Richard Edwards opened scoring for York Region Shooters
York Region Shooters opened their season with a 3-2 victory over Brantford Galaxy in a tough encounter at Lions Park in Brantford, the only First Division match in the Canadian Soccer League Sunday.
It was Brantford’s second game of the 2016 campaign following the scoreless tie against Toronto Atomic FC on May 21.
York Region midfielder Richard Edwards opened the scoring for the visitors at 17 minutes, a blistering free kick from 25 yards that caught the top corner of the net out of reach of Galaxy goalkeeper Luka Besenic.
Brantford tied the score 1-1 at 24 minutes, a goal by midfielder Stefan Vukovic who beat York Region goalkeeper Emanuelle Ameltonis, and York Region took a 2-1 lead five minutes later when referee Tony Amaral pointed to the penalty spot following a foul in the Galaxy box. Marcos Rodriguez struck the penalty kick and found the net. It was 2-1 for York Region Shooters at the interval.
Forward Richard West increased the visitors’ lead to 3-1 at 79 minutes after coming on as a substitute and Vukovic scored his second goal for Brantford at 82 minutes, reducing the Shooters’ lead to 3-2.
York Region Shooters were reduced to 10 men at the 86th minute mark when defender Marcelo Capozzolo was shown the red card by referee Amaral for what was reported as Serious Foul Play.
There was one game in the Second Division Sunday afternoon when the Galaxy reserve team, Brantford Galaxy B defeated York Region Shooters B, 3-1.
Adis Hasecic scored twice to lead Scarborough SC to a 3-0 victory over Serbian White Eagles in the season opener for both teams played at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough Saturday night.
It was a well-played scoreless first half with few scoring opportunities, but Hasecic found the net shortly after entering the game as a substitute following the interval. The prolific midfielder, who found the net 16 times for Waterloo in 2015, took a pass from Dobrin Orlovski to beat the advancing White Eagles’ goalkeeper Goran Skaric on a one-on-one play, the goal coming at 47 minutes.
Aleksander Stojiljkovic made it 2-0 for Scarborough at the 78 minute mark and Hasecic scored his second to make it 3-0 for the home side at 82 minutes. Orlovski again played a part before Hasecic struck for a 3-0 final score.
Scarborough will visit the St. Joan of Arc ground in Maple for a game against FC Ukraine United on Sunday June 5, while Serbian White Eagles will play their next game hosting Brantford Galaxy at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Friday, June 3.
A last minute strike by midfielder Adnan Smajic gave Milton SC a 2-1 victory over Hamilton City at the Jean Vanier Field at Milton, the only game in the Canadian Soccer League Friday night.
Hamilton City, playing the opening game in their inaugural season in the CSL, took an early lead when midfielder Santiago Pestrepo found the net past Milton goalkeeper Zoran Pusica, the goal coming at 10 minutes into the game. It was 1-0 at the interval.
Milton defender Mike Greco tied the game 1-1 for the home side at 56 minutes, the goal coming off a rebound from a free kick and following several attempts to take the lead, Milton went ahead at 89 minutes when Smajic scored from four yards.
“It was a tough opening game going almost to the final whistle before we scored the winner and I’m pleased with the way my team kept going right to the end.” said Milton’s Jasmin Halkic following the game.
Milton will travel to Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke for their next game with Toronto Atomic FC on Saturday, June 11, while Hamilton City will be at home to Atomic on Friday, June 3.
There are two remaining games in the CSL this weekend with Scarborough SC at home at Birchmount Stadium against the visiting Serbian White Eagles on Saturday night, that’s an 8 pm start, and on Sunday Bradford Galaxy are at home to York Region Shooters, a 7 pm kickoff at Lions Park.
It’s unlikely York Region Shooters will repeat their perfect season of 2014, a campaign that topped all of the exceptional achievements recorded in the annuls of the CSL and its forerunner leagues over many decades since the original National Soccer League launched in 1926. Winning 13 with five draws in the 18-game schedule before going through to the playoffs and winning the championship was an achievement that re-wrote the record book.
