There's Only One Number 8
by Rob Lynch, Toronto Lynx Match Reporter

12.Feb.2004

Photos Courtesy of Marielle Di Turis

"I just hope this isn't a decision that haunts me for the rest of my life" reflected Brian Ashton on the phone from his Sudbury home. "The opportunity was just too good to pass up though. At the very least, there will probably be a few less opposing players getting injured next season."

Toronto Lynx midfielder Brian Ashton is known primarily for three things: a limitless capacity for practical jokes and wisecracks, his constantly bleached blond crewcut, and the most consistent hardest tackler in the A-league. Things have taken a completely different, yet perhaps appropriate, turn for the 29-year old veteran in the past three months though.

After a six year stint as the anchour and public 'face' of Toronto's A-league franchise, the Sudbury, Ontario native has decided to hang up his boots from a player's perspective, and take a look at the game of football from the sidelines and accompanying office chair. Toward the end of the 2003 season, Ashton was offered a position in the employ of the Ontario Soccer Association as a regional coach of youth development in Northern Ontario. "From a financial perspective, it was certainly the right thing to do, and the feedback since I took over my new job here has been great. Taking phone calls from local parents with their encouragement and thanks, being a local boy who made it to a professional level, it makes for a pretty good feeling." Trading in his #8 kit for a briefcase, Ashton is extremely positive about this new direction in his life. It offers him a two-fold opportunity: to help bring along the young hopefuls in the area he was born and raised, as well as ironically give something back (or alternately, start something up) in a community that isn't exactly known for its hotbed of football talent.

Growing up in a frigid northern town mainly known for its mining, Ashton recalls learning the future tricks of his trade, alone, in featureless stretches of snow and ice. Never one to be daunted by a challenge, he was persistent, found his way through the Canadian youth ranks, and landed for a time in England with stints at Sheffield United and Notts County. A bout of homesickness brought him back to Canada, and in its inaugural season he was one of the first players signed in 1997 with the newly formed Toronto Lynx. "That's something I'm proud of. Although I could've kept going in England, I like to look at it from the perspective that, had I stayed over there, I may not have had a chance to take part in the almost pioneer aspect of playing fully professional league soccer here at home. If everyone leaves to play somewhere else, how are we ever going to get things developed here?"

The next six years embodied the most recognizable and fulfilling of Ashton's career. Under coach and GM Peter Pinnizotto, Ashton quickly became one of the A-league's marquee players, as easily known and recognizable as any other. While never a prolific goal scorer, the brawny halfback developed a reputation as having a limitless work ethic and never taking prisoners when duty called. His grass-splitting tackles and bull-on-the-charge style made him instantly beloved by the Toronto fans, and almost uniformly disliked by others. "Strangely, that's one of the things I'm going to miss most, getting to a town like Rochester and just having them rip on me as soon as I got on the field", Ashton chuckled. "I love that! You know, sometimes it was a bit much, it could get pretty derogatory, but it makes for a great atmosphere, and it just makes you play harder. Those are the ones I'll miss most, the so-called local rivalries, Rochester and Montreal."

The deriding from the Rhinos fans was perhaps the most colourful of any, going so far as to start a mini-rumour that Ashton was a part time performer in an N'Sync tribute band. This past season, walking to the Toronto-bound bus in the parking lot at Rochester's Frontier Field stadium, Ashton was openly questioned if it was true or not. In typical aplomb, he confirmed the story with accompanying straight face and exhibiting some mock talent as a boy idol. The inquirer, a slight man of middle age, bought the story completely, despite being surrounded by a throng of Toronto entourage that could barely hold their laughter in (me included).

His unerring sense of humour aside, Ashton's aforementioned grit and work rate were never questionable. Teammate and fellow midfielder Robbie Aristodemo, from his San Diego home, said "Brian played with a great passion for the game and worked tirelessly on the field. It was a pleasure playing with him for 3 years." Toronto Lynx Co-owner Nicole Hartrell reflected "we certainly appreciated Brian's talent and enthusiasm for our mission to showcase pro soccer in our city." Always at the forefront of youth camps and day clinics, Ashton's public recognition came just as much from his non-game work as his escapades on the pitch as well. Hartrell continued, "he made a big difference in the delivery of our school program with the many school clinics that he delivered over the last 5 years. It was this grass roots program that allowed him to develop a strong following by our young fan base." Toronto will not only be hard-pressed to replace the scrapper in his center-mid station, but also in the area of general PR as well.

Photos Courtesy of Marielle Di Turis

His bone-jarring slide tackles will always be his trademark though, like the hipcheck of Habs legend Larry Robinson. When asked about his no-quarter style of challenge, Ashton replies simply and almost mechanically, as though he's had to defend it countless times before. "The way I've always looked at it has been like this: if you go in hard, you have less a chance of getting hurt. It's something that just came from playing all those years in the north. Guys you play against go in hard for lack of having anything else to bring to the game, that's the way it was back then, anyway. I'm 29-years old, never been sidelined through injury. I love a challenge, it's a part of the game, and on a 50/50 ball I've never been one to back down, never." Just ask Rochester Rhino's goalkeeper Billy Andracki. A few seasons back, the two went in on exactly that, stride for stride, and collided with such force that Andracki was out of the game for 2 seasons. Bouts of rehab and knee surgery brought him back to his starting position, but he never forgot what and who it was that put him on the injury bench. "Yeah, Billy doesn't really have too much to say to me these days, I don't think he's too happy with me. We passed one another at an exhibition game a while back at Lampart stadium, and he said hi, but he also made sure I knew all about the surgery."

