Vitória de Setúbal Club of Toronto
Number 1 affiliate of Vitória de Setúbal outside Portugal
Dissolved
| Founding Date: | November 20, 1973 |
BRIEF HISTORY
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Curiously, Vitória de Setúbal of Toronto started out wearing red instead of the traditional green and white sported by the original club, in Portugal. This occurred because the club happens to be even older than its official founding date, with roots that go back to the 1960s.
It all started with a group of youth who frequented Saint Hellen’s Church and who decided to form a soccer team. This group joined Casa do Benfica shortly after (hence, the colour red). However, a disagreement between those responsible for the soccer team and the Board of Directors of Benfica led to a separation. Now without affiliation, the members of the soccer team refused to abandon the project and promoted a meeting at the location where the association was located to the day it ceased to exist. This event, held on November 20, 1973, led to the official foundation of Vitória de Setúbal Club of Toronto.
Joao Resende, the association’s first official member, had played for Vitória de Setúbal in Portugal. Under his influence, the club purchased its first headquarters early on. The hall suffered some modifications over the years, transforming from a place divided by different rooms into a hall that could accommodate well over 100 people.
Soccer was the main focus of the association during its first few years of activity. Before forming the association, the soccer team had become champion of the old Toronto TND league, repeating the feat with the green and white stripes in 1983 without a loss. It has also once made the Ontario Cup semi-final. The soccer team also traveled outside of the country, including memorable trips to Summerville and Fall River, in the United States of America, during the 1990s.
The association also had a strong social and cultural component, held at the hall on Dundas Street. The folklore dance group was important for the association’s members, but the Danças de Carnaval became a staple at Vitória de Setúbal of Toronto by attracting many guests to its many memorable performances. The greatest recognition of the groups’ quality happened in 1997 when it was invited to perform at the Danças de Carnaval in the Azorean island of Terceira.
Religion was also once a major component of the association through its celebrations of Our Lady of Fatima and the excursions to the sanctuary, in Buffalo.
Although the association was named after a soccer club located in continental Portugal, just south of Lisbon, most of its members up to its dissolution were from the island of Terceira.
| With files from Luso-Ontario Magazine, 2008 |
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