I know I promised everyone that I'd take the week off but I just had one thing, well, a few things to mention this week. There's about two or three people out there who might remember that last year I gave out my own postseason accolades. Well, this year the awards went one step further. This year the decision was made to poll the many contributors to A-League.com on their picks in several categories. So without further ado I'd like to present the winners in the inaugural A-League.com Awards™.
What would the A-League.com site be like if it weren't for the many people who have contributed their time and effort to it throughout the long A-League season? It wouldn't be anything and we know it.
That's why I'd like to announce the winners for A-League.com Match Reporter of the Year and A-League.com Feature Writer of the Year. A surprising tie in the Feature category and a landslide winner in the Match Reporter category means that the Commies go to:
Match Reporter of the Year
Allison Andrews, Portland Timbers
Feature Writer(s) of the Year
Aaron Propes, Minnesota Thunder
Allison Andrews, Portland Timbers
Next we'll move along to Rookie of the Year where it was a wide-open competition. The nominees ranged from Keith Costigan of the Timbers to Caleb Norkus of the Eagles but in the end the voters shared the opinion with that of the USL. This year's A-League.com Rookie of the Year Award goes to:
A-League.com Rookie of the Year
Robbie Aristodemo, Toronto Lynx
The next award to be given goes to the man voted to be the Defender of the year. The nominees in this category included Milan Kojic of the Impact and Rick Titus of the Whitecaps. In the end, though, we had another tie. The dual winners in this category are:
A-League.com Defender(s) of the Year
Kyle Swords, Hershey Wildcats
Scott Schweitzer, Rochester Rhinos
We'll move along to our next category that turned out to be a landslide victory. This year there were few better in goal than this man which is why he wins the A-League.com Goalkeeper of the Year award:
A-League.com Goalkeeper of the Year
Jon Busch, Hershey Wildcats
Moving along to our next category we've taken a look at the men who organize the teams out there and get the players prepared. There was a lot of competition for this award with Charlotte's Mark Steffens and former Atlanta coach John Dugan running close but in the end only one man would win this award. Without further ado, our Coach of the Year:
A-League.com Coach of the Year
Leigh Cowlishaw, Richmond Kickers
Now we move along to one of the bigger awards we have to give out. There were many top performers throughout the league this year and many players who had breakout years but the two men who garnered the most votes between them in this category may surprise some but will likely not shock others. Dustin Swinehart of the Eagles proved himself quite capable throughout Charlotte's inaugural A-League campaign and came up just shy in the playoffs. Dustin also came up just shy in this category as the A-League.com Player of the Year Award goes to none other than:
A-League.com Player of the Year
Paul Conway, Charleston Battery
Now, for the last prize that we'll give out here today. We as fans have a lot to be proud of when it comes to some of the clubs that we support. We also know that success on and off the field should count for something and it is because of this that we have chosen to award the franchise that has done the best in both aspects that it takes to be successful with the A-League.com Organization of the Year. The surprising success on the field for this club and the apparent stability off the field led voters to choose this debutante club for this award although Vancouver ran them close. A victory in their first ever Southern Derby and a playoff appearance in their first A-League season combined with healthy attendance and good community involvement makes this club our Organization of the Year:
A-League.com Organization of the Year
Charlotte Eagles
I know some will be surprised and some will have complaints but for those of our contributors who may have a beef with who we gave our awards to, well, you guys had your chances to vote. At any rate, the votes are tallied and for the next year the above winners will get to relish being at the top of their league while their rivals will have something to shoot for. In the end we'd like to give awards to all of the clubs who made this season so much fun but, as the movie "Highlander" says, there can be only one.
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