Canadian Soccer League granted full membership in CSA

[L.T.]

http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=3974

The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that the Canadian Soccer League has been granted full membership. Applying the provisos of the Canadian Soccer Association’s revised Professional Soccer Standards that were recently ratified by the Association’s Executive Committee, the Canadian Soccer League has been provided with the conditions of membership and a set of transitional benchmarks.

“We are pleased to welcome the Canadian Soccer League as a member of the Canadian Soccer Association,” said Canadian Soccer Association President Dr. Dominic Maestracci. “We look forward to a long and rewarding relationship as the professional game develops in Canada.”

At its 2009 Annual General Meeting, the Association granted conditional membership to the Canadian Soccer League on the stipulation that the league met the approval of criteria set by the Association’s professional and technical committees. Having been reviewed against the Professional Soccer Standards, the conditional membership awarded has now been activated. The Association’s Professional Soccer Committee and Staff will work with the Canadian Soccer League to monitor the transition in 2010 and ensure that compliance of the benchmarks established by the Board are achieved.

“The Canadian Soccer League is proud to play an integral part in the development of soccer and its athletes in Canada,” said Canadian Soccer League President Domenic Di Gironimo. “We will continue our commitment to build relationships and partnerships across the nation; we will continue to be sport leaders in the communities in which our teams play.”

"This is an exciting step for the Canadian Soccer League to be granted full membership in Canada," said Canadian Soccer Association General Secretary Peter Montopoli. "As the Canadian Soccer League continues to grow, it will help expand the popularity and development of our sport in Canada."

Last season, the Canadian Soccer League featured 10 teams in two divisions. The National Division featured Brampton Lions FC, London City, North York Aeros, St. Catharines Roma Wolves, TFC Academy and Attak Trois-Rivières. The International Division featured Toronto Croatia, Italia Shooters, Portugal FC and Serbian White Eagles. The Attak Trois-Rivières won the 2009 Canadian Soccer League championship after winning 3-2 on kicks from the penalty mark following a 0:0 draw with Serbian White Eagles in the final.

[TFCRegina]

So does this mean next season they will be allowed to participate in the Voyageurs' Cup?

If so, it'll be friggen sweet...to quote Peter Griffen.

[VPjr]

congratulations to the CSA. This is a big step for the league and a very positive development for Canadian soccer

[Juby]

anybody know what the benchmarks are? (I'm hoping expansion east and west is included, and I think the longterm (20 yearish) goal would be 3 regional 2nd divisions and a national division but will the CSL be up for such an undertaking or will it take upstart regional leagues and a merger?)

[TFCRegina]

My dream would be 3 regional 2nd divisions with a Premier League. Pro/Rel playoffs in the 2nd div...like Indonesia's model.

[Juby]

My dream would be 3 regional 2nd divisions with a Premier League. Pro/Rel playoffs in the 2nd div...like Indonesia's model.

I think we mean the same thing, I just realized that a term like 'national division' could have multiple contexts in a league with an 'international division'

[VPjr]

i think that the benchmarks might be a bit more bureaucratic in nature than dictating how to set up a series of regional leagues, but I might be wrong.

[jpg75]

i think that the benchmarks might be a bit more bureaucratic in nature than dictating how to set up a series of regional leagues, but I might be wrong.

I agree, i doubt it includes a mandate on expansion. It's more likely a set of standards that the league and it's clubs have to adhere to.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

So you guys are arguing that what is de facto a local Toronto area league will be able to continue to call itself the Canadian Soccer league in perpetuity if it makes no headway in spreading its footprint from coast to coast? That sort of approach may have been viable in an OSA context given the way that the Golden Horeshoe district associations have the registrant numbers to dominate the internal politics but I seriously doubt that the national association would put up with it given the other nine provincial associations hold considerable sway and Toronto isn't always seen as being the centre of the universe in that context.

[TFCRegina]

The league has made a commitment to adding more teams from outside the Golden Horseshoe in 2011...I don't see what the issue is.

[Alex D]

To me it seems that the CSA does not intend for the CSL to be the sole league from coast to coast. The CSL is just the first league to meet these new standards. The PCSL could adopt these standards and be a CSA member next year if they wanted to. Other leagues could pop up across the country. The big positive is that there now actually are standards that D3 needs to live up too.

[bettermirror]

This is a significant move - if PCSL jumps on board, surely Quebec and Alberta would follow very shortly. A D3 qualification championship for the Voyageur cup would be outstanding. But D3 of course must remain regional.

