W League Schedules

[Vic]

Another good reason we left out when we were discussing why women's soccer is stagnating in Canada compared to the rest of the world - the 7 week season. That leaves 45 weeks... women's leagues in Europe go 6-9 months.

[bjarne]

Completely agree. And those 6 to 9 months don't include the preseasons that those countries have in addition to the 6-9 month season, which has players playing pretty much the entire year round in a controlled environment. On top of that, youth players with talent also have the opportunity to jump in as well into that environment if they are deemed talented enough. This is going to leave us in the dust sooner rather than later the longer our 7 week season goes and the archaic rules existent in many of the women's leagues that actively keep talented high schoolers off the rosters until they are in grade 12.

[The Ref]

I know off one women league that allows young girls in their roster provided they are 16 or older. The league feels that any younger than that could result in the young girl being hurt by some of the more careless husky adult women. This league also allows full u18 teams to play regularly in the league, on an exhibition basis, so as to prepare the girls for the transition the following year into adult leagues.

[bjarne]

I still stand by if you are good enough then you are old enough. Look at any successful women's team in the world and they have leagues that allow the girls to step in with the women as soon as they are good enough to be there. The Kara Langs and Sydney Lerouxs were more than good enough and physically mature enough at 14 to be playing with the big girls. Anyways, just an observation. There are a hell of a lot more things that need fixing first besides the age the girls are allowed to step in with the women.

[Trillium]

quote:Originally posted by bjarne

I still stand by if you are good enough then you are old enough. Look at any successful women's team in the world and they have leagues that allow the girls to step in with the women as soon as they are good enough to be there. The Kara Langs and Sydney Lerouxs were more than good enough and physically mature enough at 14 to be playing with the big girls. Anyways, just an observation. There are a hell of a lot more things that need fixing first besides the age the girls are allowed to step in with the women.

Yes but its a simple thing to do ..so do it.. the governing body that is the CSA needs to make sure people understand player movement is to be encouraged .. young ones pushing old ones at all levels, with no in club, in league or in district restrictions. To say other things need fixing is a silly, dumb and non-productive cop out .. the movement free of players up a down a clubs teams on a week to week basis is critical to player development.

[The Ref]

^that is fine for men. Women play for different reasons.

[bjarne]

^Oh Ref, did you really just say that, and mean it the way I am interpreting it (boys play to be pushed, girls play to have fun)? If I'm correct, which I am cringing and hoping I am not, the unfortunate thing is that, that sort of ignorant thinking by people in charge, is exactly what is holding this game back in this country. Every female player in this country, dying for an opportunity to be in an environment to become better is being held back by this archaic notion that the "men and women play for different reasons."

[The Ref]

^ I am certainly not ignorant and do not hold the game back. Just the opposite, I have and continue to do a lot for women soccer.

[Vic]

Don't worry, it's just the crossed wires that often happen with asynchronous communication, you're both great supporters of the womens game, and probably geomapped pretty darn close too.

Where would Kara Lang be if she never played up? Wayne Gretzky?

The problem we have is we are not professionalized at the local level. If playing up was about being able to accomplish and bring results on the field, this would all look after itself. Instead playing up is all about the politics of philosophical and ethical discussions of right and wrong.

At the highest end, the only thing that matters is results. Anything that detracts from that is an enemy of the country and the game.

[Rocket Robin]

So women only play 7 weeks a year? Maybe in this league.

I know they can't end the season any later because their college season starts. I was at a playoff game for the Toronto Inferno one year and a player had to leave at halftime so she could catch a plane to her US school and not miss any of their training.

The W-League was just a time filler between the college seasons.

[Vic]

I've known quite a few who've done that, and others who have conned excuses and snuck out on midnight run's to play illegally and unsanctioned.

We're talking a countries highest level women's league. College players should be the filler. When our top of pyramid elite league is Summer holidays for another countries school system we have completely failed. Imagine where our hockey program would be if Junior A hockey ran 7 weeks in June/July so as not to disrupt our NCAA players.

[AlanDouglas]

It is a problem. Too bad the CSA can't put together some kind of program that would allow our national team players to get high-level training year-round

[VPjr]

^ remind me how well we did as a result of that year round program?

[AlanDouglas]

If you think that residency programs don't work then it doesn't have to be a residency program (although I am curious how people then rationalise the tremendous success of Whitecaps FC Residency - the U-19 men's program).

