BELIZE CITY, Mon. Nov. 2, 2020– A couple months ago, on September 1, to be exact, we received an email from former Spurs Football Club owner/manager, then Belize City businessman Theodore “Teddy” Gonzalez, who now resides in Florida, USA, offering to share some of his voluminous records and notes from his days back in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he managed the Spurs football team in the Belize City competitions. We of course welcomed the opportunity to share some of the history of that storied era with our readers; but, as it has turned out so far, most of the documents have to do with team rosters, correspondence with officials in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico in arranging team visits to or from Belize, notes on meetings held with the Belize Amateur Football Association (B.A.F.A.) of which Teddy was once an executive member, and some other tidbits. It is a lot of data, and much of it is not exciting reading, but there are included the names of some legendary stars and football events that makes Teddy’s effort a really worthwhile and valuable contribution to our football history.
Browsing through the pages, it is as if we were re-entering the realm of Belize City football culture during that era. Regrettably missing though, is the exciting play by play or game analysis report of some of the historic clashes during that period at the MCC Grounds.
Nevertheless, we will try to share with readers from time to time some portions of the material, which we have suggested to Teddy, should all be compiled and stored at our country’s Archives.
There is perhaps not much commercial value in the trove of documents in their present format, but certainly for research and verification purposes, there is a wealth of information in the material Teddy has somehow managed to preserve from his near decade-long involvement at the club management and association executive level in Belize football of the 1960s-70s.
As he explained in an October 22 email:
“This is to document, computerize and complete as much as possible of Belize’s football history and place on the internet for the benefit (of) Belizeans and all other interested parties.”
And he continued:
“Also I am asking all my old football contacts in Belize to help with any of their records, and to provide if possible written recollections.”
Teddy can be contacted at: Tel. +352-727-8605 or email [email protected]
In our next issue we will share some of Teddy’s records on the first, unsuccessful attempt at forming a “Belize Professional Football League” back in 1974.
