Farrukh, was born November 13th, 1951 in Iran, but grew up in London. Drafted by the Rowdies in 1975, played a key role in the club's success both on and off the field. A broken leg in the 1978 pre-season kept him out for an entire year, but came back in 1979. A member of the 1975 NASL All-Stars first team.
In November 1980 (the day before Thanksgiving), he moved onto the Calgary Boomers, and had no sooner flown to Canada when the NASL decided to strike. This was when the league played an indoor season. The border was effectively closed so Canadian teams could not fly into the US to play.
Farrukh spent the entire winter crisis crossing Canada, playing indoors against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Edmonton Drillers and Toronto. When the indoor season ended, even though he had signed a two-year contract, he retired and returned to Tampa to marry and start his new career with McDonald's. The company he joined happened to be one of the largest franchises in the McDonald's system and today has more than 60 stores throughout the Tampa Bay area. He did not play a single outdoor game for the Boomers simply because he had retired and returned to the US before the outdoor pre-season even started. In 1992, he became Orlando, Florida's venue director for the 1994 World Cup.
Later, he became the General Manager of the Tampa Bay Mutiny. He is the co-owner of three minor league soccer teams, the Boston Bulldogs, Cape Cod Crusaders and the Boston Renegades. 
Today, he is the Chief Operating Officer for Brock Communications. Many thanks to Lisa Brock.
No comments:
Post a Comment