An alternative to residency would be to keep the players living where they are now, and hire two dozen coaches instead of just one. Assign one coach to each player to act as a year-round personal trainer. Give them all Sony Playstations so players can get together over the internet to practise game tactics using FIFA 09. And of course you would hold conventional training camps every few months or so.

[Vic]

The Whitecaps residency is a really good example of a great positive program. And major kudos to them for it. The kids are hungry, play regular matches, and there is a giant carrot to graduate out of the program and earn a living. Every major city in Canada needs to have great club programs like this at the youth level - and for women. And "residency" is a bad word... it's more just a team that trains a lot.

It works because it's club-based. Players essentially belong to the club. You are a professional player, regardless if you receive little to no direct pay or not. And if and when you are called to play for country, it's an honour, and it's not the blaise same 24/7 you get all year. It's a new level of energy and cutthroat competition and drive.

Turning national teams into permanent employers never works. It breeds complacency and petty politics. What should be about the game becomes more about off the field than on the field.

We need 150-200 players playing in an elite professional environment.

By example, this is about the Norwegian Division 1, which is their second division (below the women's Toppserien):

quote:

Clubs in Division 1 are very pleased with the NFF's move to refund the clubs' air fares next season.

The leader of the NFF's women's Division-1 management committee, Hege Leirfall, announced on Friday that the NFF would refund all air fares in the 2009 league season. This was welcomed by Hege Igeland and Aina Hindenes, the marketing chief and daily manager at Alta IF. Alta is the remotest club in Norway's two women's leagues that play nationally. The lower leagues are organised regionally.

The move is an attempt to reduce the gap between the Toppserien and Division-1 and it was presented at a Division-1 seminar at Gardermoen on Friday. It was well received. "For us in the north air travel is the biggest challenge. This takes a big load from our shoulders", said Aina Hindenes to fotball.no.

Alta IF is newly promoted and has the aim of retaining their place in 2009. Hindenes thinks that this arrangement is a followup to last year's Jenteløft programme for the Toppserien clubs. "Jenteløft shows that the NFF is thinking seriously about women's football. They see it is important to include Division-1 in the development and it gives women's football better conditions", she said.

The Division-1 clubs will save significant amounts under the arrangement but Hege Igeland sees another positive aspect. "This development in women's football could improve our local following. Alta is a small place with a men's team in Division-2 as well as us competing for sponsorship and this sends out positive signals. It is one way to take women's football up and forward", said Igeland.

The airline sponsorship is a collaboration between the NFF and SAS. The clubs will be reimbursed for flights for up to 17 persons per journey, but they will pay a yearly amount of 25,000 kroner (£2500). All clubs will pay the same amount. Bus journeys and overnight stays are not covered.

The Division-1 clubs are spread across 950 miles between Alta IF in the north to FK Donn in the south. Hege Leirfall hopes that the clubs will now be able to concentrate more on their sporting performances. "We see that the Division-1 clubs have enormous financial challenges and some have not been able to survive. Their biggest expense is air fares and we hope that this arrangement will enable them to strengthen other parts of the clubs like trainer development and infrastructure", she said.

She this it is important to narrow the gap between Division-1 and the Toppserien. "Division-1 should be a development arena for the Toppserien. We want to avoid the situation where clubs go up and down season after season", said Leirfall.

The NFF is also in discussions with a possible sponsor for the division, which could have a new name. "It's important for Division-1 to have its own identity", said Hege Leirfall.

This is their 2nd division.

We need a Women's Program Director, and a great one, because they have years of catch up to do. Otherwise we might as well just come out and admit we've thrown in the towel.

[AlanDouglas]

I'm not convinced sponsorship is the way forward. Our women's team had major sponsors for the first time at recent tournaments, and look at the results.

And Norway? Didn't they lose 5-1 to Japan at the Olympics? And didn't they have a big player revolt over the coaching recently? Having their own league obviously hasn't done them any good.

If we want to follow the lead of another country, I vote for Japan. And that makes my Sony Playstation suggestion all the more valid. I bet the Japanese players all have PS3s.

[Vic]

Norway's performance has nothing to do with their leagues. They lost 5-1 because they have a serious coaching problem, almost half the team has since bolted because of it and the NFF is sitting on their ass. And at that you're picking one single game that meant nothing to them. They opened the tournament by beating the Americans 2-0 (who won Gold) and had 6 points and had already qualified for a quarter-final when they played Japan. They lost that quarter 1-2 to Brazil, who followed that game by pounding Germany 4-1 only to outplay the Americans and lose 0-1 in extra time. The year before in the World Cup they came first in our group, eliminating us and beat China in the quarter final and made the semi's.

