SASKATCHEWAN SOCCER - A HISTORY

The aim of this book is an attempt to recall the many teams and individuals who have contributed to the game and to show that soccer has indeed been an integral part of Saskatchewan’s social history.
The cover features the statue of Saskatchewan’s most commemorated soldier, Sergeant Hugh Cairns, the soldier who has come to symbolize the Great War for the inhabitants of Saskatoon. A member of the Christ Church choir - and football (soccer) team - Cairns enlisted in the 65th Infantry Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Saskatoon on August 2, 1915. He subsequently was transferred to the 46th Infantry Battalion prior to his departure from England for France. Private Cairns was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty” in a battle near Avion in June 1917. He also saw action at Passchendaele in November and Amiens in August 1918. He was shot by a captive German officer after Valenciennes and died of his wounds the following day, November 2, 1918 - nine days before the armistice. Cairns was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his “most conspicuous bravery.” He was also made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the French government and had an avenue in Valenciennes named for him. At home he is commemorated by a statue honouring footballers who were killed during the war, a school bearing his name, and the Hugh Cairns V. C. Armoury.
21 x 15 cms, soft-back, 124 pages.
1988

SASKATCHEWAN SOCCER - A HISTORY