Edmonton Aviators

The team was dogged by a number of problems:[2]

According to the local press, one of the main problems was the venue. Commonwealth Stadium was the home of the Canadian national soccer teams, but with a seating capacity over 60,000 people, the smaller crowds were utterly dwarfed by the large stadium. Rent was extremely high, and the Edmonton Eskimos had priority with Commonwealth's facilities. As a result, the Aviators were constantly restricted in what they could do at Commonwealth. Smaller Clarke Stadium was just across the street, but the Aviators did not move there until late in the season. Also, as a result of the venue choice, the Aviators were unsuccessful at getting weekend dates for their games. Only 3 out of 11 matches were scheduled for the weekend, owing to previous bookings for the Edmonton Eskimos, the local CFL football team, and the international rugby tournament, the Churchill Cup.

Moreover, the men's team had the worst performance in the league, as might be expected for a new team, but still to the displeasure of Edmonton sports fans. The team's performance was not helped by difficulties between the players and the team's administration. Rick Titus, one of the veteran players, encountered some friction between him and the former president Wylie Stafford, through to head coach Ross Ongaro, and on down to several teammates. According to the Edmonton Sun (July 4, 2004), the centre of this dispute was the requirement that approximately half of the team had to consist of local players. As a consequence, Titus was released by the Aviators in mid-season, eventually joining the Toronto Lynx. Shortly thereafter, Titus attempted to amend this area of difficulty but as was reported, Joe Petrone, then heading the club, maintained that the damage was done and that the player was not going to be accepted back. In the same atmosphere, as noted in the Edmonton Sun (July 6, 2004), Waldemar Dutra, a promising local goal-scorer who trained with the Aviators, left for Schweinfurt, a Third Division team in Germany.

Further, as cited in the Edmonton Journal (July 20, 2004, p. A4), the business plan of the team's owners was a source of some concern for local soccer officials. As noted in the press, with lower attendance than expected and higher costs than anticipated, the owners returned their franchise on August 15, after it failed to meet its revenue expectations for the three months it existed. The club's ownership group, Edmonton Professional Soccer (EPSL) Ltd admitted to the league that the business plan, put in place at the start of the franchise, was flawed. With ticket sales much closer to the league average of 3000 people, the EPSL was suffering large operating losses. The club's 19-person ownership refused to provide immediate cash injection to keep both the men and women's teams afloat, and chose to see the franchise fold. As a consequence, the league took over operation of the Aviators, renaming the team Edmonton F.C. as the old owners took the rights to the Aviators name with them. The team was run on a shoestring budget, transferring away what few skilled players the Aviators had acquired and moving to the much smaller Foote Field where, incidentally, attendance was noticeably better.[2]

The team was folded by the league after the 2004 season. After the club's folding was announced, it was speculated by some in the local press that the team could have worked if a better business model was arranged from the outset.

The team's only coach was Ross Ongaro.

vs. Toronto Lynx, 26 August 2004 [3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  CAN Robert Stankov 1 GK  CAN Nick Stankov 2 DF  CAN Chris Devlin 3 MF  CAN Robin Hart 5 DF  CAN Liam da Silva 7 FW  CAN Sean Fraser 8 MF  CAN Carmelo Rago 10 FW  RSA Sipho Sibiya

No. Pos. Nation Player 11 DF  CAN Kurt Bosch 13 MF  CAN Eric Munoz 14 MF  LBR Freddy Akok 17 MF  ENG Daniel Drummond 18 DF  CAN Simon Kassaye 20 MF  CAN Desmond Tachie 28 MF  CAN Gordon Chin