Putting 18 bodies in a condo and having them hang out isn't sponsorship, and giving a team free uniforms and bus change isn't sponsorship either. It takes an infrastructure of 150-200 players to produce a quality national team. Even Warner came out this week and said they need a pro league in TT to go forward, and you can be guaranteed that came right from Pellerud.

The 12 Toppserien teams each receive $200k per year in sponsorship, and all their airline and hotel bills are covered. And that's just club funding and not national team. They have 12 women's clubs funded almost as well as our national team. And they have another dozen in the 2nd division they're pushing to get closer to the Toppserien in funding and level of play.

There are 8 teams in the Nadeshiko league, and 9 in Japan's Division 2. In 2006, MOC, the then official league sponsor put up a $1 million diamond tiara to the league champions (the design of which incorporated eleven sparkling wild carnations). Clubs also have multiple high-profile individual sponsors (i.e. Nippon TV).

I've heard how advanced we are in the women's game for decades now... early adopters, equality, women's rights, Title IX, etc. Truth is it's 2009, we're setup worse than almost every other single Top 15 country, we have no professional infrastructure for any of our women and we have no plan.

We need a quality women's program director.

[AlanDouglas]

I disagree. That is not a good plan, because diamonds are a terrible investment. Diamonds have almost no intrinsic value and are only perceived to have value because of mass marketing and artificially imposed scarcity. How much is that $1 million tiara really worth now? Have you ever tried to sell a diamond back to a jeweler? Ha! Good luck.

If this is Japan's master plan to become world powers, then they have made a terrible mistake. They might as well have spent their money on magic beans for all the good this diamond tiara will do them. If this is what their teams play for, then it taints their entire soccer sructure. We may need a good program director, but Japan needs a good investment advisor.

So forget about Japan. Bad idea. Sorry.

Unfortunately, with the wii also being Japanese, that only leaves the X-Box as a viable training console. I'm not a fan of Microsoft so I can't endorse that.

Vic is right, we are completely screwed. Time to switch to curling.

[VPjr]

^ While I disagree with a lot of your posts Alan, you are one funny dude...kudos for making me chuckle this morning

[CoachRich]

Can't compare Canada to models elsewhere as there are huge differences between what a large geo footprint in Canada can do compared to other soccer nations in the world outside of NA where they have a tiny geo footprint. Add to that the size of the player footprint & it becomes even harder to be compared elsewhere. Example Europe 731M to Canada 36M

Fine & dandy to talk about W-leagues in Canada but w/out major $ it will never happen due to costs of forming teams & traveling in the league large geo footprint. Until there are the $ our best players are better off going to the NCAA to have alternatives in their life then/or go to the pro's outside of Canada/NA where they can make a bit of a living at the game they love.

Until Canadian MLS clubs have WPS teams in their programs w/ full time residency & pathways into the amateur structure there will not be any domestic semi pro let alone pro opportunities for our women.

Pro = full time liveable salary not a WPS salary where teams have salary caps of $540K per team or $30K per player for a 18 player roster.

[piltdownman]

I have heard rumors that someone wanted to start a WPS club in Canada and the CSA wouldn't allow it. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this?

[Vic]

I usually say it wouldn't surprise me with respect to the CSA, but that one would really surprise me. I would put it down to urban legend until someone proves it out.

Rich, we have been comparing Canada to other countries of similar size and population to the QC-Windsor corridor. There are lots all over the world. Got to start somewhere and branch from there. And don't take it the wrong way, but I don't think BC is interested in Canada anyway (Caps, UBC, SFU, etc). There will not be satisfying full-time single-livelihood pro options for women for a long time globally, but there are leagues all over the world where a countries women can play professionally. High end play, full-time training, part-time funding and no residency (that word needs to be removed from the vernacular).

Alan. Curling again? What is it with you and the curling? Do you do tech support for the CCA as well as the Caps? You're putting words in my mouth... I don't think we're screwed at all. Quite the opposite actually. We've finally lanced all the people and organizations that did things based on their own interests and sucked the life out of the program. It's the dawn of a great day. And if we could get someone quality and connected to shepherd and look after the women at an executive/management level it would be even brighter.