Calgary to launch bid for NASL team

[MillerTime GFG]

Not to mention Foothills is one of the best youth clubs in Canada, if not THE best, and is actually a recognized name abroad as well.

Originally Posted by Mango

I've been helping with the start up of Foothills WFC. The team features U-17/U-20 international Sarah Kinzner and NCAA standout Yvonne Northover as their captain. Their season opener Friday, 7:30 at Encana.

Hope some supporters can make it out!

I didn't realize she was playing for the women's team. Her brother, Dean, plays for the men's team.

[Quis_Separabit]

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

Not to mention Foothills is one of the best youth clubs in Canada, if not THE best, and is actually a recognized name abroad as well.



I didn't realize she was playing for the women's team. Her brother, Dean, plays for the men's team.

Yeah foothills were usually the national champions when I was playing youth soccer. Surprisingly we always done not too bad against them .

[shermanator]

Won't be at Friday's game but I hope to make it out to a few Foothills WFC games as well. Only one of 3 women's teams in Canada so hopefully they get some support.

[shermanator]

First PDL game for Calgary Foothills is this Sunday at 1:30 pm at Hellard. Single tickets are on sale, $15 for adults, $10 for youth. Club tells me it's cash only. There will be a beer gardens somewhere at Hellard and I imagine that's where the supporters will position itself. Either there or on one of the embankments surrounding the pitch.

If you want to join up with the supporters earlier in the day we will be at the Pig and Duke at 9 am for Arsenal / Man U, then will head up to Pazzer's sometime between 11:30-12 I imagine.

Hope to see the place packed, and the beer gardens packed as well.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by shermanator

First PDL game for Calgary Foothills is this Sunday at 1:30 pm at Hellard. Single tickets are on sale, $15 for adults, $10 for youth. Club tells me it's cash only. There will be a beer gardens somewhere at Hellard and I imagine that's where the supporters will position itself. Either there or on one of the embankments surrounding the pitch.

If you want to join up with the supporters earlier in the day we will be at the Pig and Duke at 9 am for Arsenal / Man U, then will head up to Pazzer's sometime between 11:30-12 I imagine.

Hope to see the place packed, and the beer gardens packed as well.

How big is the supporters group at this point?

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by flameswin

How big is the supporters group at this point?

To be honest, I have no idea. There were 6 at the first meeting, and there have been probably another 10-12 expressing interest.

[Ozy_Flame]

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/socc...ast-in-calgary

Sounds like the turnout was great, and couldn't have asked for a better start to the season. Foothills has the Kitsap Pumas, Portland Timbers, and Sounders U23 teams coming up. Very important games for fan exposure, especially if the team wants to start building rivalries in that "Cascadia" vein of teams, which is a very good way to build support.

Hope all is going well with the team, Shermanator!

[shermanator]

Best start to the year I could have hoped for! Decent attendance for the game, and met folks from all over the province through the course of the day. Chants were awkward, but organic. Scarves completely sold out before kickoff (we ordered more this morning). And the best part, no complaints from anyone about the noise being made (at least, to our faces). Found that the folks in the beer gardens loved our chants, and it was a fantastic atmosphere in the beer gardens, only hampered by a fence affecting the view of the pitch.

If the club can get a similar attendance throughout the year they should be able to break even, which is no small feat in lower level soccer in this country. I really hope folks here take notice of the club and get out to at least one game this year (next game is June 2 - 7 pm vs Portland Timbers U-23). You don't have to stand with the supporters group, but give it a try. Hopefully having us sing and chant from the corner of the stands adds to the atmosphere you experience.

I think this photo sums up the game nicely. This is with 5-6 of my friends stapled to the beer gardens all game.

[Muta]

That's awesome man. I'm going to see if several of my buddies want to go.

Teams like this should be supported if we ever hope to see soccer succeed here and grow professionally.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Chants were awkward, but organic.

That's one of the nice things I noticed from the Beer Gardens. The chants sprung up like they do at English grounds and it didn't sound contrived like it does with many Ultra sections.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Muta

That's awesome man. I'm going to see if several of my buddies want to go.

Teams like this should be supported if we ever hope to see soccer succeed here and grow professionally.

Couldn't agree more! The club has gotten very good corporate support from what I've read, so if they can make it draw even to start, maybe they can slowly grow and turn a profit, begin to build their own ground and go from there.

Originally Posted by Addick

That's one of the nice things I noticed from the Beer Gardens. The chants sprung up like they do at English grounds and it didn't sound contrived like it does with many Ultra sections.

