Yes, I played a lot of soccer in B/N for a long time, staring in 1989, when I moved here, up until about 2000, when I simply had too many family obligations. Along with Mitch Sailor and Mike Fletcher, I founded, coached, and played with TeamBudweiser, because I had played soccer as an undergraduate in Michigan, as a grad student on the U of Illinois club team in Urbana/Champaign, and on club teams in western Michigan, and I wanted to keep playing. I learned of a league in Peoria and started to play on one of the teams over there, but didn’t want to drive there to practice during the week. Before TeamBud, there wasn’t or hadn’t been a men’s team in B/N for a long time. So we started one. That was probably 1990. We were sponsored by the local Anheuser/Busch distributor, B & J Sales. It was never called Los Internationales. Our players were members of the B/N community, advanced high school and college players, and ISU men’s division I players (ISU used to have a men’s team). Our season ran from May to early August with games here at home and away in Peoria. Now and then, we entered a tournament in IL or IN. On off days, we played in the local recreation league, too, which however was a much lower level of play; we were champions in 1997. For a while, our home field was at the park on Raab road, but later we finally got a decent field at the complex behind the former Bloomington Sale Barn on south Main. Our league, I think it was called the Central Illinois Soccer League, was affiliated with FIFA. I usually played midfield (left wing), but sometimes played wing fullback and sometimes striker. I don’t know where I have any photos of the team, but I’m sending pictures of two of our jerseys (one is attached). A lot of good players were on our rosters over the years.
Jim van der Laan