The Shooters finished third in the standings in 2015, and will kickoff this new season with a visit to Lions Park in Brantford for a game with the Galaxy on Sunday night, a 7 pm kickoff. It’s the second game for Brantford Galaxy following their scoreless tie against Toronto Atomic on May 21.
Team owner and head coach Tony De Thomasis continues to strengthen his side on and off the field of play with the support of former Chilean international Carlos Rivas, long-standing GM John Pacione and Argyrios Tsoulos returning as the club’s head fitness coach following a spell in Greece.
Rivas has the highly successful Carlos Rivas Soccer School in the GTA and is still considered a hero in South America following his play for Chile leading up to the 1982 World Cup, while Tsoulos has an outstanding background as an international track and field athlete and is now a qualified trainer having worked with over 100 professional soccer players.
The Shooters have added Nicholas Lindsay and Evan Beutler to their first team roster. Lindsay, 23, a speedy forward, was one of the most promising young Canadians while moving from youth soccer in Brampton to Toronto FC Academy, the Ontario Provincial team, the Canadian U-20 team and Toronto FC before suffering a severe knee injury which kept him out the entire 2011 season. He signed for Burlington SC in 2013 and now returns to the CSL with the Shooters.
Beutler, also 23, has played indoor soccer professionally following a strong academic career which includes a three-time state championship for Enterprise Wings in his home state of Alabama. Beutler was eventually transferred to the University of Alabama where he completed a BSc in Psychology with a minor in Physical Education, and while playing there made the NCAA Division II All American team. He holds dual Canadian-American citizenship.
Serbian White Eagles had a banner year in 2015, leading the CSL First Division most of the five-month long season and finishing on top with a four-point margin over Toronto Croatia in second place. White Eagles will visit Birchmount Stadium for the 8 pm opener against Scarborough SC on Saturday night and will be guided by coaches Mirko Medic and Uros Stamatovic.
But the weekend will kickoff on Friday night with Milton SC at home to Hamilton City, the season opener for both teams at the Jean Vanier Field in Milton, a 7.30 start. Milton made a good start to First Division soccer in 2015, finishing in seventh spot in the standings and making the playoffs following their 2014 season in Division Two. Hamilton City start their inaugural year and reports suggest the team is ready for a strong beginning following several weeks of preparation.
Brantford Galaxy and Toronto Atomic FC fought to a scoreless draw in an otherwise entertaining encounter in the Canadian Soccer League season opener at Lions Park, Brantford Saturday night.
Galaxy, now in its seventh season since stepping into the CSL in 2010 to win the championship in stunning fashion that inaugural year, were at home to second year Toronto Atomic. The Toronto team finished last season in fifth spot in the 2015 standings, while Galaxy struggled most of last season to end in 11th position .
It was an even first half with few scoring opportunities, but goals appeared more likely following the interval when the home side almost found the net at 50 minutes when forward Milan Beader crossed the ball for Krum Bigishkrov to head just wide of the post with Atomic goalkeeper Ihor Vitiv beaten.
Atomic came close to going ahead at 55 minutes when Mateo Fajardo set up an goalmouth opportunity, and 18 minutes later the visitors’ Tighana Alexander Thompson had a shot cleared off the goal line by Brantford’s Miljan Milovic.
Galaxy head coach Tomo Dancetovic considered neither team deserved to lose and that his team needed more time on the training field. “ It was a fair result,” he said following the final whistle. “Our side needs to do a lot of work to get where we need to be to be competitive, but that will come together as the new players get to know each other on the field.”
Midfielder Sasa Vidovic, a player with the Galaxy since the club launched six years ago, competed the first half before being substituted at halftime.
In an afternoon clash, the home reserve side Brantford Galaxy B nipped Toronto Atomic FC B, 3-2.
Galaxy are back at Lions Park for a home game against York Region Shooters next Sunday, May 29, while Toronto Atomic FC visit Hamilton for a game with the City at the Cardinal Newman ground Friday, June 3. Both games kickoff at 7 pm.
