There were smiles all around after many people came to Powell River Villa’s 40th reunion and organizers were ecstatic with the two-day celebration.
Things got started on Friday, September 5, with a social at the Carlson Community Club where about 100 alumni gathered to get reacquainted.
Hugs and handshakes were exchanged throughout the evening and as talk turned to the alumni game the following day players were asked to sign up.
It is not known how many put their names down under the influence but there were enough to split the current Villa roster down the middle and supplement each side with veterans.
Others, like 65-year-old Ian Orchiston, missed the social but made a late decision to play. “I couldn’t make it on Friday,” he confessed. “I was upside down on one of those anti-gravity machines. I was stretching out my back just in case, and when I left the house I told my wife I wasn’t going to play today.”
He changed his mind at the pitch and ignored the advice of his wife and his body.
After a moment of silence to remember the alumni who had died, he and his brother Bob kept up with a pretty good pace, before Ian limped off with a bit of a hamstring pull.
Asked about the severity of the injury, he replied matter-of-factly that he was off “only for a beer and a couple of minutes.”
His attitude and that of the rest of the players was clearly to enjoy the game and each other.
The true spirit of Villa was front and centre as fans and players on the sidelines cheered, jeered and laughed continually and the very tight alumni set the bar very, very high for games like these.
“It’s all good,” said Dunc McDougall, a veteran of the 1970s. “I played a lot of years, and this is awesome. Iain Livingstone called me and I didn’t have to think very hard about coming at all.”
Villa is still in his blood, he said. “It was always a team thing and I’ll never forget the animal section, the zoo.”
The score after the first half was 4-1 for the Red side and during the break alumni took turns with penalty kicks against Matt Liknes.
Players who failed to score were strikers Bill Cornwall, the Orchiston brothers, Willie Cooke and McDougall.
Successful snipers included Grant Hollingsworth, Bruno Cristante, Ron Fuller, Shaun Louie and Livingstone.
“I deked the goaltender out,” said Livingstone. He praised the Cranberry pitch: “I knew I had him going the wrong way and if it had been at the new Timberlane it would have hit a lump and the post.”
The game resumed with the White team battling back on the strength of two goals from Steve Robertson. In fact, his first came off a cross from Paul Parsley and his celebration was indeed memorable.
Robertson was wildly cheered for ripping off his jersey.
“It was for my friends and our fans,” he said of the reaction, “and I thought it was the right thing to do.”
As he tore around the pitch twirling his jersey over his head, the crowd erupted in song.
It was a beautiful sight for a beautiful game.
“The players, and especially the crowd, are what the game is about,” said Robertson after the Red 7-4 final. “Hats off to Iain Livingstone, Bob Bogoslowski and the committee, fans, players, new guys, everything. Today was a very special day. Shaking hands with everybody after the game, the moral and everything, we’ve always had a really, really fun time and that’s what Villa has always been about.”
“Hail, hail the gang’s all here and the gang is all here as you can see.”
