League president: Ian Dickson replaced by Joe Piccininni
League secretary: Ivan Habus
Annual general meeting
St. Catharines Heidelberg joined the league. Ottawa Sons of Italy changed their name to Ottawa Tigers.
Clubs and players
First Portuguese
Founded: September 23, 1956
Stadium: Stanley Park, Toronto
Head Coach:
Key players:
First Portuguese had a $60,000 budget.
Hamilton Apollos
Formed:
Head Coach:
Key players:
Hamilton Croatia
Founded: 1957
Head Coach:
Key players:
Hamilton Croatia were led by the Sinclair brothers, Jim and Malcolm.
Hellas
Formed:
Head Coach:
Key players:
Kitchener Concordia Kickers
Founded: 1873
Head Coach:
Key players:
London German-Canadian Football Club
Founded: 1934
Head Coach:
Key players:
Olympia
Formed:
Head Coach:
Key players: Lutz Wolanski, John McGurk
Ottawa Tigers
Founded: 1965
Stadium: St. Joseph’s High School Field, Ottawa
Ottawa Sons of Italy changed their name to Ottawa Tigers. The Tigers started the season by losing their first 11 matches.
St. Catharines Heidelberg
Founded: 1952
Head Coach:
Key players: Jim Douglas
Serbian White Eagles
Founded: 1968
Owner:
Head Coach:
Key players:
Sudbury City
Formed:
Head Coach:
Key players: Ferruccio Deni, George Courtney and Leon Carinci
Toronto Croatia
Founded: 1956
Owner:
Head Coach: Oskar Jazbinsek
Key players:
Toronto Croatia had a $80,000 budget. They hired former Croatian international player Oskar Jazbinsek as their head coach.
Toronto Hungaria
Formed:
Head Coach:
Key players:
Sport Association Ukraina
Founded: May 16, 1948
Player coach: Leo Dowhaluk
Key players:
Review of the season
In the NSL opening game Toronto Croatia beat First Portuguese 2-0 on May 2 in front of 6,000 fans at Stanley Park.
Ottawa Tigers started the season by losing their first 11 matches.
League president Ian Dickson had to resign due to medical advice in July 1971. Dickson had suffered his second heart attack a month earlier. He had been league president for four years.
Toronto Croatia won the league and playoff championship.
Total attendance at Stanley Park for the whole season was 145,000. Up 15,000 from the previous season.
Results and standings
Final league table GP W L T GF GA Pts Toronto Croatia 26 22 1 3 58 14 47 First Portuguese 26 17 5 4 45 19 38 Hamilton Croatia 26 14 7 5 38 31 33 Toronto Ukraina 26 14 9 3 47 28 31 Sudbury City 26 14 9 3 55 34 31 Olympia 26 11 10 5 49 40 27 London German-Canadians 26 12 12 2 57 54 26 St. Catharines Heidelberg 26 11 12 3 42 42 25 Serbian White Eagles 26 9 12 5 37 39 23 Hellas 26 10 13 3 36 41 23 Hungaria 26 11 14 1 40 52 23 Ottawa 26 ?? Hamilton Apollos 26 3 18 5 23 69 11 Kitchener Kickers 26 2 18 6 31 65 10
Leading goalscorer:
1. Ferruccio Deni (Sudbury City)
Leading goalkeeper:
1. Zeljko Bilecki (Toronto Croatia)
Play-off final
October 11, 1971 at Stanley Park
Attendance: 7,000
Toronto Croatia 1 (Bruno Pilas)
First Portuguese 0
Export Cup – Canadian Open Championship
October 17, 1971 Toronto
Attendance: 4,373
Toronto Croatia 3 (Bruno Pilas, Alija Solak, Marijan Bradvic)
Vancouver Eintracht 0
