Saturday December 4, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC [Also see: 2021 CPL Award nominees]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The Langford-based Pacific FC professional soccer team is gearing up for their match against Forge FC in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) third-season finals.
On this day ahead of the big match, CPL Commissioner David Clanachan boasted on behalf of ‘soccer overall’ in the CPL league, that he was in Langford at Starlight Stadium in August to see Pacific FC — only in its third year — beat an MLS team, the Vancouver Whitecaps.
For sure, that was a shining moment for the young team, a boon for the local sports business ownership, and for the league overall.
“They sure won that game. That’s what gives you street cred,” said Clanachan reminiscing about Pacific FC against the Vancouver Whitecaps, addressing media in a really revved up mood today. [See August 26, 2021 game highlights on YouTube]
Expanding Pacific FC to Vancouver:
In November it was announced that the Langford-based Pacific FC (PFC) ownership would be opening up a franchise in the Vancouver Lower Mainland area for the 2023 season. It’s a gutsy but not surprising business move by the ambitious PFC ownership (leads Josh Simpson, President and Rob Friend, CEO, with local Langford business and city interests also heavily in the mix) but which poses a bit of a morale test for the hard-working PFC.
However, while it looks from afar (Canada-wide) that there are two teams in the same BC region, the markets are on entirely different sides of the ‘pond’, with a ferry ride or air flight between. In Vancouver there will be the benefit of a larger population pool to draw from, and efficient rapid transit. The edge for games held in Langford is drawing spectators from the larger Victoria area and from upisland, bringing an regional flavour to the experience.
“I’m really excited about Vancouver. Vancouver is a great city,” the CPL Commissioner opened with in his remarks on another team coming up in the league. “It would be great to have a professional club there, and they’ll do very very well. Right now it’s a matter of where will they play?”
Expansion to Vancouver will mean that for the first time the league will be operating in a market already occupied by Major League Soccer (MLS). But growing the league and investing in the Canadian game is part of the Canadian Premier League mission, bringing their fan-centric and energizing approach to Vancouver.
Today via Zoom from Hamilton, Commissioner Clanachan weighed in on the next stretch for the league, which expects to start the season in April (unlike 2020 and 2021 under the weight of COVID restrictions).
Even though the Omicron variant of COVID is now in the news (and more variants of the virus will emerge, as viruses do), generally speaking, public health protocols are now working in favour of large crowd events.
Having the same owner for the upcoming Vancouver team being the same as the Pacific team, will that pose a problem?
“That’s not going to be a concern for us. There are sports groups that own more than one team,” said Clanachan.
“There will be a wall in between the two. We’ve had all those conversations. We’re very happy, it’s going to be good for the game overall. It’s going to be good for Vancouver to have that.”
Stadium limitations:
“We don’t have a plethora of stadiums that we can play in this country,” said Clanachan. “That’s the biggest issue right now.” He says a number of communities in the lower mainland are interested and would love to have a team.
He also mentions a possible team in the prairies. “Saskatoon has the same issue; the municipality is on side. The people of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon are behind them (for a stadium). When will they get across the finish line, is the issue,” he said, adding: “You don’t have to have a million people in a town to support a professional football club.”
Here in Langford, the city worked for years to see its stadium expansion happen, now officially with 6,500 seating capacity.
Opening up for younger players:
Building team strength from young local players is a CPL goal. “The academy system in this country is very difficult. It becomes a bit of a hole in the bottom of the bucket,” said Clanachan today. Given the way pro sports is structured, here’s the viewpoint: “It’s hard to let younger people out there in the first-time minutes,” he says, but pointing out that European teams are starting to do that. “They’ll only know if they can rise to the level if they can compete against people who are better than them.”
“Keep doing the good things. Win. Be better at everything we do. We wanted young players, we needed that, it was lacking in this country. He notes how islander Josh Simpson (now president of Pacific FC) went off to Europe to play professionally at a young age, and suggesting it was lonely at first, to be young and away that far.
The answer is to develop opportunities for young talent here in Canada, he points out. That’s so more young people can play at a competitive level, maybe then get exposure outside of the country. That’s why CPL has a 7-player limit for players coming from out-of-country, with the rest of the 17 on the roster being local, regional or from within Canada.
Some of the challenges that “tug” at young players, taking their interest off the game, include jobs, school, and girlfriends. Bringing internationals over, and bulding the rest of the CPL’s currently eight teams with Canadians over under 21, is the league-building strategy, with the longer-term goal of international world cup play in mind (FIFA World Cup 2026).
“As long as keep ramping up the competition, those players will get better and better,” the Commissioner says.
Broadening view:
CPL is building a brand from the bottom up. “This I know. This is where I earn my stripes,” said Clanachan in his robust mood today.
“I tell our sponsors that too. We need to connect to communities. We need to understand what’s happening communities,” said Clanachan, really opening up on bigger issues.
