The vintage, bold orange, chest band splayed across the new Forge FC Members’ Kits is a tip of the historical cap to the old Hamilton Steelers and one of those Steelers’ illustrious stars is grateful for the recognition.
“It’s a great honour,” legendary striker Alex Bunbury said this week from Spain, where he’s running Second Division side Portosantense. “The legacy of the Hamilton Steelers is something that all current soccer players throughout the country should know about.
“That was the start of my career so any time the Hamilton Steelers are being honoured, I’m honoured. All my former teammates, coaches and supporters are also being honoured by this gesture by the Forge. It’s going to go a long way to continuing and expanding their validity in the community. The value Forge brings to that is tremendous and I’m truly proud of it.”
Bunbury had been a key part of Canada’s U-18 and U-20 international teams when he signed with the Steelers in 1987 after owner Mario DiBartolomeo put the club into the new nationwide Canadian Professional League as one of the eight original teams. They made the league final four straight years and drew 4,000 fans for their games which were played primarily in Brian Timmis Stadium, adjacent to old Ivor Wynne. The soccer field took up much of what is now the south plaza of Hamilton Stadium.
Bunbury, who was born in Guyana and raised in Montréal, played four years for the Steelers, and they reached the league final every year. Bunbury scored 27 goals in 71 games for the Steelers before moving on to several other teams, most notably Portuguese Tier 2 side Marítimo, in Madeira, where he is still the all-time leading career goal scorer. He also spent 11 years with the senior national team, has more senior national team goals than all but nine men in Canadian soccer history, has been a member of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame for 20 years and during the Canadian Soccer Association’s centennial in 2012, he was named to this country’s all-time Top XI men’s team.
In saluting the Steelers, Forge FC invokes a rich DNA of soccer in Hamilton and acknowledges a couple of significant anniversaries. This season marks the 65th year since the Hamilton Italo-Canadians first changed their name to Steelers, and the 45th year since owner Mario DiBartolomeo, the legendary Hamilton and Canadian Soccer Hall of Famer, reconstructed the Steelers from the older Italo-Canadian and Primos clubs and joined the fully professional National Soccer League.
It is also 35 years since those Steelers played their final year, and following the league’s disappearance the next season, there would not be another Division I men’s pro league in the country until the Forge were pivotal in the creation of the Canadian Premier League.
While Bunbury played in most of the Steelers’ final great run, the newly-renamed club was successful right from the get-go, winning the National Soccer League’s triple crown – regular season, playoff and league cup – in its first season, then repeating as playoff champions in 1982. The following year the Steelers joined eight other founding teams in the Canadian Professional Soccer League and lost in the finals. The league folded and the Hamilton side returned to amateur play for a few very successful years before DiBartolomeo helped form the Canadian Soccer League in 1987 as one of eight original teams.
Bunbury was on that ’87 team.
“I grew up in Montréal but we had the Canadian U-16 and U-20 teams training under (Burlington’s) Tony Taylor at McMaster so just about every second weekend I was travelling to and staying in Hamilton,” Bunbury recalls. “I grew up playing there from the age of 14 so it was easy for me to make the transition to the Steelers. Plus, some of my former youth national teammates like John Di Pasquale, Lucio Ianiero, the late Billy Domazetis, signed with the team. And Mario and Frank knew who I was so I felt at home right away with the Steelers.
“It’s got to be one of the best soccer organizations in the history of Canadian soccer. Credit to the organizers, those players, coaches and the leadership from Mario DiBartolomeo, who was like a father to me. He wasn’t the easiest guy, everyone knows that, but he put in a lot of time and his whole heart and soul into soccer in Hamilton and Canada. And credit to the supporters. The stadium was packed every game I played. It was incredible. It’s a steel town and there was something about it that made you feel like you were home.
“The CSL was instrumental in my development as a professional player, and every time I’m interviewed, especially about Madeira, the first words that come out of my mouth are about the opportunity I got in representing the Hamilton Steelers. That league developed so many of our former players who played internationally for Canada as well, and I don’t want anyone to forget that.”
Hamilton has always had a deep and varied soccer community, which was well-documented in historian Colin Jose’s book 100 Years of Steel City Soccer. Forge, which draws its name and colours from the steel industry, is tapping into that history with the chest banner on its Members’ Kits, reminiscent of not only the Steelers but a backstory of local soccer which dates back to at least 1876, when a Hamilton team took part in the first known soccer game played in Canada.
Early in the 20th century there were factory teams, led by Hamilton Westinghouse which won their first Hamilton Spectator Cup – the competition for a variety of local club teams – in 1907. The Italo-Canadians were a dominant force starting in 1954. The Hamilton and District Soccer Association is one of the province’s oldest sports organizations, manager/coach/administrator John Gibson is still one of the country’s most influential organizers, and the city has developed or nurtured dozens of top flight players including Bunbury, Olympian and former LA Aztec John McGrane, Rhian Dodds, Valerio Alesi, national team goaltender Milan Borjan, current pros Ryan Raposo, Theo Corbeanu and Stefan Metrović plus a number of prominent women’s international and pro players.
“We have the World Cup coming and people are going to latch onto their Canadian roots,” says Bunbury, “and the CPL is more professional because people have learned how to move forward with this Beautiful Game, which we all want to thrive and survive in Canada.
“I think it’s headed in the right direction, and having the Forge honour the Steelers is a good example of that.”