1965 National Soccer League
President: Bill Boytchuk
Referees
Referees included Alex Weir (Hamilton, Ontario) and Art King (Toronto, Ontario)
Review of the season
The annual general meeting was held in Toronto February 7, 1965. Vasyl (Bill) Boychuk was re-elected as president of the league.
The NSL decided to add five more Ontario franchises to the league to form an 11-team division. The new teams addded at the time were Toronto Hakoah, Windsor Teutonia, Kitchener Kickers, Sudbury Italia and Oshawa Ukrainians. All these teams had paid the $500 entry fee. In addition they were considering wether to accept Croatia or Imperials as the Hamilton entry. Teams in London and St. Catharines had also applied for membership. The league ended up as a 12-team league when they added Toronto club Azzurri.
In the Windsor Star newspaper on May 7, 1965, it was predicted by Wally Lomas that the Toronto clubs Ukraina, Olympia and Abruzzi would be the strongest members of the league. Wally Lomas is a life member of the Ontario Football Association.
The season kicked off on Sunday May 2, 1965 at Stanley Park with two new clubs meeting each other, Toronto Hakoah beating Sudbury Italia 2-1.
The following weekend the two other non-Toronto teams that had been added to the league opened their seasons with identical losses with a 2-1 score to their opponents. On the Saturday Abruzzi beat Kitchener Kickers, on the Sunday Toronto Hellas beat Windsor Teutonia at Stanley Park.
After the games played on Sunday June 20, Hakoah was leading the leading with 15 points. This was six more than Toronto Hungaria, Toronto Ukraina and Sudbury Italia. These three Clubs were all tied for second. Windsor Teutonia was in last place. Sudbury Italia went through a run of 13 undefeated games.
When Ukraina and White Eagles played to a goalless tie on Saturday September 1, Sudbury’s 2-2 tie with Hungaria on the Sunday was enough for the Ukrainians to clinch the league championship title.
Six of the twelve teams qualified for the play-offs. Kitchener Kickers got the sixth spot on goal average, finishing their league games after the play-offs had started.
Toronto Ukraina and Hakoah qualified for the championship finals, with Hakoah coming out as winner in the best-of-three-games series.
After the season had finished Hakoah dropped out again from the league. Other clubs that dropped out were Azzurri and Abruzzi.
Final league standings
GP | W | L | T | Pts | |
Toronto Ukraina | 22 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 34 |
Toronto Hakoah | 22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 32 |
Sudbury Italia | 22 | 11 | 3 | 9 | 31 |
Toronto Hungaria | 22 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 30 |
Windsor Teutonia | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 24 |
Kitchener Kickers | 22 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 21 |
Toronto Croatia | 22 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 21 |
Olympia-Harmonie | 22 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 20 |
Hellas | 22 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 18 |
Abruzzi | 22 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 15 |
Portuguese United | 22 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 11 |
Azzurri | 22 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 11 |
Kitchener earned play-off spot on goal average.
National Soccer League Play-offs
Play-offs Group A
October 2, 1965
Toronto Ukraina 4
Windsor Teutonia 2
October 10, 1965 Sudbury
Sudbury Italia 1 (Frank Rosati)
Windsor Teutonia 0
October 17, 1965 Stanley Park, Toronto
Toronto Ukraina 2 (Fred Patterson 17:00, Leo Dowhaluk 40:00)
Sudbury Italia 0
GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PTS | |
Toronto Ukraina | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
Sudbury Italia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Windsor Teutonia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
Toronto Ukraina qualified for playoff finals.
Play-offs Group B
October 3, 1965 Stanley Park, Toronto
Toronto Hungaria 1
Toronto Hakoah 1
October 8, 1965 Stanley Park, Toronto
Toronto Hungaria 5 (Bobby Kinloch 2, Tommy Wilson, Tommy McLeod, Victor Ivonyj)
Kitchener Kickers 0
October 11, 1965
Kitchener Kickers 0
Toronto Hakoah 6 (Bruce Smith 3, ???, ???, ???)
GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PTS | |
Toronto Hakoah | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
Toronto Hungaria | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
Kitchener Kickers | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
Toronto Hakoah qualified for playoff finals
National Soccer League finals (Best-of-three games)
October ??, 1965
Toronto Hakoah
Toronto Ukraina
October 24, 1965
Toronto Hakoah 2
Toronto Ukraina 3
October 26, 1965 Stanley Park, Toronto
Toronto Hakoah 3
Toronto Ukraina 1
Exhibition games
April 18, 1965 29th and Cambria streets, Philadelphia
Attendance: 2,000
Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals 5
Toronto Ukraina 1
September 5, 1965 Cobb Hill, Rochester, New York
Attendance:
Rochester Ukrainians 3
Toronto Ukraina 1