Glad to hear this. My own personal opinion is that all chants in North American soccer tend to sound the same. Ideally I'd like to get away from that if we can. Of course, chanting things like "Get that dog a scarf!" or "Your keeper needs a high chair" on impulse helps.

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Hopefully having us sing and chant from the corner of the stands adds to the atmosphere you experience.

The singing and chants were great. I thought it added more in the second half when you all moved to the stands. Having the chants come from the beer garden was a bit removed from the rest of the atmosphere - I think people will be more inclined to join in if the chants are happening around them and not far away from the bulk of the spectators.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by KevanGuy

The singing and chants were great. I thought it added more in the second half when you all moved to the stands. Having the chants come from the beer garden was a bit removed from the rest of the atmosphere - I think people will be more inclined to join in if the chants are happening around them and not far away from the bulk of the spectators.

I absolutely agree with this. We don't have the numbers to have an influence on the atmosphere wile being far removed. Plus, the view of the game from the stands was much better.

[corporatejay]

Probably should change the thread title or start a new thread for the PDL team and ongoing PDL discussion.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Glad to hear this. My own personal opinion is that all chants in North American soccer tend to sound the same. Ideally I'd like to get away from that if we can. Of course, chanting things like "Get that dog a scarf!" or "Your keeper needs a high chair" on impulse helps.

Yup. Its better when it is about banter and having a laugh rather than just constantly trying to be heard.

[Nuje]

Yeah. Really, the chants in a lot of countries tend to sound the same. Of course there are a lot of unique lyrics and that, but there are a LOT of melodies that get re-used. Go West, Sloop Jon B, Jolly Good Fellow, Lord of the Dance, When the blank go marching in. Either way, especially this early we're going to have a lot of those. As time goes on and we come up with more unique stuff, we bring it to Hellard! Now, onto the other thread as it's more relevant!

[nfotiu]

The NASL seems to be in trouble after this indictment. https://worldsoccertalk.com/2015/05/...dson-run-deep/

I'm fairly new to following soccer. I've got into it as my kids have got pretty heavily into playing. I've never really understood the NASL and how it came to be proclaimed the 2nd tier league in North America. I am obviosly biased as I am a season ticket holder for a USL team, but I've been impressed with the quality of play of our team. USL teams were 6-0-1 against NASL teams last night in US open cup matches.

I've read that the USL is going for division 2 status. Why the talk of Calgary going for an NASL team and not a USL team?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

The NASL seems to be in trouble after this indictment. https://worldsoccertalk.com/2015/05/...dson-run-deep/

I'm fairly new to following soccer. I've got into it as my kids have got pretty heavily into playing. I've never really understood the NASL and how it came to be proclaimed the 2nd tier league in North America. I am obviosly biased as I am a season ticket holder for a USL team, but I've been impressed with the quality of play of our team. USL teams were 6-0-1 against NASL teams last night in US open cup matches.

I've read that the USL is going for division 2 status. Why the talk of Calgary going for an NASL team and not a USL team?

Because Edmonton and Ottawa are in the NASL.

To be fair, our current pro team, Calgary Foothills SC, has set their strategy to start in PDL-Pro and move up to USL.

[shermanator]

Any Calgary NASL bids are completely separate from Calgary Foothills PDL and their ambitions to move up to USL. This thread was started way before any Calgary Foothills professional aspirations were made public.

Long term, Calgary Foothills wants to move up to USL, and then eventually MLS. NASL is not even in the question based on everything I've heard. Their reasoning for this is two fold:

1. Cost. USL expansion fees are $750K, whereas NASL expansion fees are $1.5M. NASL players make much more than USL players (although neither league has had salaries disclosed). NASL travel is much more expensive as well since the closest city outside of Edmonton would be Indianapolis once Minnesota United moves to MLS. For a youth club with no large financial backing keeping costs low is paramount. Not to mention, standards for NASL (Div 2) are much higher than standards for USL (Div 3), as for example all Div 2 clubs need a 5000+ seat stadium but Div 3 clubs only need a 1000+ seat stadium.

2. There is a defined development pathway from USL PDL to USL to MLS, and this is the pathway that the club eventually wants to move up. Calgary Foothills wants local players to get noticed and eventually get on MLS teams. NASL is outside of this pathway.

I have no idea how the recent FIFA busts will affect NASL long term, but it will be interesting. Personally, I greatly prefer the quality of NASL play to USL, but with the cost factor it's kind of a no brainer.

[lazypucker]

According to Wikipedia, the North American pyramid is like this:

MLS - Div I
NASL - Div II
USL - Div III

while the PDL (where the Calgary Foothills is in) is more like a developmental league (sorta like WHL for hockey).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...gue_system#Men

Is this information correct?