The Canadian Premier League believes Island soccer fans will revel in the big reveal.
The name, logo and colour scheme of the Island franchise will be unveiled Friday in a ceremony at the Roundhouse on Esquimalt Road. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. with the reveal beginning at 3:30 p.m. The public is welcome to attend and organizers say they expect up to 500 fans to come out for the first glimpse of the franchise’s look.
> Details on the new team's name, crest and colours here: Langford-based pro soccer team will be called Pacific FC, play starts in spring
Canada is the only developed nation in the world without a pro national soccer league. (The MLS is the national league of the U.S., with Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal considered guest franchises.)
“Having a Canadian pro league is going to be massive for the game in this country. It’s so fundamental. It’s why we are doing this,” said Island franchise president Josh Simpson, who came out of Juan de Fuca youth soccer to play pro in Europe, and star on Canada’s national team with 43 caps.
There will be videos Friday at the Victoria reveal featuring a World Cup champion and Champions League winner welcoming Canada finally to the modern world of soccer, beginning in the spring of 2019.
Other than that, “it’s going to be hyper-local,” said Simpson.
“It’s not going to be about any single community. It’s going to be about the identity of the entire Island. We pre-conceived nothing. We focus-grouped this extensively all over the Island and believe we have a name, logo and colour scheme that will resonate strongly with Islanders.”
CPL franchises that are already named have eschewed geographic place names, a tradition in North American sports, for nicknames that instead evoke the feel of a place and its history. Whether that concept will catch on with Canadian sports fans remains to be seen.
The Hamilton franchise will be known as Forge FC because of the city’s steel-industry past, Halifax as HFX Wanderers FC because of the history of its home ground, York 9 FC because of the nine municipalities in York Region, Winnipeg as Valour FC in honour of the three Victoria Cross winners from the same street in that city, and Calgary as Cavalry FC. The only announced CPL franchise to buck that trend so far is FC Edmonton, retaining the name of a former team.
“There will be a geographic reference to our team,” the Island franchise’s executive director, Rob Friend, did allow.
Friend had 32 caps for Canada and played pro with German clubs Borussia Monchengladbach, Hertha BSC, Eintracht Frankfurt and 1860 Munich. The other co-owner of the team, with Simpson and Friend, is club chairman Dean Shillington, a Vancouver-based financier and founder and president of Knightsbridge Capital Group.
The team will play at a revamped 5,000-seat Westhills Stadium in Langford. Schematic renderings of the new-look facility have been released by the municipality, showing seating which goes right up to the field of play in one end zone and a close-in fan plaza in the other end zone.
“We are trying to create a soccer culture, and taking the best of European soccer atmosphere, so our venue has to be tight and intimate,” said Friend.
“Soccer is an experience. With the right, tight venue, you can feel the energy created even with 5,000 fans. That creates a synergy between the fans and players.”
Many of the players in the just-concluded 2018 World Cup came out of those types of cosy stadia.
“Belgium and Croatia went far in the World Cup, both with players who all came out of their domestic leagues,” said Friend.
“Sure, they later signed with big-name foreign clubs. But they all began in their own domestic Belgian and Croatian pro leagues, playing in front of 5,000 to 15,000 fans. The same with Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Some of those players will go on to big-name clubs outside their countries. Others will stay and have successful pro careers domestically.”
That’s what Friend, Simpson and Shillington envision happening with the CPL as Canada prepares to co-host the 2026 World Cup.
“Why can’t we create a professional environment like that? We are the only developed nation without one in soccer,” said Friend.
The beginning of the end of that embarrassing era starts Friday on the Island, with the reveal of a charter franchise, that will begin play next spring in the inaugural CPL season.
