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Looking Back On The Ontario Cup - Toronto Ulster United And Their Stadium

By OSA News, 06/09/15, 2:15PM EDT

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The Ontario Cup has entered its 100th year of competition. To mark the occassion, the Ontario Soccer Association is running stories throughout the summer of interesting clubs, teams and events that have happened throughout the Ontario Cup's colourful history.

The second installment looks at Toronto Ulster United and its famed stadium.

On Nov. 18, 1913, the following announcement appeared in the Toronto Evening Telegram: "A grand rally of Ulster men is to take place on Friday evening next in Occident Hall for the purpose of forming a football club." 

Toronto Ulster United was founded from that meeting and would go on to be one of Ontario, and Canada's, most successful amateur clubs.

They would win countless titles in the first half of the 20th century, including the Dominion Trophy in 1922, 1946, and 1951, the National Soccer League trophy five times between 1926 and 1941, and the Ontario Cup three times, in 1927, 1929, and 1937. In 1926 they won the Nathan Strauss Cup as winners of the International League, an experimental league set up between Canadian and American teams. But it was in 1925 that the club really made its mark on the region. 

Ulster would buy a small piece of land in East Toronto that would eventally become home to a 9,500 seat stadium. 

As the February 12th, 1927 edition of the Toronto Evening Telegram recounts: "Owing to the increasing popularity of the Stadium, seating accommodation had to be materially added to, and the directors decided to erect a covered stand on the west side of the grounds." 

With the addition, accomodation would peak at 12,000 for this local club team. Unfortunately the club would lose their stadium during the Great Depression but not before a number of travelling clubs would visit the ground. 

In the year following their second Ontario Cup win, Scotland's famed Glasgow Rangers visited Ulster. Ulster would push them to the limit before ultimately falling 4-3, following a pair of late goals. Watch the video highlights of the game below to get a better idea of how ahead of its time Ulster was with their ground in Canada.