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CPSL Off Season News


L.T.

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Press Conference introductions: Serbs, Croats. Croats, Serbs. Let the riots begin. I guess any publicity is good. Even a bunch of 16 years olds trying to act tough.

Actually, this could be good for the league. Hopefully they are smart enough to kickoff the season with the Serbs vs. Croats so hopefully they get at least 3-4 thousand (and some main stream media coverage) would be a good start. Then I think the other "ethnics" (Italians, Portuguese and anybody else who applies) will start coming out and probably a lot more "ethnic" clubs applying next year.

Since the press conference is in Toronto, I'm assuming they will be playing out of Toronto, instead of Hamilton?

Those of you in the know, will anything else be announced, or just the Serbian team?

More interestingly, the other article on the front page of the CPSL.ca says about the Open Cup:

"It’s the fourth season of the popular competition which is aimed eventually to provide Canada with a total club championship and a stepping stone to the CONCACAF Confederation club title, a competition in which the club champions of North and Central America and the Caribbean take part."

Is this for real? Are they actively trying to make this a reality? Or do they always just say that? This would be pretty amazing.

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Sad that any league must sink to pitting ethnic teams against each other to stay afloat. Why couldn't these organisations have simply applied to join the regular CPSL league, why are they only interested if it is ethnic based? I immigrated here to get away from this kind of crap.

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Guest HamiltonSteelers

Until someone wants to step up with a better alternative for a club in Hamilton, I'll happily take the CPSL. Many detractors of the CPSL on here have a feasible alternative to spend their money on. For me, not so much.

There SHOULD be a Hamilton club listed in that press conference. I don't know what it'll be named, but unless there was a change of heart at the last minute, it should not be listed in the International Division.

I personally am not a fan of playing on people's ethnic pride as a motivation to sell tickets to a game. The problem is that few people are going to the game because they want to watch the soccer, but they want to watch "Italian soccer" and "Croatian soccer". When these fairweather fans come to the conclusion that it isn't as good as they were expecting (cuz everyone knows that <enter name of nation here> football is the best), these fans will more than likely not come back. I hope I'm wrong, but the last incarnation of the White Eagles in Hamilton were much like this - Come for Serbia, but no reason to stay.

If they can build an actual club around these new sides and grow for soccer's sake, and not for another nation's sake, then ultimately this will be a good thing. But I'm an idealist, so sue me.

Also, if it grows the length of the schedule, then I don't have a problem with that either.

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quote:Originally posted by Steve B

Yes - I agree with Richard. I despise ethnic-based soccer in Canada. Further evidence CPSL is a bad joke.

Yes...Chivas USA comes to mind. Houston 1838, Real Salt Lake and the soon to be annocuce Toronto Insert Ethnic Name here MLS.

Hold on...that's the MLS not the CPSL...

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quote:Yes...Chivas USA comes to mind. Houston 1838, Real Salt Lake and the soon to be annocuce Toronto Insert Ethnic Name here MLS.

Hold on...that's the MLS not the CPSL...

Yes, I agree that Chivas marketed as an 'all-latino' team was a bad idea for the MLS. The reality is that they did so poorly last year that recent signing would indicate that they are now signing the best players, regardless of background.

Despite the controversy surrounding Houston's name, I'm not certain how it can be characterized as a team based on ethnicity or country of origin. You have completely lost me on ReAL Salt Lake, which is admittedly a ridiculous name, but the team is not selected based on where a player's father came from.

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quote:Originally posted by jaydog2006

It will be a shorter schedule.I have heard 20-24 games.

Um, they played 22 games last year. How would 20-24 be shorter? Besides, I think one of the press releases said they will play 22 games no matter how many teams there are.

quote:Originally posted by HamiltonSteelers

I personally am not a fan of playing on people's ethnic pride as a motivation to sell tickets to a game. The problem is that few people are going to the game because they want to watch the soccer, but they want to watch "Italian soccer" and "Croatian soccer". When these fairweather fans come to the conclusion that it isn't as good as they were expecting (cuz everyone knows that <enter name of nation here> football is the best), these fans will more than likely not come back. I hope I'm wrong, but the last incarnation of the White Eagles in Hamilton were much like this - Come for Serbia, but no reason to stay.

Are you saying that, they come once because they see "ethnic name" and then never again cause it doesn't live up to expectations? If it is, I agree. That's why I don't think it will work.

quote:Originally posted by Richard

Why couldn't these organisations have simply applied to join the regular CPSL league, why are they only interested if it is ethnic based?

That's not a serious question is it? Besides, if you are going to have 10 teams in the Toronto area, each team needs to represent somebody. I really fail to see the difference between representing a certain ethnic group, or representing a certain part of the city.

