Article from Aussie-Croat Newspaper “The Croatian Herald”

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All-Hamilton Final in the Inaugural Women’s Tourney

HAMILTON, ON, Marina Madzarevic (croat.ca) — The 48th annual H.N.N.S. Soccer Tournament, hosted by “Croatia” – Hamilton, took place this past weekend in Hamilton, Ontario. Similar to previous years, the tournament festivities began on Friday, and continued Saturday morning with the round robin stage of the soccer competition. In addition to the men’s teams from Canada and the United States that participated in the tournament, this year, for the first time ever, the tournament also included a women’s tournament.

The open age women’s tournament consisted of 5 teams including Chicas-Croatas – Chicago, Croatia A – Hamilton, Croatia B – Hamilton, Croatia – Mississauga, and Jadran – Ottawa. The round robin stage began Saturday and continued on until Sunday afternoon. Throughout the tournament all the women’s teams showed off their skills, and played with great sportsmanship. Unfortunately only two teams could go on to play in the first ever women’s championship game.

Ultimately, Croatia A – Hamilton and Croatia B – Hamilton dominated the women’s tournament, as they went on to play for the championship title. Before beginning the game, both teams huddled together in the centre of the field and began chanting “Hamilton Croatia”. While discussing the tournament experience with Ashley Bucar who plays for Croatia A, she stated that “it was nice because we knew the other team, and we knew that at least one of the Hamilton teams would win”. It was a pleasure to see both teams so excited and proud to share the experience of this championship game with one another.

Croatia B started off the game with high hopes as they scored the first goal of the game, however Ashley Bucar tied up the game with a perfectly executed free kick goal from 30 yards out. Soon after, Kaitlyn Filipcic scored a great second goal which secured a 2-1 victory for the women on Croatia A – Hamilton, making them the first ever female champions of the H.N.N.S. Soccer Tournament.

The festivities continued Sunday evening at the Ancaster Fair Grounds, where all the teams celebrated the weekend-long tournament with a banquet and dance. The venue was filled with Croatians of all ages who came together for a successful and flawlessly organized event.

48th Annual an All-Chicago Battle

HAMILTON, ON, Tomislav Strk (croat.ca) — Hamilton was the site of the 48th Annual Croatian National Soccer Federation Tournament from September 2 to 4, 2011, which was hosted by local soccer club Hamilton Croatia. The event regularly draws semi-professional Croatian teams from all across North America. The premise of the tournament is to promote the sport enjoyed by many Croatians and the respective Croatian culture of each of the participating cities. Several thousand people were in attendance over the weekend event. Those in attendance enjoyed Croatian food, including ćevapi, and roasted lamb and pork, and bouncy castles kept children entertained for hours.

The participating teams were initially drawn into 5 groups with each of the group winners earning an automatic berth into the next round and the top 6 remaining teams competing for a spot in the quarter-finals. All group stage and qualifying games were played on Saturday, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals being played on Sunday.

Following all of the rounds of play, two representatives from Chicago were left standing and headed to the finals – CBP Jadran and Hrvatski Vitezovi (formerly Zrjinski Chicago). The pre-game coin toss was conducted by Mr. Bob Bratina, Mayor of Hamilton and anthems were performed by Hamilton folklore groups Hrvatsko Selo and Hrvatski Narodni Dom. Following the pre-game ceremonies, the finals kicked off. Fifteen minutes into the encounter, Vitezovi took the lead off a perfectly placed cross that was headed into the back of the net. The match was very tightly contested all the way to the 85th minute, when CBP Chicago finally found the breakthrough through a headed opportunity. However, CBP Chicago’s chances were quickly extinguished as Vitezovi managed to score a deflected free kick in injury time. Vitezovi’s title win is their second in the many years of the tournament’s existence.

Aside from the Men’s tournament, Croatia Windsor won the Veteran’s tournament over Neretva Mississauga and Hamilton Croatia A defeated Hamilton Croatia B in the Women’s tournament.
Dances were held in the evenings at the nearby Ancaster Fairgrounds where over a thousand young Croatians were in attendance.

Ivan Radoš, one of the organizers of this year’s tournament, had the following to say about the weekend’s events: “I’m very pleased with how the tournament went this year. The soccer was good and the fans were well behaved. I’m already looking forward to next year’s event.”
Many commented on the variety of attractions offered at this year’s tournament, both on and off the field, for all in attendance, and the quality of the organization. Next year’s tournament will be held in Norval, Ontario and will be hosted by Livno Oakville.