Although he was born in Toronto, St. Lawrence was always considered home and still is today. Paul was blessed with very supportive parents who made sure he had few chores to do and plenty of time to play soccer. His dad Leo had a very long and distinguished career both playing and as an executive and Mom Rita always made sure Paul was well fed and had clean underwear on in case he had to go to the hospital.

Paul was always an integral part of Laurentian teams winning an Under 12 Provincial title, Under 16 Provincial title, Under 16 Atlantic title , competed for the Under 16 Canadian title, a 4A soccer title, an Under 21 Provincial title, played with Canada Games team 84 & 85, won Atlantic Championship with Under 18 Newfoundland team and played for many Provincial All Star teams . At MUN he played Varsity soccer and also when he was studying at Palmer College of Chiropractic he was a member of their soccer team.

Paul was a very skilful player as well as a good team player and through his years in soccer he earned many individual awards, including Most Improved, Most Sportsmanlike and several MVP Awards.

Paul won the Provincial soccer skills competition twice U 12 & U 14 and represented Newfoundland at the National competitions in 1978 & 1980.

Paul started playing first Division / Challenge Cup in1985 and has been a part of eleven Provincial Challenge Cup winning teams with two National Challenge Cup medals, a bronze in Chilliwack in 1999 & a silver in St. John’s in 2002. His success continues in Masters soccer with two Newfoundland Masters titles and two Eastern Canadian Masters Championships 2006 & 2007. Paul still plays Challenge Cup as he fills in when we are short players.

Paul has had the pleasure of playing with a who’s who list of soccer players including Junior Edwards, Greg Quirke, Wils Molloy, Clyde Miller, Walter Haskell and Arthur Calixte, an extremely talented player that he played with at Palmer College. Arthur was as a member of the Haitian National team that played against Maradonna and he also played professionally in North America. Most notably though he has played with his fellow inductees Harry, Bob, Scott, Noel & Keith and he wouldn’t consider being inducted without them.

Paul over his career won numerous individual awards MVP, Most Gentlemanly & Effective and the Gerard Quirke Memorial award in 2005 as the MVP of the Challenge Cup Playoff.

Throughout his career he was coached by Roger Slaney, Clyde Miller, Jim Loder, Al Slaney, Tom Tarrant in minor. Junior Edwards was the longest standing, most prominent and influential. His pregame speeches brought tears to the eyes (not tears of joy) and inspired his players to be winners. Paul says that his spoken name makes him weep uncontrollably to this very day. Gord Dunphy was another inspiring coach who coached the 1999 team to a bronze medal. Other notable coaches were Junior Doyle, Wils Molloy, Derek Strang, Jack Simms, Jim Loder and Alan Ross.

Most influential in his soccer career were his parents, coaches especially Junior Edwards and the 70’s team that he looked up to and that showed him the passion for the game. As a midfielder Paul paid special attention to the midfield players Junior Edwards, Joe Turpin, Tom Tarrant, Greg Quirke and others. They had their own special skills and he learned a lot from watching them play.

Paul enjoys the outdoors and the weekend getaways to his cabin as well as coaching minor soccer and still playing competitive soccer.

He enjoys being involved in soccer in St. Lawrence because the success of soccer teams over the years has inspired so many people to keep soccer alive and thriving. Playing for our town and our fans and getting the level of support from them inspires the teams to consistently strive to continue the winning tradition.

Along the way there have many memorable moments winning Under 12 Provincial Championship, winning U 16 Atlantics wearing yellow “Dalfen’s” T Shirts (they called us NFLD Dolfins and they probably still think we can’t spell dolphins), winning two Eastern Canadian Masters Gold medals, winning his first Provincial Challenge Cup 1993, winning the bronze medal 1999 in Chilliwack, the National Challenge Cup tournament in St. John’s in 2002 (we had a great run but had to settle for silver).

St. Lawrence Soccer welcomes Paul Slaney into the Hall of Fame.