It's not like all these teams play out of the same stadium, like they did once. Croatia plays in Mississauga which is just west of Toronto. Italia plays in Vaughan which is just north of Toronto. Supra/Portuguese play in the west end of the city. So if they start attracting crowds, and they last a few years, I'm sure non-"ethnic" fans who live in the immediate area will start supporting the team. That seems to be the case in Australia where not all fans of "ethnic" teams are of that ethnicity. And certainly the players aren't.

Speaking of World Cup-bound Australia, I think something like 8-9 of their players are 1st generation Croatian-Aussies. I think it's safe to assume most, if not all, of them came up through the Croatian soccer clubs in Australia.

Plus, from a financial perspective, Joe Blow's Ethnic Diner won't sponsor a team just because. However, if it somehow reminds him of the team he used to play for back in the village in the mountains back in the motherland, he just might.

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Actually, the new Australian A-League has explicity avoided ethnically based teams and have been rewarded with no crowd violence and a decent average attendance (over 10,000 per game). Stark contrast to the violence that has occured at ethnic-based (serb-croat and macedonian-greek) clubs playing at the state level.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/soccer/aleague-where-peace-flares-up/2006/02/11/1139542415905.html

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quote:Originally posted by Richard

"That's not a serious question is it?"

Yes it is and you have failed to answer it.

As for the Australian A-League, one of the reasons they scrapped their old league and went to the new format was precisely because the ethnic based formula was a total disaster.

What was the disaster was not making 3 world cups by a game. Had they made the 98 WC the old league would have done just fine thank you.

Just as the CSL would still be around had we made the 90, 94 and 98 WC's...

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Guest HamiltonSteelers

Elias, that's exactly what I was implying. Toronto Italia used to draw very good crowds for the level of play they had, but during the mid-late 90s, a sharp decline took place in attendance (2000+ to CPSL levels) and removed the club.

Toronto Croatia survives because the community seems to rally around the club. Plenty of sponsors and the desire to have a top club represent their organization has seen them on. Their supporters accept the level of play, and continue to draw their 1-200 per game. I'll be shocked if respective communities get behind their clubs in the same way.

I don't suspect the ethnic teams will survive for more than 3 seasons tops, if they last that long at all. Spike attendance on opening day, and then limp into the end of season. If I'm wrong, then congratulations, some stable clubs for the league.

We'll see the whole story is tomorrow.

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quote:Originally posted by Richard

You need to do some more research G-Man.

Really. I lived in Sydney for two years. Those WC play-off games had they gone the other way, would have put interest over the top. The reason for the decent crowds today is the fact that they're heading to the WC. Not because they dropped the ethnic names.

Aussies love winners more than anyone else on the planet.

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quote:Originally posted by HamiltonSteelers

Elias, that's exactly what I was implying. Toronto Italia used to draw very good crowds for the level of play they had, but during the mid-late 90s, a sharp decline took place in attendance (2000+ to CPSL levels) and removed the club.

Toronto Croatia survives because the community seems to rally around the club. Plenty of sponsors and the desire to have a top club represent their organization has seen them on. Their supporters accept the level of play, and continue to draw their 1-200 per game. I'll be shocked if respective communities get behind their clubs in the same way.

I don't suspect the ethnic teams will survive for more than 3 seasons tops, if they last that long at all. Spike attendance on opening day, and then limp into the end of season. If I'm wrong, then congratulations, some stable clubs for the league.

We'll see the whole story is tomorrow.

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I need about two weeks notice to get some time off work. Soccer leagues/teams can't tell me with two days to go and expect I'll be there. Knowing when the Lynx/Lady Lynx school day games are held months in advance is why I can book those days off.

I asked the CPSL for a press release and I'll post it if they send me one.

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The new CPSL team has gotten a huge write-up in the Toronto Sun today:

By LANCE HORNBY, TORONTO SUN

The Canadian Professional Soccer League is counting on a link between rabid flag waving and rapid turnstile traffic.

A new era for the 12-team league began here yesterday with the expansion birth of the Serbian White Eagles to the CPSL, joining the Italia Shooters, Toronto Supra (Portuguese) and Toronto Croatia. Only the latter had kept its ethnic link the past few years.

"We used to be very basic, East and West divisions with just team names," new commissioner Cary Kaplan said. "That works in Hamilton, London and Windsor. But in Toronto, you don't wave a York flag or a Vaughan flag when there's 350,000 Portuguese, 450,000 Italians and a large Chinese and Korean population.

"Traditionally, you were encouraged to hide that and be a team such as the Toronto Blizzard. But why couldn't we have a 20-team international division, based right in Toronto? In 10 years, I don't see why we can't be a micro version of the CFL."

The White Eagles, last seen in these parts 30 years ago playing to big crowds at the CNE, are being resurrected in a big way, bringing back legendary Dragoslav Sekularac (Seki) as coach and bolstering their initial roster with five imports.

