flames
Nickname(s)The Flames
Founded1999 (as Oshawa Flames)
StadiumOshawa Civic Stadium
Thornton Rd South / Gibb Street
Oshawa
Canada
Capacity2,000
LeagueDefunct club
Former members of Canadian Professional Soccer League

Background

Durham Flames (previously known as Oshawa Flames) played in the Canadian Professional Soccer League which is the third tier of Canadian football pyramid. The club was founded in 1999[1] and played their home matches at the Oshawa Civic Stadium in Oshawa.[2] The stadium is able to accommodate 2,000 spectators. The club was affiliated to the Canadian Soccer Association.

History

Durham Flames were originally known as Oshawa Flames and first entered the Canadian Professional Soccer League in 1999, as a replacement for the Mississauga Eagles. The club's first head coach was CSL and APSL veteran Jens Kraemer. Notable acquisition were Darryl Gomez, Pat Sullivan, and Hubert Busby, Jr.[3] The club finished in fifth position and reached the semi-finals of the League Cup before going out 2-0 on aggregate to Toronto Croatia, the second match proving decisive at Centennial Park Stadium.[4] The following season the team hired the services of Durham College head coach Stan Bombino to coach the team. Bombino led Durham to a seventh-place finish which reflected the fact that they drew 9 of their 14 matches.[5] Jimmy Kuzmanovski was the club's top goal-scorer with 9 league and cup goals.[6] At the conclusion of the season Kuzmanovski was awarded the CPSL Rookie of the Year award.[7] Under their new title of Durham Flames, and under the leadership of Danny Stewart the club again failed to reach the championship playoffs in the 2001 and 2002 seasons.[8][9][10][11][12][13] Though Durham failed to reach the postseason they received the CPSL Fair Play award in 2001.[14]

In their final season in 2003 in the Eastern Conference the club struggled, winning just one of their 18 league matches. This contrasted with their performance in the Open Canada Cup when they reached the Cup Final weekend before losing 4-1 to London City in a wild card game on 29 August 2003. The Flames last ever match was played on 30 September 2003 when they went down 3-1 away to Vaughan Sun Devils.[2][15][16][17][18] On October 5, 2003 the organization was awarded their second CPSL Fair Play award for being the most disciplined team.[19]

It was reported in the local press that The Flames were excluded from the League in December 2003, their franchise having been revoked following their failure to pay league fees and fines. Durham Storm took over their slot for home games in Oshawa's Civic Stadium on Friday nights. However The Storm bought the Mississauga Olympians franchise and did not take over the Durham Flames franchise.[20]

Season to season
Season League Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Playoffs League Cup Club name
1999 Canadian Professional Soccer League 5 14367 192614 Did not qualify Semi-final Oshawa Flames
2000 Canadian Professional Soccer League 7 14293 22359 Did not qualify Group stage Oshawa Flames
2001 Canadian Professional Soccer League 10 227312 395324 Did not qualify Group stage Durham Flames
2002 Canadian Professional Soccer League (East) 5 197210 284423 Did not qualify Durham Flames
2003 Canadian Professional Soccer League (East) 6 181116 28739 Did not qualify Durham Flames

[4][5][8][9][15]

First team squad 2003

The following players represented Durham Flames in their final season: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Canada CAN Serge Desbiens
1 GK Canada CAN Daniel Baker
2 Canada CAN Jason Davis
3 DF Canada CAN Luke Brown
4 FW Canada CAN Jahmo Welsh
5 DF Canada CAN Mark Melo
6 DF Canada CAN Roger Badley
8 Canada CAN Ryan Dummett
9 Canada CAN Mike Mason
10 MF Canada CAN Dan Sadler
11 Canada CAN Jamal Jupiter
12 Canada CAN Jonathan Briggs
13 DF Canada CAN Kwamie Wafie-Annoh
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 MF Canada CAN Adam Vickers
15 Canada CAN Zamar Brown
16 DF Canada CAN Laurence Ledwidge
17 Canada CAN Sean Caresdilero
18 FW Canada CAN Danny Mattin
19 Canada CAN Javed Hakim
20 Canada CAN David Mills
21 MF Canada CAN Desmond Humphrey
22 GK Canada CAN Brandon Cedar

[21]

Club administration 2003

The key officials of the club during the last season were:

[22]

Head coaches
Years Name Nation
1999Jens Kraemer Canada
2000Stan Bombino Canada
2001Danny Stewart Canada
2002-2003Steve Hamill Canada

Footnotes
  1. "UOIT Ridgebacks Men's Soccer -Coaching Staff". UOIT Ridgebacks. Archived from the original on 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  2. "ONSoccer.ca - CPSL Drops Wizards & Flames - December 3, 2003". ONSoccer.ca. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  3. Glover, Robin. "Toronto Croatia vs Oshawa Flames". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
  4. "Canada - Canadian Premier Soccer League 1999 - rsssf.org". RSSSF. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  5. "Canada - Canadian Premier Soccer League 2000 - rsssf.org". RSSSF. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  6. "2000 CPSL - Final Year 2000 Results". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  7. RUMLESKI, Kathy. "LFP Sports: Croatia bags Primus Cup by upsetting Olympians". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
  8. "Canada - Canadian Premier Soccer League 2001 - rsssf.org". RSSSF. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  9. "Canada - Canadian Premier Soccer League 2002 - rsssf.org". RSSSF. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  10. "1999 CPSL League Schedule, Results, and Game Reports". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  11. "2000 CPSL League Schedule, Results, and Game Reports". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  12. "2001 CPSL League Schedule, Results, and Game Reports". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  13. "2002 CPSL League Schedule, Results, and Game Reports". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  14. Glover, Robin. "Voyageurs Soccer Talk". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
  15. "Canada - Canadian Premier Soccer League 2003 - rsssf.org". RSSSF. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  16. "2003 CPSL League Schedule, Results, and Game Reports". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  17. "2003 CPSL (Canadian Professional Soccer League) schedule - July to October 2003". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  18. "CPSL - London wins Open Canada Cup wild card match". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  19. "October 5, 2003 CPSL Awards Dinner from CPSL site". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
  20. "2004 CPSL - New soccer team hopes to take Durham by Storm". Rocket Robin. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  21. "Durham Flames 2003 - The Team". Web archive - durhamflames.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2003. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  22. "Archive of Durham Flames 2003 - Administration". Web archive - durhamflames.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2003. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
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