Richmond F.C. Hibernians are back in familiar territory and holding their ground in Vancouver Metro Soccer League’s premier division.
The Hibernians will take a 5-6-1 record into their home match Saturday at Minoru Park (2 p.m.) with second place West Vancouver FC (9-2-2) as they try to gain some separation from a pack of teams in the middle of the table.
Although hovering around the .500 mark is hardly a lofty standard, it sure beats what happened during the 2012-13 campaign when Richmond was relegated to the VMSL first division.
The club wasted little time in earning promotion last season and look to be on solid footing.
“I’d say it’s been a good first year back,” said head Craig Burnham. “It’s very tight right now with four to six teams really bunched together but this is exactly where we have been for much of our time in this division expect for what happened a couple of seasons ago.”
That’s when Hibernians were hit with a rash of injuries and were on the wrong end of too many close matches. The end result was a one game playoff to avoid relegation against an opponent the locals had won the season series against. They surrendered the tying goal late in regulation time and went on to lose in penalty kicks.
“It really was unbelievable. Nothing went our way” recalled Burnham. “But we had nobody but ourselves to blame.”
The club didn’t panic and implode the roster. Instead, the nucleus stayed intact and the team proceeded to dominate the first division.
“Such strong friendships have been developed over the years and the guys were basically apologizing to me for what happened,” continued Burnham. “They were determined to get back and went about it with an attitude that they were a premier team playing in division one. They crushed everyone and the neat thing was they stayed together to do it and we have since added to our depth.”
The Hibernians are part of the Richmond F.C. umbrella that includes teams in the VMSL Second and Over 40s Divisions. They also have three clubs in the Metro Women’s Soccer League — Premier, Division One and Division Two.
Burnham is the assistant general manager at Sportstown where he has developed a pipeline for potential players through the Total Soccer Systems Academy.
He also has a close relationship with former TSS instructor Jason Jordan who now oversees the Richmond/Vancouver based Fusion FC of the B.C. Premier Soccer League as technical director. The club would still like to have a better relationship with the Richmond Youth Soccer Association.
“We want to be bringing more local players up,” added Burnham. “ I have seen a lot of young players struggle with the adjustment. It’s not just just the level of play but the environment too. It really helps with the transition if they get to play a few games.”