Lions Park in Brantford will be the site of the 2016 Canadian Soccer League opener, a clash between Brantford Galaxy and visiting Toronto Atomic to kickoff a four-month long regular season leading to the playoffs and the CSL Championship late October. It’s a 7 pm kickoff that Saturday night on May 21, the beginning of a season of Saturday home games for the Galaxy, a preferred change from the Sunday fixtures of 2015. Tomoslav Dancetovic resumes as head coach.
Atomic ended the inaugural 2015 season in a respectable fifth position of 12 in the CSL First Division standings, but owner/GM Ihor Prokipchuk is looking to improve the team’s performance this upcoming campaign by emphasizing a greater team effort than was apparent in 2015. “I was really quite happy with our performance last year, and we do have some very good players, but I think we can improve this season,” he said. Vasil Ischak has been named head coach, with midfielder Michael Tischer the team captain.
Other changes for a new season in the CSL include the relocation of Scarborough SC to the attractive Birchmount Stadium with its increased capacity seating. Other announcements by Scarborough GM Kiril Dimitrov include the appointment for 2016 of Ricardo Munguia Perez as the new head coach. Munguia, nicknamed El Ringo, a product of the fames Veracruz organization, is a former Mexican youth international, having played in the FIFA 1993 World Youth Championship. He was also in the side that won a silver medal for Mexico in the 1995 Olympic Games.
Munguia, a defender, has played his entire career between Mexico and Canada, having turned out 23 times for the Toronto Lynx in 1999 and following a period in Mexico, he appeared in the CSL with Serbian White Eagles in 2011 and turned out for expansion team Scarborough in 2015.
FC Ukraine United, a CSL expansion team this year, has enjoyed prominence in Ontario for more than 10 years, won the Annual Olympiakos Soccer Tournament in Toronto last month. Ukraine will play its upcoming CSL home games at the St. Joan of Arc ground at Maple, just north of the city.
Hamilton City spokesperson Kathleen Nurse reports high local interest in the new Hamilton City team playing out of the Cardinal Newman ground at Stoney Creek on the out outskirts of the city. “There are a lot of very good players in the city and it’s been a busy time conducting tryouts,” she explains. Home games in Steeltown are scheduled Friday and Saturday evenings.
Coming up next: Milton, Serbian White Eagles, York Region Shooters prepare for First Division action, while London City and SC Waterloo will accompany CSL reserve teams for kickoff in the Second Division
Eight teams will kickoff the 2016 Canadian Soccer League season the weekend of May 27 for a five-month long campaign through to the end of October.
Ukraine United FC is a new entry in the CSL, while Hamilton City is a re-branded and relocated London City team. The move to Hamilton by London City ends a 10-year period during which Steeltown has been without professional soccer .
London will still be represented, however, in the 6-team CSL Second Division. Jasmin Halkic has assumed the CSL territory in that city and the team is entered as London City in a formation which includes four reserve teams and SC Waterloo.
Three teams, Toronto Croatia, Burlington and Niagara United, will not be returning in 2016, while Brampton City Utd were suspended near the end of the 2015 season and are also not entered.
London City entered professional soccer in 1973 and the southwestern Ontario club has changed hands twice in recent years. There is an expectation of greater community and fan support in Hamilton, a city with a long history in soccer and in recent times has shown an increase in new arrivals from countries where soccer is considered to be the first sport of interest. The Hamilton and District Soccer Association has increased its youth player population considerably over the years and it is estimated that there are now 160,000 fans and supporters of soccer in Hamilton and surrounding districts.
The city of Hamilton has a long history with professional soccer, but it’s been 10 years since Hamilton Thunder represented that city as a member of the Canadian Soccer League.
In earlier times, during the days of the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League (ECPSL) in the sixties, Hamilton Steelers was rated as one of the best teams in Canada. The team’s opening game in 1961 at home in the Civic Stadium (later named Ivor Wynne Stadium) was played against Toronto City, owned by grocery magnate Steve Stavro who signed a number of internationals from the UK, including Stanley Matthews, the only player to be knighted while still playing a career which included 73 caps for England.
