Full name Vancouver Whitecaps League NASL | Nickname(s) The 'Caps Founded 11 December 1973 | |
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Dissolved 1984; 33 years ago (1984) Stadium
capacity 30,000 (Empire)
60,000 (BC Place)
16,000 (Coliseum)
3,200 (Agrodome) Grounds Empire Stadium, BC Place, Pacific Coliseum, PNE Agrodome | ||
The original Vancouver Whitecaps were a professional soccer team founded on December 11, 1973. During the 1970s and 1980s they played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Whitecaps achieved success, winning the 1979 Soccer Bowl. The Whitecaps of that era included international players such as Alan Ball, Ruud Krol and Bruce Grobbelaar but also "home grown" stars like Bobby and Sam Lenarduzzi, Buzz Parsons, and Bruce Wilson. In 1979, the team from the "Village of Vancouver" (a reference to ABC TV sportscaster Jim McKay's observation that "Vancouver must be like the deserted village right now", with so many people watching the game on TV) beat the powerhouse New York Cosmos in one of the most thrilling playoff series in NASL history to advance to the Soccer Bowl. In the Soccer Bowl, they triumphed against the Tampa Bay Rowdies before a disappointed Giants Stadium crowd of 50,699 (66,843 tickets had been sold for the game).
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It was during this short period that soccer interest peaked in Vancouver. The Whitecaps attendance at Empire Stadium grew to regular sellouts, at 32,000. The team also recorded two tracks, with "White is the Colour" (a takeoff on Chelsea FC's "Blue Is The Colour) becoming a hit on local radio during the run-up to their championship win.
After playing at Vancouver's 32,000-seat Empire Stadium for most of their existence, the team moved into the brand new 60,000-seat BC Place Stadium in 1983.
The team played indoor soccer on and off during their existence. The Pacific Coliseum served as the home field for their 1980–81 and 1983–84 NASL indoor seasons. However for the 1981–82 indoor season the Whitecaps used the much smaller PNE Agrodome, as the Pacific Coliseum became unavailable.
With the subsequent demise of the NASL in 1984 the Whitecaps, along with many other teams in the NASL, were forced to fold.
Attendance
The record home attendance for a Whitecaps game was on June 20, 1983. 60,342 came to watch the caps take on the Seattle Sounders in the first game at BC Place Stadium. It was also the largest crowd to ever see a club soccer match in Canada until the Montreal Impact surpassed the mark with 60,860 on May 12, 2012.