Wednesday December 14, 2022 | VANCOUVER, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The first player to be signed on to the new Vancouver FC soccer club is Callum Irving.
Irving is from the Vancouver lower mainland area, and for him this is ‘coming home’ — not only to his hometown area but to a higher echelon of Canadian football that seems like his natural fit.
Vancouver FC (VFC) is one of the Canadian Premier League (CPL) teams with ambitions to develop players to the level required for World Cup play. World Cup 2026 will be played in Canada, USA and Mexico, including games in Vancouver.
All eyes are on the World Cup 2026 and Vancouver is where it’s at.
Professional sport and the associated tourism spinoffs are a growing aspect of the Canadian economy and an increasingly strong focus in the BC economy. Recently new BC Premier David Eby in placing former Agriculture Minister Lana Popham into the drivers seat at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport noted that BC will be hosting several major sporting events through to 2027 (that would include the Invictus Games in 2025 and the FIFA World Cup in 2026).
On and off the field:
Irving was chosen for his skills on the field and his leadership off the field. He is seen by VFC CEO Rob Friend and Head Coach Afshin Ghotbi as a player with now several years of experience (and wins — including with the PFC team in December 2021), as well as being a good relationship builder with fellow players off the field.
“This is a place I’ve always wanted to play,” said Irving in a live media session today (news release). He was a free agent after completing the 2022 season with Pacific FC. He says he wants to work with “an ambitious coach and owner in a city that I love”.
Soccer since childhood:
Irving, 29, began playing soccer at the age of four, advancing through the local youth system with Marpole SC in South Vancouver. He represented the Vancouver Selects for two seasons and spent six years in the Vancouver Whitecaps academy before a collegiate career at the University of Kentucky.
Now a three-year veteran of the Canadian Premier League, Irving began his professional career with the Rio Grande Valley Toros in the United Soccer League. He returned to Canada to represent the Ottawa Fury in the USL in 2016, spending three seasons in the nation’s capital through 2019. Irving was back on the West Coast by February 2020, when he signed with Pacific FC ahead of the CPL’s second season.
Building the team:
Vancouver FC is in it to win, with Friend saying they’re setting the bar for top-level competitive play and fan experience, right off the bat in the 2023 season. “This is built by Vancouver for Vancouver,” said Friend today, and “we’re ambitious off the start”. He referred to their first signed player as “a world class guy”.
More players will be signed on quickly, with rollout expected to start early in the new year. “We’re confident with the quality that’s out there,” said Friend. He is also focusing on stadium construction which is underway.
“I know what he brings off the field, especially in the startup,” said Friend about signing Irving as his first player. “This wasn’t easy to convince Callum to come to the startup, he was a free agent,” said Friend. “It’s going to make a statement across the league that this club is ambitious.”
Coach Ghotbi (who was named VFC Head Coach in November 2022) says he is “a student of the game” and that he was “very curious about the level” of play in CPL. He said today that he was impressed with the salaries and kind of players that Vancouver FC was attracting. “I’m hoping from day one to be able to compete for the championship,” said Ghotbi today.
Ghotbi says that Irving brings “calmness and consistency” to the team.
Leaving the island behind:
Irving leaves behind Vancouver Island and PFC where he says he built relationships with team mates and coaches as a “real family”. The family and friends who supported him growing through the soccer ranks are there in his own back yard.
“But Pacific FC and the island will always hold a special place in my heart,” said Irving today. | News release
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends covers news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island, online at islandsocialtrends.ca . Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke has been reporting on socioeconomic trends since 2008 (MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, West Shore Voice News 2014-2020, and Island Social Trends since mid-2020).
