TWIN ARROWS FOOTBALL CLUB⚽️
WE are
A soccer club based in Vancouver and Vancouver Island, Canada with members representing over 20 nations, including Kwakwaka'wakw, Canada, United Kingdom, Iran, Nigeria, USA, India, Burundi, Japan, Ethiopia, Mexico, Kuwait, Poland, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ireland, Liberia, Serbia and Turkey.
OUR MISSION
To strive for unity 🫱🏿🫲🏻 in diversity 🌏, brotherhood ✊🏽, service 🫶🏻 and excellence 🏆⚽️
History
The Twin Arrows were founded in 2001 by a group of friends from the Baha'i community who had strong connections to the ʼNa̱mg̱is Nation of Alert Bay, British Columbia.
The Big House in Alert Bay, BC. Alert Bay, also known as the village of Yalis, is a small island with rich history off the coast of British Columbia.
Since 1960 the Kwakwaka'wakw People have hosted an annual soccer tournament in Alert Bay called June Sports in which they invite Indigenous teams from all across British Columbia to come together in a spirit of friendship and unity.
“Twin Arrows was born
In 2001, the June Sports organizing committee made three changes to reform the tournament and improve the spirit of sportsmanship: (1) banned alcohol from the island during the tournament, (2) created the most sportsmanlike team award and (3) extended an invitation to the Baha’i community to create a team, the first non-indigenous team to compete in June Sports. Just like that, Twin Arrows was born.
In the first year of the tournament the Twin Arrows lost all their games including a hammering defeat of 8-0 to one of the home teams. Despite being knocked out swiftly the Twin Arrows took home the freshly gilded Sportsmanship Award and continued to take it home for another 6 years. They were proud of this legacy but at the same time they wanted desperately to win. It wasn't until the third year that they finally won... a single match.
By 2011 many of the Arrows had moved to the mainland and decided to form a team in Vancouver to compete in summer leagues as well as indigenous tournaments hosted by the Musqueam and Stó꞉lō Nations. Two years later, the Twin Arrows entered Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) as a CAT team to the Rino’s Soccer Club.
“They reached the Division 2 Cup Finals
In 2014, Twin Arrows entered Division 3 and after only two seasons they reached the Division 2 Cup Finals knocking out team after team from the higher division. They lost the final but were promoted to Division 2 and for the next six years, the Twin Arrows overcame incredible odds to maintain its place.
In June Sports, after years of getting knocked out in the quarterfinals, the Twin Arrows managed to reach the finals for two consecutive years but suffered defeat in both of them. Finally in 2018, the Twin Arrows won June Sports. And the following year in 2019, with a team that seemed destined for an early exit, they won again.