“The world has got to change, we have to be better people. We all do. We have to recognize that the world is not all equal at this point in time. It isn’t, and it’s not right. It’s about every cause, and we should care,” says Clanachan.
“The league is very diverse. I can’t wait until we get a women’s professional league; it’s going to come. We have to care about our communities. We have to recognize it and stand for change. Players are connected and rooted into communities.”
“Principles are everything in life. At the end of the day, you have to walk the talk,” said Clanachan.
“Canada is a multi-national community. We’re a mosaic, not a melting pot. That’s important. We have tons of fans from all walks of life that comes to our stadiums, we just need more. People are very proud to be Canadian. We market to everyone. I would like to see everyone who lives in our communities come to our games.”
“We all need to do the things to make this sport better. If we leave it better than when we started, we will win,” says Clanachan with his vision unveiled.
Fourth season coming up in 2022:
“We’re going to have further conversations when the season’s over,” the Commissioner said. “In 2019 we started the league.” That was a full season with seven clubs; the league is now up to eight clubs.
But then, he jokes that he “scripted this pandemic for two years”. It’s been tough. “You are literally fighting to breathe. You can’t let anything else be a distraction. Glen Johnson (CPL executive vice-president) looks like he hasn’t slept in two years. They’ve gone through a world war, in my opinion. The time and place is here now, as we finish the season.”
He feels that the players ‘actually feel that he’s approachable’, and he’s proud of that. He listens to the players. That helps keep the league going forward for 2022.
And CPL is looking to build talent in Quebec. “We won’t be a league” until they’ve included a Quebec team. “Talk’s cheap but it takes money to buy whiskey,” he lobbed as a metaphor for the need to back ideas with big money played with risk. “We want Quebec,” said Clanachan, saying it the second or third-biggest market in the country.
And he would “love one of our clubs to win a Canadian championship”.
“I want to see more fans and supporters at the games. We need to keep solving for that. If we could all tell a hundred friends, but it takes time, you win your way there.”
in 2022 it’s about “getting back in front of the fans and supporters”. During COVID “we were adamant you could not go dark, you have to be there.”
CPL games are carried online by OneSoccer, which was brought in as the CPL media partner in February 2019.
Tough punches in sport:
“Athletes are always training that way. Pushed to the put where they’re constantly failing, then raise the bar.” And then they achieve it.
“We have to do that,” said the CPL’s driving force. “We’re playing catch-up against leagues around the world that are over a hundred years old.”
Athletes play on 1-, 2- and 3-year contracts. “If they play well, they come back. That’s all in the (system) now.”
And pulling in some historical perspective: “It’s like all the way back to the Roman times. If you win you keep on, if you don’t win, you’re not there,” said Clanachan about the baseline hardball aspect of competitive sport.
Final third-season game (Sunday Dec 5, 2021):
Seeing Forge FC up against Pacific FC on Sunday December 5 (game time 1:30 pm Pacific / 4:30 pm Eastern), will be like “David and Goliath”, says Clanachan. “It’s young versus seasoned, attack-attack-attack versus steady”, in referencing the two-season champs Forge FC playing on home turf in Hamilton vs Pacific FC flying in from the coast.
“The one commonality is their fans and supporters, they’re passionate and mad about their teams. You’d swear there’s 50,000 people in the stands, no matter what the weather’s like, they’re there,” he boasts about CPL fans.
Today’s game started at 1:30 pm Pacific Time (4:30 pm Eastern).
Looking forward to tomorrow. I’m excited, I’ve got a ton of friends coming to the game. I want it to be a tough game, a fast game, and one that’s full of excitement. And may the best team win. Players, coaches, media, those calling the games, thinking they are having an influence on the game.
Pacific FC coach, up for Coach of the Year:
The team is for the entire island, said Coach Pa-Modou Kah this week. In social media, the hashtag is #ForTheIsle.
Kah’s approach is to set the importance of each player first, as a person, then all of them be a family. He finds that works to bring out the best in everyone.
Pacific FC Coach Pa-Modou Kah has been nominated for Coach of the Year, along with Bobby Smyrniotis of Forge FC and Tommy Wheeldon Jr. with Cavalry FC.
This year has come on the heels of the ‘bubble’ season played in PEI in 2020. “it’s been a long time waiting for sports” during the pandemic, said Coach Kah back in July.
Forge FC is a tough contender. They captured the Canadian Premier League championship now two years in a row (2019 CPL inaugural year, and 2020).
Pacific FC home games are played at Starlight Stadium in Langford.
Watch online or buy tickets:
The game can be watched online at OneSoccer and tickets for the Dec 5 game are available online.
To attend in person, the Event Organizer is requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend this event; unvaccinated fans 12 years of age and older will not be eligible for entry.
2021 Awards:
The CPL Golden Boot award will be announced after the December 5 game. All the other 2021 CPL awards will be given out at the CPL Awards Celebration on December 14.