"We needed a world-famous player and a world famous coach and Seki is both," Eagles president Mike Bakich said. "We're looking at around 250,000 Serbs in Ontario and we know we can get the people out if we give them a good product.

"Unfortunately, Canada is not a soccer country, though it should be with our melting pot of countries where it is the No. 1 sport. We're hoping when they build the new stadium next year (a 20,000-seat facility at Exhibition Place ), soccer will be where it was. We used to have 12,000 to 17,000 out to Eagles games."

Caplan hopes Serbia is the first of an ambitious CPSL expansion program. The Durham team has dropped out, Hamilton is coming back with a new identity and other GTA teams include the North York Astros, Oakville Blue Devils and Brampton Stallions.

"The CPSL has been under the radar for a long time," Caplan said. "The international concept in Toronto is perfect. We think that it will attract additional fans and rivalries."

He pointed to the Eagles' glitzy launch as the kind of splash the CPSL needs.

"You have to move the bar up, create a team like this which pushes a team at the bottom," Kaplan said. "Other teams will look at Serbia and say, 'We're not going on the field to lose to them 6-0.'

"We have to get off page 12 of the sports section where all you see are our standings. We have to create publicity."

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quote:Originally posted by G-Man

Really. I lived in Sydney for two years. Those WC play-off games had they gone the other way, would have put interest over the top. The reason for the decent crowds today is the fact that they're heading to the WC. Not because they dropped the ethnic names.

Aussies love winners more than anyone else on the planet.

You would've known the fact then that the ethnic Sydney clubs in the NSL drew less combined than what Sydney FC draws today.

Or go back into denial.

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quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

The new CPSL team has gotten a huge write-up in the Toronto Sun today:

By LANCE HORNBY, TORONTO SUN

The Canadian Professional Soccer League is counting on a link between rabid flag waving and rapid turnstile traffic.

A new era for the 12-team league began here yesterday with the expansion birth of the Serbian White Eagles to the CPSL, joining the Italia Shooters, Toronto Supra (Portuguese) and Toronto Croatia. Only the latter had kept its ethnic link the past few years.

"We used to be very basic, East and West divisions with just team names," new commissioner Cary Kaplan said. "That works in Hamilton, London and Windsor. But in Toronto, you don't wave a York flag or a Vaughan flag when there's 350,000 Portuguese, 450,000 Italians and a large Chinese and Korean population.

"Traditionally, you were encouraged to hide that and be a team such as the Toronto Blizzard. But why couldn't we have a 20-team international division, based right in Toronto? In 10 years, I don't see why we can't be a micro version of the CFL."

The White Eagles, last seen in these parts 30 years ago playing to big crowds at the CNE, are being resurrected in a big way, bringing back legendary Dragoslav Sekularac (Seki) as coach and bolstering their initial roster with five imports.

"We needed a world-famous player and a world famous coach and Seki is both," Eagles president Mike Bakich said. "We're looking at around 250,000 Serbs in Ontario and we know we can get the people out if we give them a good product.

"Unfortunately, Canada is not a soccer country, though it should be with our melting pot of countries where it is the No. 1 sport. We're hoping when they build the new stadium next year (a 20,000-seat facility at Exhibition Place ), soccer will be where it was. We used to have 12,000 to 17,000 out to Eagles games."

Caplan hopes Serbia is the first of an ambitious CPSL expansion program. The Durham team has dropped out, Hamilton is coming back with a new identity and other GTA teams include the North York Astros, Oakville Blue Devils and Brampton Stallions.

"The CPSL has been under the radar for a long time," Caplan said. "The international concept in Toronto is perfect. We think that it will attract additional fans and rivalries."

He pointed to the Eagles' glitzy launch as the kind of splash the CPSL needs.

"You have to move the bar up, create a team like this which pushes a team at the bottom," Kaplan said. "Other teams will look at Serbia and say, 'We're not going on the field to lose to them 6-0.'

"We have to get off page 12 of the sports section where all you see are our standings. We have to create publicity."

Where are the Serbian White Eagles planning to play?

There's only so many stadia in the Toronto area that can hold more than a few hundred fans.

Still, I know Streetsville Memorial Park (home of Croatia) will be a raucus place to be when the Eagles come to play.

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quote:Originally posted by DoyleG

You would've known the fact then that the ethnic Sydney clubs in the NSL drew less combined than what Sydney FC draws today.

Or go back into denial.

And had the Aussies crashed and burned in WC qualifying in 2005 as they did the previous 4 times the A-league would be a rudderless enterprise drawing flies.

The bandwagon effect would have been lost. Just wait to see what happens to the MLS when the yanks don't make to a World Cup. Attendance will drop off.

Just as a non ethnic name didn't save the last failed attempt at pro soccer in Edmonton.

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