Hamilton Steelers played in the ECPSL until 1964 when the name was changed to Hamilton Primos. The Primos’ goalkeeper was Dick Howard, who went on the represent Canada and some years later was a top soccer analyst covering the World Cup on Canadian television, a time when he was also appointed the only North American at that time to sit on FIFA’s technical committee. Hamilton Steelers re-surfaced in 1981, winning the National Soccer League championship in the team’s first year.
Hamilton was a site (with Buffalo and New York) for the World University Games in 1993, and the women’s soccer tournament played at Brian Timmis Stadium and McMaster University was considered at the time to be some of the finest women’s soccer in the world. The 2015 Pan American Games competition was staged in Hamilton.
The Hamilton Spectator newspaper has played an important part of the city’s soccer history with the Hamilton Spectator Cup for soccer supremacy, a trophy first introduced in 1896 and which today is still emblematic of the local championship.
London City of the Canadian Soccer League has relocated to Hamilton to bring the semi-pro level of the game back to Steeltown.
London City was one of the oldest pro teams in North America after being launched by Markus (Max) Gauss, a German immigrant from Stuttgart with a passion for soccer who arrived in Canada in 1958. The club was managed most of the time by his well-known son Harry Paul Gauss until Harry’s death on October 31, 2009 at the age of 57.
London City was sold in 2011 to a group headed by Hamilton businessperson Andrew Crowe, successful in environmental recycling, who then sold his share early 2015 to his partner, Zoran Kliseric.
Kathleen Nurse, general manager of London City In charge of the transfer of the CSL team to Hamilton under the new banner of Hamilton City, believes that as in the past pro soccer will thrive in Hamilton. “It’s a great soccer community that has been poorly served with the professional game in recent times and we look forward to bringing an attractive higher level soccer to the community,” said Nurse.
While the new team is expected to consist of some top players from the Hamilton region, there will be a few players retained from last year’s London City squad and some imports from Europe.
“The imports bring high level skills from Europe and that’s important both for competition in the tough CSL and for our contribution to youth player development in the Hamilton and district community – programs we intend to launch immediately following this upcoming inaugural year,” said Nurse.
The new Hamilton City is expected to be based in Stoney Creek to kickoff its 2016 CSL season late May.
Joe Pavicic has enjoyed soccer’s past whatever the weather. PICTURE: Tomislav Kukec
Josip (Joe) Pavicic just happens to be one of those individuals born to do it well, whatever the endeavor.
For openers, he’s enterprising , quick to identify an opportunity and is equipped with the necessary entrepreneurial skills to follow through.
He’s certainly not short on confidence and demonstrated that when some years ago a visitor to his impressive Likro company in Mississauga – which he launched in 1980 to manufacture precision parts engineered mostly for the aviation industry – asked what the reject rate was in production.
“ None“, he responded.
The affable, Croatian-born, Zagreb University-educated Pavicic is not short of being on the receiving end of many accolades, having been honored a number of times for his varied achievements in the aerospace and aviation engineering industry and in his community. But it’s his presence in Canadian soccer, which is not as well-known, that is now drawing attention as he steps down after serving 10 years as president of Toronto Croatia, a team in the Canadian Soccer League.
It didn’t take long for Toronto Croatia to be on top after Pavicic took over in 2006. His team won the CSL championship the following year, losing just one game in the five-month long campaign. Toronto Croatia also won the 2007 inaugural Croatian World Club Championship between Croatian teams from Austria, Germany, Australia, the United States and France. The win was repeated in 2011. Toronto Croatia continued under Pavicic to win the CSL title in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Joe Pavicic is proudly Croatian, and is always quick to point out – proudly Canadian. On January 14, 2014 he staged a premiere showing of a documentary film: Toronto Croatia – a Great Croatian Story, which captured before a full audience in Mississauga the memorable 1976 North American Championship victory by Metros Croatia, a team formed when Toronto Metros of the North American Soccer League and Toronto Croatia of the National Soccer League partnered just a year earlier.
