By Kayla Bruch

From mud to fake turf soccer has come a long way

Feb 7, 2015 | 3:18 PM

Daren Dayton’s love of soccer has grown over the years as he coaches his son Lane and delves deeper into the sport. 

“I never played soccer when I was a kid I played baseball and hockey… [but] you know it’s a good game,” said the former Celtics coach. “It’s not as big as hockey but the kids love playing it; it’s a good sport in the winter, exercise you know.”

Over the weekend at the Alfred Jenkins Field House, Dayton spoke to young soccer players about how the game used to be in the early 1890s when it was founded by Roy Taylor. The children could see photos and hold an old ball, cleats and trophies. However, one of Dayton’s favourite parts of the display was the book Saskatchewan Soccer by John M. Dewar. 

“The display itself, well it’s about an old book that me and my son brought home from school one day,” he said. “I read through the whole book one night, and I don’t read through very many books, but it was interesting I found out soccer history goes farther back then the 1970s or 60s like I thought.”

While reading ‘Saskatchewan Soccer,’ Dayton found the name Norman Sheldon and after a conversation with his father in law they decided to call the Sheldon family and see if they had any of Norman’s old soccer memorabilia.

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It turns out Norman’s granddaughter had kept pieces of his history in the basement, which Dayton, his son and father in law were more than happy to discover and show to the public.

The cleats, which were part of the display, still had mud on them and Dayton said between the weight of the shoes and the ball the game would have been a whole lot different back then. Not only was the equipment made of leather, they often played in the dirt.

“A lot of the games were played across from the armories,” he said.

The family has had Norman’s soccer past hidden away for about a year and a half and Dayton said he believes many people other than himself would find it interesting if it was displayed in a museum.

“It’s up to the family whether they want to donate it, I would like to see it go there myself,” he said. “It’d be nice to see them put in a nice case.”

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @KaylaBruch1