# Victoria Riptides

Victoria Riptides (also known as the RipTides and Riptide) were a professional soccer team based out of Victoria, British Columbia. The team played for two seasons; the 1984 season of the Pacific Coast Soccer League, and 1985 season of the Western Alliance Challenge Series. Their home games were played at Royal Athletic Park.

## History

David Keith was coach of the Riptides for their first season during which the Riptides secured a record of 7 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. The team featured several prominent players including former Vancouver Whitecap, Frank Woods; Simon Keith, who joined the 'Tides after playing in the second tier of the British league for Millwall F.C.; Brian Mousley (Portland Timbers); local stand-out Rob Wallace who signed his first professional contract with the Riptides; as well as several Canada national team pool players: Doug Adlem, Glen Johnson and Scott Weinberg (University of Victoria).
In 1985, four independent west coast soccer clubs joined to create an informal challenge series. The challenge cup pitted the Riptides against F.C. Seattle, F.C. Portland and the San Jose Earthquakes in a home and away series. The cup also included games against the Canada national soccer team which was training for the 1986 World Cup in Vancouver, BC. The national team was not included in the standings.
Brian Hughes was the head coach to start the 1985 season, but was replaced mid-season by real-estate agent Buzz Parsons who also failed to produce winning results. The 1985 Riptides had a 3-1-3 record, finishing second from the bottom in the final standings. The challenge series led to a discussion among the four teams about forming a permanent league or alliance. The Riptides management at the time, disagreed with this approach and did not participate in future games in what became known as the Western Soccer Alliance. They also backed out of joining the newly forming Canadian Soccer Association. The Western Soccer Alliance became the Western Soccer League in 1989 which merged with the American Soccer League in 1990 to form the American Professional Soccer League.

## Year-by-year

| Year | League | Record | Regular Season | Post Season |
| 1984 | Pacific Coast Soccer League | 7-2-1 | 2nd | runners-up |
| 1985 | Western Alliance Challenge Series | 3-1-3 | 3rd | N/A |

## 1984 Pacific Coast Soccer League
### League final standings

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, T = Ties, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts= point system
2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss.
    -League Premiers (most points). -Other playoff teams.
| Team | GP | W | T | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| New Westminster QPR | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 12 | 17 |
| Victoria Riptides | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 8 | 16 |
| Nanaimo Regal | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 22 | 13 | 11 |
| Richmond Olympic | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 35 | 6 |
| Vancouver Pegasus | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 6 |
| Richmond Club Ireland | 10 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 27 | 4 |

### Regular season results

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goal Scorers |
| June 10, 1984 | New Westminster QPR | H | 2–3 | 937 | George Pakos, Simon Keith |
| June 17, 1984 | Vancouver Pegasus | H | 3–0 | 907 | John Hughes, Simon Keith, Brain Mousley |
| June 24, 1984 | Richmond Club Ireland | A | 0–1 | | Glenn Johnston |
| June 30, 1984 | Nanaimo Regal | H | 4–0 | 100 | Ken Garraway (2), Rob Wallace, Mike Collis |
| July 7, 1984 | Richmond Olympic | H | 4–1 | 982 | Simon Keith (2), Doug Adlem, Ken Garraway |
| July 14, 1984 | New Westminster QPR | A | 1–2 | | Scott Weinberg, Glenn Johnston |
| July 22, 1984 | Nanaimo Regal | H | 1–1 | 700 | Scott Weinberg |
| July 29, 1984 | Vancouver Pegasus | A | 2–2 | | Glenn Johnston, Brain Mousley |
| August 6, 1984 | Richmond Club Ireland | H | 3–0 | 600 | Ian Klitze (2), Glenn Johnston |
| August 12, 1984 | Richmond Olympic | A | 0–2 | | Ken Garraway, Doug Adlem |

### Victoria Cup Final results

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goal Scorers | Ref. |
| August 23, 1984 | New Westminster QPR | A | 6–2 | | George Pakos, Ken Garraway | |
| August 26, 1984 | New Westminster QPR | H | 3–0 | 907 | George Pakos, Doug Adlem, Glenn Johnston | |

### Exhibition results

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goal Scorers | Ref. |
| July 17, 1984 | Canada Men's National Team | H | 0–4 | 1,105 | none | |

### Team management

* Joe Stott - president
* Dave Davies - general manager
* David Keith - head coach

## 1985 Western Alliance Challenge Series
### Series final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | T | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | San Jose Earthquakes | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 13 |
| 2 | F.C. Seattle | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 10 |
| 3 | Victoria Riptide | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 13 | −1 | 10 |
| 4 | F.C. Portland | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 5 |

### 1985 Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | CAN | Grant Darley |
| — | GK | CAN | Sven Habermann |
| — | GK | | Gary Smith |
| — | GK | | Tobin Walker |
| — | DF | CAN | Randy Samuel |
| — | DF | CAN | Iain Baird |
| — | DF | CAN | Greg Kern |
| — | DF | CAN | Carey Cleaver |
| — | DF | CAN | Dan Sudeyko |
| — | DF | WAL | John Hughes |
| — | DF | | Ken Andrews |
| — | DF | | John Noble |
| — | DF | | Gordie Horth |
| — | MF | CAN | Jamie Lowery |
| — | MF | CAN | John Catliff |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | CAN | George Pakos |
| — | MF | | John McGuire |
| — | FW | CAN | Doug Muirhead |
| — | FW | CAN | Nick Gilbert |
| — | FW | CAN | Ken Garraway |
| — | FW | CAN | Lou Garraway |
| — | FW | | Lance Hollett |
| — | | CAN | Buzz Parsons |
| — | | CAN | Keith Bridge |
| — | | CAN | Steve Moss |
| — | | | Tony Ensons |
| — | | | Demetre Gilbert |
| — | | | Mike McStravich |
| — | | | Dan Hood |

### Team management

* Harry Kuiack - president
* Drew Finerty - general manager
* Brian Hughes - head coach
* Bruce Twamley - assistant coach
* Buzz Parsons - assistant coach, (became head coach in June)