This is a time of massive change for the Lynx. Almost paralleling the retirement of Ashton, the aforementioned coach/GM Pinnizotto has decided to move on to other things as well. As the longest standing head coach of any A-league franchise, it was decided a change in faces from the top would perhaps create a more fresh perspective for the underachieving Lynx and just, as Ashton himself put it, get things going. "Peter is a great guy, and I hate, I mean really hate, to see him leave Toronto." He pauses for a moment and adds, "what happens sometimes though is you work under a guy for a certain amount of time, and a sense of complacency starts to set in. You start to become friends instead of the typical boss-worker relationship, and it can unfortunately get in the way. You start taking liberties, and maybe you just don't listen the same way you used to. Now with a new guy like Duncan (Wilde) coming in, the guys have to start all over again, you gotta work that much harder to prove you deserve to be there. Sometimes being pals with the person you work for can be a good thing and a bad thing."

So with that, the two standouts of the Lynx prehistoric age are departed. Of course, the blatant irony is that with UK'er Wilde now taking the reigns, Ashton has bizarrely missed his chance to lend his Brit breed of football under an English coach. Wilde has only just returned from his time in the British Isles scouting potential talent to bring across for the 2004 campaign, and the concept of Ashton playing with teammates of his own style as opposed to Pinnizotto's quasi-grab-bag of multi-national flare was not lost. Ashton lamented "yeah, I noticed that almost immediately. It was just the timing of the whole situation. That's the way it goes sometimes though."

Things may not be quite as finalized as initial appearance, though. Ashton can live with his decision of moving on from his place with Toronto, despite being in the prime of his career. The 5 time winner of the Lynx Fan Favourite Award is particularly irked that by the time he knew his career as a Lynx player was over, he had amassed too many yellow cards to play in their final fixture and was suspended for a late August match-up with the Virginia Beach Mariners (a game in which the home squad impressively pummeled the visitors 4-1). "I guess what it's all coming down to for me right now, what I keep thinking about, is simple closure. I was with the Lynx from the beginning and it just stinks that I couldn't even play that last game from suspension. If I was able to play one final game, knowing for sure it was my last time, everything would be just a little better with me. Maybe something can be worked out, who knows? I may go out and play for them one time yet, just to bring that sense of closing the door properly, but I'll have to talk to everyone (the OSA and the Toronto Lynx themselves) to see if it can be done. One last time, that would make me feel that much better about moving on."

Photos Courtesy of Marielle Di Turis

So, the possibility exists, at least theoretically, of the Centennial Park crowd seeing the famous, or infamous, #8 take to the pitch at least one final time in the season to come. It's something Ashton obviously holds out for. No one in the club's history deserves a gesture of faith like that more than him. Until that actually happens, if it does at all, Ashton has more than enough to keep him busy. With his newfound title, he will be spending his time scouting and working on youth development anywhere between Sudbury, Timmins, Thunder Bay, and Sault Saint Marie. This also gives him more opportunity to pursue his interest out of the game as well, mainly spending time with wife Angie (a constant fixture at all of Brian's games) and quieter pursuits such as fishing. "Hey, I'm a northern boy, there's nothing I enjoy more. Besides, it'll actually give me a chance to put the canoe to use that I bought last summer. At least the guys on the Lynx will stop razzing me about when I bought it and just put it aside."

2004 will be an odd year for the simple fact the oft-bleached Ashton won't be in the starting line-up roll call. I suspect his presence with the team is one of the reasons people initially came out to see the Lynx in the first place, and kept coming. Toronto's' superfans, The Ultras, devoted one of their favourite chants to the tenacious bulldog, heard during almost every game he set foot on the field: "six-foot-two, eyes of blue, Brian Ashton's AFTER YOU! Na na na na…!"

Although Brian seems hard-pressed to pick a favourite moment in his 6 years with the team, my personal one was a 1999 late season match against the now defunct Staten Island Vipers. His performance was nothing short of totally commanding, playing a dual role in both setting up and finishing on his teammates efforts. A two-goal night for the midfielder, he was subbed out halfway through the second half to a monstrous standing ovation by the home crowd. Toronto is still a team amassed with superb talent and heart, but the void left by Ashton will be hard-pressed to replace. Perhaps in the coming years, another player from Ontario's north will emerge under his guidance with the same hard-nosed ethic and chugging piston spark, returning to the A-league, or beyond. When all is said and done, the fierce Sudbury boy has laid the groundwork for football in this league, this province, this nation. With more Brian Ashton's in the United Soccer League, the state of things will be largely more visible, and certainly a lot more painful for the opposition.