” I think the game has moved well forward in Canada since Toronto Croatia was launched in 1956, but there is a need for more soccer facilities to push it along, it deserves to be one of the mainstream sports. Mississauga is a great community with a population almost 800,000 but we still lack a soccer stadium,“ Pavicic said recently.
Pavicic will be spending more time attending to business interests in Canada and Europe, but his presence in soccer will continue while taking part in events that commemorate the anniversary of Metros Croatia winning this continent’s soccer championship 40 years ago. He’ll also be celebrating Toronto Croatia’s 60 years in professional soccer in Canada.
This is a year too, when Toronto FC is going to honour Metros Croatia with new white kits with a touch of red and blue, designed with the championship victory in mind, while bringing attention to professional soccer’s past in the city.
It’s a part of soccer history that Joe Pavicic and Toronto Croatia have been very much a part of.
Prior to 2008, Canada did not have a club championship for professional teams and for some years prior to 2008 the Canadian Soccer League (prior to 2006 the Canadian Professional Soccer League, CPSL) organized the Open Canada Cup competition which was sponsored in part by the federal government.
During that time the Voyageurs, a Canadian supporters group, awarded a trophy to Canadian teams taking part in the U.S.-based USL Division 1, so it was not until 2007 that the Canadian Soccer Association decided to organize a competition that would decide Canada’s best team.
Various formats were considered, including a competition to include Canada’s MLS entries with the CSL champion and the Canadian national amateur champions. The big teams would enter late, just like in other countries, but this was scrapped in favour of a competition that would bring together only Canada’s premier professional clubs. Today this is known as the Amway Canadian Championship.
Amway is an American company and in 2016 there will be five teams taking part in the Canadian championship: MLS teams Toronto FC, Montreal Impact, Vancouver Whitecaps, together with FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury FC of the North American Soccer League. Both leagues are based in the United States.
‘Hate the Canadian championship’, says soccer coach and former referee Dave Kenny, a Canadian who spent three years in England as a boy to love the FA Cup over there.
Kenny probably doesn’t really hate the Amway Canadian Championship, although he does explain in an interesting article published in a 2015 issue of Inside Soccer Magazine that interest from a fan’s perspective is poor and the attendances generally low. ‘I made the mistake of paying for a ticket – only once’, he says in the story. He considers the games just an excuse to find a team to enter the CONCACAF Champions League.
By contrast, Kenny describes in glowing terms of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup – the oldest competition in US soccer which allow amateur and professional teams to compete together and against one another – allowing an amateur team to play against the country’s best – similar to the FA Cup in England which, as he points out, are played in front of sell-out crowds.
As a 19 year-old player in Richmond Hill, Kenny’s memory goes back to hosting a match against the European U- 18 champions and the town came together to treat the game as a major community event with the largest crowd to ever see a soccer game in Richmond Hill.
It’s all about the excitement of playing against a glamour team, creating almost an aura, with the possibility of victory for the underdog that attracts. The CSA would be wise to re-visit the first concept which included CSL and top amateur teams taking part in what could become an exciting major annual event in Canadian soccer.
The Canadian Soccer League has been communicating with Canadian law enforcement since attending an Interpol meeting in New York City January 2013 to discuss match fixing, and is pleased to learn that investigations are now underway by the RCMP to ascertain if there is merit in a report of a study by the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) in Qatar of unusual betting activity on CSL matches played during the 2015 season.
The CSL earlier pledged co-operation and assistance to the Ontario Provincial Police following their interest in a game played at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec in 2009, and has reinforced that pledge with the RCMP more recently. Betting on CSL matches in known to occur in Europe.
The league sought assistance during 2010 to 2012 from the Canadian Soccer Association and FIFA following reports of the 2009 game, but no assistance was made available.
Interest by the RCMP is considered by the CSL to be a positive development in the league’s efforts to come to terms with “suspicious betting activity” on the outcome of CSL matches, which invariably leads to allegations or suggestions of match manipulation.
