Good vibes (mostly) in the CanPL
The CanPL had a final for the ages. Now for the hard part.
You can understand why the whole Cavalry v Forge thing can be grating to fans of the other six teams in the league. The two teams have dominated the discussion over the first five years of the league’s history, after all.
Sure, Halifax can point to a good run at the Island Games and Pacific caught Forge on a bad day in 2022, but by and large the rivalry between the two programs has been the focal point. The games between the two teams get the biggest push and have produced the most memorable moments.
Moments that usually end with the team in Orange on top, it must be said. However, the Red side has played its part.
That leads to a certain amount of fatigue. It’s understandable. Fans want to see their team on top and get sick of the same narratives playing out year after year. They get bored with the sameness.
For 90 minutes last Saturday, bored was a fair way to take in the game. But, then, a Canadian classic broke out. For 30 minutes the two best teams in the CanPL showed us just how good the CanPL can be.
Each goal was better than the last, with Tristan Borges’ Olympico a truly worthy way to crowd a champion.
Bluntly, the other six fan bases can be as sick of Forge v Cavalry as they like. The bottom line is they get the attention they do because they deserve it. The way to change that is for one of the other teams to step up and consistently compete with them for the attention.
Until that happens, Hamilton v Calgary is what is going to get the attention.
And, Forge is the deserved standard-bearer of the league.
That’s ok because, five years in, there truly is a lot to be excited about when it comes to the CanPL. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t significant challenges to the league that cannot be ignored or brushed away.
Expansion is stalled. There still isn’t a team in French Canada. Valour's ownership has yet to show any commitment towards winning. Those are all bummers to an otherwise happy story.
Then there is York. Although commissioner Mark Noonan made all the right noise about the sale at the State of the League Press Conference — he said that a new owner could be in place in the next few weeks — this league has stretched the truth one too many times to just be taken at its word when it comes to these things.
They are in show me, don’t tell me territory for the foreseeable future.
Let’s hope that “world class” ownership is truly ready to swoop up the CanPL’s GTA side. Otherwise the league is caught in the no-win scenario of choosing between running the club for another year or shuttering another team. Except, the latter is a non-starter. It doesn’t matter how healthy the top of the league is if you keep losing teams at the bottom. Then, investors will be spooked.
To that end, today’s news that Angus McNab is stepping away from the President’s role at York is being seen as evidence by some that the commissioner’s promise is close to becoming a reality.
Again, show me don’t tell me.
And, hopefully soon, as it would be nice to one day talk about Olympicos and Forge Dynasties without having to pull punches about the league’s future.
Hell of a game though, eh?
There has been immigration from Europe for centuries, from soccer playing nations but for some unknown reason the football tradition failed to follow to Canada on a national level, just regional & played mostly on weekends between local teams in an area or in larger towns & cities.. However, for the second largest landmass in the world Canadians are holding the tradition fairly well & developing local talent as well as slowly sprouting wings to develop the CPL. With competition from Baseball, Hockey & basketball, the soccer mountain will be a hard climb but the men & women who run the CSA have to be educated with the sport & learn the secrets of success. Like the wolf in the story........I'll huff & I'll puff till I blow the competition away. Soccer fans can also do their part by attending & promoting. The CPL is 6 years old, most children are just starting to navagate on their own, they need knowledegable help like the CPL.