President: Laurie McIvor
Commissioner: Rocco LoFranco
Vice-president: Armando DiFruscio
Directors: Harry Paul Gauss and Tony Fontana
Annual general meeting
The NSL opened what it called its 71st season with two new teams joining from the defunct Canadian Soccer League. These franchises were the North York Rockets and Winnipeg Fury. After the annual general meeting held in Winnipeg on January 6, 1993, the league changed its name to the Canadian National Soccer League to symbolize this as a merger. At the meeting Laurie McIvor was elected as president, Rocco LoFranco league commissioner, Armando DiFruscio as vice-president and Harry Paul Gauss and Tony Fontana as directors.
Clubs and players
London City
Stadium: London Stadium, London
President: Markus Gauss
General manager: Harry Paul Gauss
Head Coach: John Pacheco
Key players: Goalkeeper Anthony Camacho; defender Ian Warnock; midfielder Toni Commisso; forwards Gary Gonsalves and Nathan Eldridge
Richmond Hill Kick
Stadium: Richmond Green Sports Centre
President: Serge Giancola
Vice-president: Jerry Spanos
Head Coach: Peter Pinizotto
Key players: Goalkeeper Garrett Caldwell, Adolfo Mella, Hunter Madeley, Ryan Gamble
Richmond Hill Kick of York played their home games at Richmond Green Sports Centre. The team was coached by Peter Pinizzotto. The Kick of York made international headlines when they posed naked for an Adidas advertisement that was rejected by the Canadian edition of Sports Illustrated. In the middle of July they were suspended by the league for failure to turn up for a pair of games the previous weekend and for failure to pay $2,000 for the final instalment of the league’s operational fee.
St. Catharines Roma
Founded: 1967
Stadium: Roma Park, St. Catharines
General manager: Pat Viola
Head Coach: Jim Douglas
Key players: Goalkeeper Dino Perri, forward Mark Konert
Scarborough Astros
Founded: November 23, 1990 as North York Atletico Argentina Soccer Club Stadium: Birchmount Stadium, Scarborough
Owner: Bruno Ierullo
General manager: Bruno Ierullo
Head Coach: Jorge Armua
Key players: Goalkeeper Paolo Silva, Nick Maxwell, Luis Lufi
With Toronto/North York Rockets joining the league, North York Argentina decided to move their matches to Scarborough and change their name to Scarborough Astros. The Astros played their home games at Birchmount Stadium. Owner and general manager of the team was Bruno Ierullo.
Toronto Croatia
Founded: 1956
Stadium:
General manager: Zarko Brala
Head Coach: Mladen Pralija
Key players: Goalkeeper Mladen Pralija, defender Robert Milek, forward Drago Santic
Toronto Italia
Founded: 1972
Stadium:
General manager:
Head Coach:
Key players: Goalkeeper Carmine Isacco, forward Hardley Scott
Toronto Jets
Stadium: Esther Shiner Stadium, North York
President:
General manager:
Head Coach:
Key players: Sante Cesario, Orlando Rizzo
The Brampton Jets changed their name to the Toronto Jets, but played their home games at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York. They were strengthened by the signing of Sante Cesario, formerly of Toronto Italia and the North York Rockets.
Toronto Rockets
Stadium: Esther Shiner Stadium, North York
President: Antonio Fontana
General manager: Hector Marinaro
Head Coach: Raul Decaria
Key players: Goalkeeper Bryan Rosenfeld, defender Jens Kraemer, midfielder Joseph Majcher, forward Tomasz Radzinski
North York Rockets changed their name to Toronto Rockets. They continued to play their matches at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York. After the season the Toronto Rockets replaced Toronto Blizzard in the APSL.
Windsor Wheels
Stadium: Windsor Stadium, Windsor
President:
General manager:
Head Coach: Osvaldo Rizzo replaced by Peter Paglioti
Key players:
In May 1993 former Rutgers coach Peter Paglioti replaced Osvaldo Rizzo as Windsor Wheels’ head coach. After the season the Wheels moved to Detroit to become the Detroit Wheels. They joined the Midwest section of the United States Interregional Soccer League. This came about as their owners were frustrated with commissioner LoFranco and that the league still was heavily influenced by ethnic teams based in Toronto.
Winnipeg Fury
Founded:
Stadium: Winnipeg Soccer Complex, Winnipeg
General manager: Laurie McIvor
Head Coach: Phil Wilson
Key players: Goalkeeper Shel Broadsgaard, defenders Nico Berg and Phil Wilson, midfielder Tony Nocita, forward Oliver Heald
After the season Winnipeg Fury ceased operations. They owed approximately $160,000 to its creditors, including salaries and bonus money to many former players. It was said that none of their players got paid during the 1993 season.
Review of the season
The season kicked off on May 23, 1993 at Windsor Stadium with the Windsor Wheels beating Toronto Croatia 2-0.
Toronto Rockets won the Western Division championship.
Results and standings
Eastern Division
The league also operated with an eastern division. Members of the eastern division were Corfinium St-Leonard, Cosmos de LaSalle, Croatia de Montreal, Luso Stars Mont-Royal and Ramblers de Montreal. Croatia won the league championship, Zoran Petkovic was voted as CNSL eastern division MVP and Simon Demo as Coach of the Year. Dwayne Dear of LaSalle was the easern division leading goalscorer, Charlie Mohamed of Ramblers was Goaltender of the Year and Rookie of the Year was Palu Dacobert of the Ramblers.
Playoffs
Quarterfinals
September 26, 1993 Esther Shiner Stadium, North York, Ontario
Toronto Rockets 3
London City 0
September 29, 1993 London Stadium, London, Ontario
London City 0
Toronto Rockets 2
Toronto Rockets won series 5-0
September 27, 1993
Montreal Croatia 5
Lasalle 1
September 30, 1993 Riverside Stadium
LaSalle 1
Montreal Croatia 3
Montreal Croatia won series 8-2
September 27, 1993 Esther Shiner Stadium, North York, Ontario
Toronto Jets 2
Toronto Croatia 2
September 29, 1993 Centennial Stadium, Toronto, Ontario
Toronto Croatia 1
Toronto Jets 2
Toronto Jets won series 4-3
September 29, 1993 Club Roma Stadium, St. Catharines, Ontario
Toronto Italia 2
St. Catharines 2
October 4, 1993 Centennial Stadium, Toronto, Ontario
St. Catharines Roma 2
Toronto Italia 1
St. Catharines Roma won series 4-3
Semi-finals
October 3, 1993 Hébert Park, St. Leonard
Montreal Croatia 1
Toronto Rockets 2
October 10, 1993
Toronto Rockets 4
Montreal Croatia 0
Toronto Rockets won series 6-1
October 7, 1993
St. Catharines Roma 1
Toronto Jets 0
October 13, 1993
Toronto Jets 0
St. Catharines Roma 1
St. Catharines won series 2-0
CNSL Championship finals
St. Catharines Roma won the CNSL Championship finals by beating Toronto Rockets 1-0 in the second leg on October 17. The two teams had drawn 0-0 in the first leg. Roma won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Tom Bernardi in the 20th minute.
Finals
October 15, 1993
Toronto Rockets 0
St. Catharines 0
October 17, 1993
St. Catharines 1 (Tom Bernardi)
Toronto Rockets 0
St. Catharines won series 1-0 on aggregate