“While the earlier investigation of the 2009 game did not produce sufficient evidence and, therefore, did not continue, it is hoped a current investigation will be completed to the fullest,” said CSL Chairman Vincent Ursini Thursday.
The CSL will be implementing a number of measures to monitor all games during the upcoming season and is considering the possibility of working closely with an integrity company in Europe that monitors betting activity on sporting events, including soccer. The highly regarded International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has also offered assistance.
OYSA teams will join up with CSL academies for 2016 competition
A FIFA statistic says that one in 40 Canadians are playing soccer. That’s about the same as in Italy.
Canadians bought more than 29,000 tickets to the 2014 World Cup – more than all of the other nations that did not qualify.
Since the late nineties, soccer has ranked as the most favoured sport for children in Canada between five and 14 years of age. At that time, 32 per cent of boys and girls participating in sports were playing soccer and that number jumped to 42 per cent in 2010.
In other words, soccer is becoming a mainstream sport in Canada and young people are playing a big part in the shift.
In Ontario, youth soccer accounts for 280,000 registered players – not including schools or other teaching institutions or recreational soccer. But while the dramatic increase in recent years is impressive, skills training, formal coaching have not kept pace with growth and many young people are without the benefit of being shown the rudiments of the game that crafts the real player.
The CSL has announced a partnership with a recently-formed Ontario Youth Soccer Association for competition as a OYSA Division of the CSL. The OYSA teams will interface with CSL academy teams to begin play this coming May. Eventually, CSL professional players and highly qualified coaches with their considerable skills training experience mostly from Europe, will be made available for the benefit of the young players.
“This is an important step in making youth development an important part of the CSL,” said Pino Jazbec, the league administrator. “We believe that with the CSL Academy addition and the OYSA the right environment can be of great benefit to young players, particularly in accelerating their playing skills.”
The youth academy arm of the CSL is available to boys and girls U-8, U-10,. U-12, U-14, U,16 and academies and clubs in Ontario are invited to enquire with the Ontario Youth Soccer Association for competition starting in May.
The CSL has also announces a partnership with the Canadian Corporate Soccer League, which is based in Montreal with comprehensive summer and winter competitions for corporate teams in that city. The CSL will assist in the development of a similar competition structure in Toronto.
Vladimir Koval in earlier playing days. Today as VP and General Manager the mover into CSL pro soccer
Even the most knowledgeable of soccer enthusiasts in Canada will be surprised to learn that it was not until 1991 when the Ukraine national soccer team was formed and that the first match was played against Hungary on April 29,1992. This followed Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union.
Ukraine’s initial appearance in the World Cup was in 2006 and the first appearance in the European Championship came in 2012. Not surprising, Ukraine stood 123rd in the FIFA rankings in 1993, but that eastern European country rocketed to 11th position to be recognized as one of the world’s top teams in 2007 to remind the world that football is still the nation’s most favoured sport.
In Canada, and in other countries where Ukrainians settled, it was a different story. Toronto Ukraina showed prominence in Canada much earlier, winning the National Soccer League (NSL) championship five times during the period 1953 to 1965 during a very competitive period when many talented players – including high level professionals – came to southern Ontario from other parts of Europe.
The Ukrainian presence in Canadian soccer has faded in recent times, but that may be changing with the launch of Toronto Atomic in 2015 and an application by FC Ukraine United as an entry in the Canadian Soccer League’s first division this coming 2016 season.
Vladimir (Vlad) Koval, a native of Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine, is the mover, determined to see his club prominent in Canadian pro soccer. The CSL and its standard of play is an environment that Koval, now 40, is familiar with, having played for Toronto Italia and Toronto Croatia in the nineties through to 2001 . He’s played in York Region, also, with a reputation as a goalscorer and his skills take him into Etobicoke where he volunteers some of his time to coach the minors.
“It has always been a dream of ours to be playing in Canadian Soccer League, at the highest level. This milestone seemed unachievable until this year. Fortunately, we were lucky to have met the right people who agreed to be our sponsors, and the players are also stronger and better skilled and ready to play at the next level,” said Koval recently.
