John Wimbs and
The Robbie International Soccer Tournament

COMMUNITY SERVICE

The Robbie International Soccer Tournament has put Scarborough on the map. The largest annual charitable youth soccer tournament in the world, The Robbie has donated over $1 million dollars to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Muscular Dystrophy since its inception in 1967. It was then a group of soccer enthusiasts met in John Wimbs’ living room to organize a small soccer tournament for boys. During their discussion, they heard three-year-old Robbie Wimbs receiving treatment for Cystic Fibrosis, an incurable disease that in 1967 took most of its victims before the age of five. There and then the organizers decided to dedicate their tournament, not just to soccer, but to fighting the disease. The Robbie was born. What originally started as a tournament of eight teams has since grown to include 230 teams of more than 6,000 boys and girls from around the world! Every July 1st weekend the event raises money for children who suffer from CF through entry fees and various activities. The introduction of the Girls’ division several years later prompted organizers to recognize another cause – Muscular Dystrophy. Thanks to the Robbie and other organizations, CF victims are living longer and with greater hope. Robbie Wimbs survived until he was 33. He lives on in the tournament he inspired. His father John, a former Scarborough alderman, an architect and community volunteer, passed away in 2004 at the age of 76.