When Vince Greco was manager of the Athletics team, with World Cup player George Pakos the coach, Greco wondered about some of the decisions that went against his club.
So, he decided to get involved on the inside. Greco joined the Vancouver Island Soccer League executive in 2000 as a board member and worked his way up as score recorder and disciplinary chairman to now president of the VISL for the past seven years.
But running an organization of 81 men’s teams from Victoria to Campbell River, including more than 2,000 players from under-21 to masters, on a strictly volunteer basis, takes a toll. Greco estimated he puts in five hours a day on VISL business after finishing his job in transportation logistics with Island Health.
“It is only because of my wife [Sadie] that I have been able to make this work. Without the blessing of your family, this just doesn’t happen,” Greco said.
But with two growing children, seven-year-old Antona and Gino, three, Greco knew something had to give, and he has announced that he will step down at the end of the season.
Both the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley soccer associations, the Lower Mainland equivalents of the VISL, have paid administrators.
The VISL will put forward the option of doing the same to its membership in the spring. It would be a three-quarter paid position, Greco said.
Greco, 44, noting that he has a good job away from soccer, does not know if he would apply even if the VISL moves to pay its president/administrator.
He is justifiably proud of his time as president of the organization, noting especially the financial development side under his stewardship.
“We now have $50,000 [annually] in community sponsorships and all that is put back into the member teams — but that sort of thing takes a lot of time,” Greco said.
Among his proudest moments were presiding over the 100th Jackson Cup in 2015 and naming of the VISL top-50 players during those centenary celebrations.
“It was truly special to have World Cup players like George Pakos and Jamie Lowery, and other national-team players like Ike MacKay, return with all the other former stars in the same place and the same time to share times and stories,” Greco said.
Greco’s sporting trajectory was actually taking him to the diamond, not the pitch.
“To be honest, baseball is my true sporting love,” he said.
Greco attended umpiring school in Florida and made it to the U.S. collegiate ranks, but decided he did not like the nomadic lifestyle.
“You are on the road all the time and that comes with a price,” he said.
“So I came home. And it was great, because we had one of the best fast-pitch teams in the world at the time, and national teams came to Victoria to play on a regular basis, and I got to umpire at that top level.”
But then other fields beckoned, and baseball and softball’s loss became soccer’s gain.
Now it’s time for Greco to move on, leaving the VISL with big executive shoes to fill.
