George Pakos playing for the Canadian soccer team |
George Pakos was a member of the first Canadian team ever to play in soccer's World Cup. He was also instrumental in getting Team Canada to that historic breakthrough, scoring half of their goals. His two goals in the final round of CONCACAF qualifying led the national side into the 1986 World Cup. They are two of the most important goals in the history of Canadian soccer. What is most remarkable is that George is one of the few fully amateur players ever to play in the World Cup. He earned most of his 18 Team Canada caps -scoring 10 goals internationally - while on holiday time or unpaid leaves of absence from work. At age 33 George provided one of the greatest Cinderella stories in the history of Canadian sports. Originally cut after the first round of qualifying for the 1986 World Cup, George was called back by Team Canada. He responded in a big way by scoring Canada's lone goal in a key final round road victory that stunned 50,000 Honduran fans. George again scored at St. Johns when Canada beat Honduras 2-1, to advance to soccer's "Big Dance" for the first time ever. George Pakos was named Victoria Male Athlete of the Year for 1986.
1951 Victoria Allstar Soccer Team |
1951 Victoria Allstar Soccer Team |
This gutsy Victoria squad pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Canadian soccer history. In the evening of June 7, 1951 the Victoria All-Stars defeated Fulham FC by the score of 1-0 at Royal Athletic Park. It was the first time everthat a Canadian football team had beaten a touring English professional side and the first time that a top-flight English side had failed to score a goal in a football match played on Canadian soil. Also, Fulham substituted a player late in the game - despite having reluctantly agreed to the use of subs during protracted and prickly pre-game negotiations - for they saw defeat staring them right in the face. Therefore, an historic victory and shutout won by our amateur rep side and the lone substitution of the match born out of ironic necessity by an overconfident Old Country pro club made Canadian and English football history and fascinating trivia to boot.
The Victorians truly shocked the soccer world. "For those of us that are left, from those who were there that evening, there will never be anything in soccer to quite match what happened that night in Victoria's Royal Athletic Park". The history-making Victoria side under the direction of George KuIai, Tom Restell and Earl Barnswell played with a spirited display of dogged tenacity to shut out the visitors. The headliners of the night were a pair of brothers. Joe Travis was brilliant in stopping everything that came his way while Ab Travis fIrst-timed a Bobby Allen comer kick for the historic game-winning goal. The AIl-Stars starting line-up in the famous win over Fulham included Bobby Allen, the Travis brothers, Joe Robbins, Herman Henry, Jack Robbins, John Pickbum, Ken Williams, Stan Bob, Wallace Milligan and Denny McGee. In reserve were Ced Robb, Don McGee, Sid Robbins and Ed Hardy.
N.B. In 1951 Fulham was classified as an English First Division club but in today's terminology that club would have been described as an English Premier League club.
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Others In Category
- (1976 - 1984) Vic West Soccer Teams (2013)
- 1896-1996 Vic West Athletic Association (1998)
- 1951 Victoria All-Star Soccer Team (2001)
- 1975 London Boxing Club (2011)
- Bob Bolitho (2011)
- Brian Robinson (2008)
- George Pakos (2001)
- Ian Bridge (2003)
- Ike MacKay (2015)
- Jamie Ackinclose (2023)
- Jamie Lowery (2025)
- Simon Keith (2016)
- Victoria O'Keefe Soccer Club 1966-67 (2017)