Koval, Andrey Malychenkov, Denys Yanchuk and Evgen Ischak will be the principals of the club’s professional team after taking the amateur side to success in the Ontario Soccer League, including a runner-up finish in the OSL’s Premier Central Division in 2015.
Malychenkov came to Canada from the Russian first and second division and played for North York Astros in the CSL, while Denys Yanchuk played in the Ukraine first division. Ishchak also has a strong soccer background, a high school MVP in soccer, former player with Toronto Supra and North York Astros in the CSL, and is the son of the famous Ukraine player Vasyl Ischak.
FC Ukraine United was formed in October 2006 and this coming October the club will be hoping to have a say in the CSL Championship to add to a 10th anniversary celebration.
The league will be recommending acceptance of FC Ukraine United at a meeting of the CSL member clubs on January 24.
A study of the Canadian Soccer League in 2012 revealed that during the previous three-year period 2009 – 2012 no less than 40 players from throughout the league were selected for various national teams, mostly national youth teams, world-wide.
In earlier years, the most successful former CSL player was undoubtedly Atiba Hutchinson who made a brief appearance for York Region Shooters in 2002 and went on to play in Europe while making more than 70 appearances for the Canadian men’s team following 29 games for Canada’s under 20 and under 23 squads.
Some standout players, such as Paul Munster, who scored 25 goals in 19 appearances for the CSL’s London City before signing with Slavia Prague, one of the top teams in the Czech Republic in 2004, have moved on to take important coaching positions in Europe.
The glittering player gallery in the CSL archives has become so extensive that the league is considering launching a CSL Hall of Fame to recognize standout players who entered the CSL before moving to more lucrative, higher levels elsewhere.
Paying tribute to players from the past is one of a number of initiatives the CSL is pondering for 2016, a year that will put greater emphasis on youth and player development.
“We have a number of exciting initiatives, but we also face some challenges as we move toward the 2016 season,” said Pino Jazbec, the league administrator, recently. “The league has been around since 1926 and our history has often reflected the ups and downs of Canadian professional soccer over a long period of time.”
The most challenging issue in the New Year will be to ensure the league is free of match manipulation. The CSL has been dogged by reports of match fixing since allegations surfaced in a German court in 2011 that a CSL game played in Quebec in 2009 was fixed. Despite discussions with the Canadian Soccer Association and FIFA, from which came suggestions of organizing workshops and seminars to combat the global problem of match fixing, no remedial steps have yet been taken place by soccer’s governance in Canada.
The CSL will be assigning match observers to all games played in 2016 in an attempt to identify games that appear suspicious. Under consideration also, is a working relationship with an organization that monitors betting data from sports events, including soccer and including the CSL.
There have been discussions with law enforcement agencies and while there is interest in prosecuting players involved in manipulating matches leading to fraud, any betting associated with the CSL is carried out off- shore, making charges in Canada more time consuming and difficult. It’s worth remembering that while the Canadian Soccer Association suspended four national team players for one year for taking bribes in return for throwing a game against North Korea in Singapore in 1986, a Canadian court refused to handle the case.
Stan Adamson, the CSL’s director of media relations, has expressed concern about the extent to which the league as a whole can carry the stigma associated with allegations of match fixing. “Unfortunately, it’s a subject which can unfairly put a shadow over an entire league. When match manipulation is going on it can be unknown to a team’s management, let alone the clubs in general or the league administration,” he said.
Vincent Ursini, the CSL president, has expressed a hope that the betting companies in Europe will cease listing CSL games in their betting profile. Betting on CSL games is not available from Canadian betting interests, such as the OLG in Ontario.
Several new groups have shown interest to enter teams in the CSL for the 2016 season, applications have been received and the league is expecting to announce a kickoff mid-May with an extended player development structure additional to the popular Second Division. The Second Division accommodates certain new teams preferring to take a step by step approach to professional soccer, playing with reserve teams of the established clubs.
