Tla’amin Braves soccer club has built upon its legacy, going undefeated in the 22-team John Rice Senior 60th Annual All-Native Men’s Totem Soccer Tournament in Victoria over Easter weekend.
Team captain Joel Harry said he and his brother formed the men’s team six years ago, and since then, the club has competed and has become a stronger side. Harry said the John Rice event is regarded as the best of all Indigenous soccer tournaments in the province.
“There is a circuit that takes place in British Columbia and for the most part, we participate in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island,” said Harry. “In terms of all-native soccer, this one [Rice tournament] is right up there at the top.”
Going into the tournament, Harry said the Braves had been competing well and had a strong side, plus, they have a good sense of where their competitors are, because they play against the same nations every year.
“So, we go into tournaments knowing we are in the top three or four contenders,” said Harry “We know we are going to do well. We always strive, obviously, to win our tournaments, and this year, I would say we knew we were among the strongest.”
Harry said the Victoria tournament is set up to have two streams – the winners bracket and the consolation bracket.
“If you win that first game, you go into the winners bracket, where you get to battle for first or second place,” said Harry. “If you lose, you go into the consolation bracket and the best you can do is third place. We won our first game to join the winning bracket.”
Harry said the competition for the first game was Stó:lō Nation United, which is a team of First Nations players based out of the Chilliwack area. Tla’amin beat the Lower Mainland opposition handily, by a 7-2 score, on the Friday of the tournament.
On Saturday, the first game was against the Nisg̱a'a United, which is Northern BC team. Braves won 3-1. This contest was followed up by a semi-final match against Saanich Royals, which the Braves won 3-0.
“This punched our ticket to the finals on Sunday,” said Harry. “We played at the Starlight Stadium in Langford, where the semi-professional Pacific FC team plays. It was the first year the tournament finals were hosted there.
“We had a 4 pm kickoff against Musqueam Blues, which is a Vancouver-area First Nation. They’re big. This was definitely a lot closer and more of a thrilling match than the previous ones.”
The result of the final was 2-1 in favour of the Braves.
“We ended up scoring the goal right before the end of the game, putting us ahead, leading to us winning the tournament,” said Harry.
This was the first John Rice tournament win since the Braves were reconstituted. Harry said there was a time when there were not enough numbers for a Tla’amin team, so he has actually been on winning teams in the tournament prior to the Braves coming back into the fold.
This is not the first time the Braves have won the tournament, however. Harry said 39 years ago was the last victory, when the team was known as the Sliammon Braves.
“We have a strong history,” said Harry. “We’ve won that trophy numerous times in the 60 years of the tournament. We were a dominant team. The women’s program was also very dominant.”
Harry acknowledged that there has been a strong history with soccer in Tla’amin Nation. He said a lot of people could be acknowledged and thanked, allowing the team to pursue its goals and attend tournaments, starting with local government. Tla’amin’s recreation programming has helped provide the money to enter tournaments.
Harry said he would also like to acknowledge Powell River Villa Soccer Club, which allows players to live at home and play top-flight soccer during the Vancouver Island Soccer League season.
“We have a handful of guys who live in Powell River that get to play at a high level, contributing to our success,” said Harry. “We also have a lot of urban members who play on this team, so people who live away from home, such as myself, have opportunities as well. This is quite a collective approach.”
Harry said team members take responsibility to serve as captain on a rotating basis, and coaching is done much the same way.
“It’s that strong collective of the management group,” said Harry. “It’s something that I formed in that first year. It’s something that gets passed around in terms of roles and responsibilities and it’s not foreign for teams at these tournaments to not have coaches, but instead, to have player-coaches.”
The Braves started practicing in September, by starting to train once a week on Mondays, for the members who still live here. In January, practice bumped up to twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Harry said team members are thrilled with the result of winning the John Rice tournament.
“It’s something we set out to do when we first started this group, to put our name back on the map as one of the top contenders,” said Harry. “We attend four to five tournaments a year and Victoria is the favourite one to win. It was a special moment when that final whistle blew and we were the team with the most goals at the end of the day. What a way to win it.”
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