History By Colin: Jay Eye Connection

By Colin Jose, Canadian Soccer History

He was a football man. CFL football fans will remember J.I. Albrecht.

He has just died but the obituaries missed his soccer connection. The press forgot that Albrecht was General Manager of the Toronto Metros-Croatia of the North American Soccer League in 1978.

I knew him quite well at that time, and liked him a lot. He only lasted that one season because by the time 1979 rolled around, the Metros-Croatia had been sold to Global Television and renamed Toronto Blizzard.

The Global Television Network bought the Toronto Metros-Croatia from the Toronto Croatian community in 1979. Paul Morton was President and Seymour Epstein was the Chairman. The General Manager was Norman Sutherland and the Head Coach Keith Eddy. The team played at Exhibition Stadium.

On opening day, there was a snowstorm at half time that covered all the field markings.

Global TV didn’t televise all the games, but did cover quite a few — mostly at home, but also some away. The commentator was Mike Anscombe, who later moved on to become news anchor. There were times when Jim Kernaghan was the analyst.

The coverage was not commercial free, so from time to time a goal was scored during a commercial.

Global owned the team for three years. Before the 1982 season Global sold the team to York Hannover Sports Enterprises.

Chairman of the Board was Karsten von Wersebe, President Clive Toye and Gordon Cunningham and Dave Barbour were also members of the board. The Head Coach was Bob Houghton. York Hannover owned the team until the league folded early in 1985, and also beyond that.

Thought you might like to know.
Colin.