Fall 1997

That fall saw the rise of a new dynasty. Simon Thomas, had just converted the the International Student Society at McGill into a service and the new name was McGill International Student Network (MISN). At the same time., he formed the football team MISN Impossible to take part in McGill intramural competitions. Little did he know at the time, what a success that team would be!

In their first season, the team won the outdoor Men's A-League. Simon recollects on that season for us:

- I seem to remember that we did not play very well in the group stage. This included one match immediately after the Mayor's Reception for International Students, which we not surprisingly lost. Another match was blighted by some terrible refereeing.

Like all great teams in North America, the first MISN Impossible team was obviously saving itself for the playoffs. The spark ignited in the quarter-final when the other team was leading 1-0 and were awarded a penalty with just 10 minutes left. I (Simon) asked the ref if I could kiss the ball before the kick was taken and the ref said OK. This was a most inspired bit of goalkeeping because the guy put his kick wide! MISN Impossible then stormed back and won 2-1!!!

The semi-final was a tight match which went to penalties after several great saves (at both ends) kept it as a 0-0 draw. I think it then went to about the seventh or eighth penalty kick in the shootout.

MISN Impossible played absolutely superbly in the final (rising to the big occasion, as always!). It is incredible that we only won 1-0 with Luc (Hard As A) Rock scoring the winning goal. The other team only had one shot in the whole match. The key to success was a fantastic overall team effort and the terrific support (there were photos of the packed stands on the MISN website in those days).

Simon

Team Picture

Back row: Babak(Iran), Luc (Luxemburg), Simon(England/Canada),
Taras(Ukraine), Captain Thomas (Canada), Munir (Morocco), Jesper(Denmark)
Front row: Pierre(France), Ludo (France), Benoit (Canada), Cuco (Mexico), Tim (England)