For my money, let's be realistic. D3 will NEVER compete, truly, with NASL or MLS. D3 should be a u23 league with the odd overage player (not disimilar to Italy, I'd guess??)

[The Ref]

This membership granted by the CSA does it mean the CSA will control the CSL and run it, or will the CSL remain completely autonomous.

[Richard]

^ No more than it runs the other pro leagues. TheCanadian Soccer League has been granted full membership of the CSA provided it meets the benchmarks laid down in the Canadian Soccer Association’s revised Professional Soccer Standards that were recently ratified by the Association’s Executive Committee. I guess if they are unable to meet those benchmarks their membership will be pulled, as yet I have no idea what those benchmarks are but have requested a copy from the CSA.

[Guest HamiltonSteelers]

OK, at this point, it is too early to cheer the new leadership of the CSL compared to Kaplan's accomplishments or am I forgetting Cary's contribution?

[TFCRegina]

Just out of curiousity, what will full membership do in terms of benefits for the Canadian Soccer League?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

The league has made a commitment to adding more teams from outside the Golden Horseshoe in 2011...I don't see what the issue is.

You probably would if you could remember how many times commitments/promises/goals of that type had been outlined in the past going right back to the old NSL. The rhetoric about doing it is needed to justify the claim of being a national league but in the past there has been no serious attempt to make the changes in terms of league structure and scheduling required to make it possible for teams outside the Golden Horseshoe to compete on a level playing field with teams in the GTA. Much the same happens with the OSL as well because the internal politics of the OSA is very Toronto-centric. If there really are going to be teams in St Catherines, Hamilton, Brantford and Milton next season thanks to end of the absurdly inflated 6 figure expansion fee the CSL is finally moving towards the type of format that could spread across the province by keeping travel manageable. If they are serious about expanding to other provinces then there will be negotiations with existing elite provincial leagues to become part of the CSL. If nothing happens in that regard I suspect some of the other provincial associations will start seriously questioning what is going on in a way that never happened at the OSA level.

Just out of curiousity, what will full membership do in terms of benefits for the Canadian Soccer League?

One obvious advantage would be that it bolsters their case for getting their champion playing for the Voyageurs Cup in the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, which was difficult to justify as a provincial rather than a national level league. It should also simplify expansion to other provinces in that playing in and playing out rights no longer have to be granted by provincial associations. I suspect many of the existing CSL teams would be keen to see the Trois Rivieres Attak have a few rivals in Quebec to limit the need to travel back and forth to the GTA during the regular season. Potential expansion franchises like FC Quebec appear to have been blocked for political reasons in recent seasons.

[jpg75]

So you guys are arguing that what is de facto a local Toronto area league will be able to continue to call itself the Canadian Soccer league in perpetuity if it makes no headway in spreading its footprint from coast to coast? That sort of approach may have been viable in an OSA context given the way that the Golden Horeshoe district associations have the registrant numbers to dominate the internal politics but I seriously doubt that the national association would put up with it given the other nine provincial associations hold considerable sway and Toronto isn't always seen as being the centre of the universe in that context.

My point is that i doubt the CSA's Professional Soccer Standards would include something like an expansion mandate. Being recognized as a professional league and being held to certain operational standards has nothing to do with your scope or reach, you can have a professional regional league - even if it is named the Canadian Soccer League. Those standards probably have more to do with financial regulations, rules, refs, player movement, doping etc. These would lilkely be similar to the English FA's regulations:

http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/RulesandRegulations/FARegulations.aspx

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Hopefully we will get to see professional soccer standards at some point. The USSF might be a better analogy than the FA now that the British ex-pat influence in the CSA is not as strong as it used to be. I think you'll find that there is a requirement to be truly coast to coast to gain recognition as a national pro league in that context. I doubt that the CSA would go that far in terms of regulations but I also seriously doubt that the other 9 provincial associations outside Ontario would be comfortable with having a national pro league located almost exclusively in the GTA so even if a rule like that is not there now it could be added later if nothing concrete happens in the interim.

[Richard]

CSA has told me that the CSA Professional Soccer Standards will be published in March after the next CSA executive meeting, after which they will be distributed to the provincial associations from whom they should be available on request. I would expect they will eventually end up on the CSA website too.

[Raven]

I thought the PCSL was recognized as Div III by the CSA already. Has the CSL been recognized under new standards, and does the PCSL now have to meet those standards? Perhaps they should also list the Canadian soccer Pyramid as well....

Also how will the new (proposed) BC Premier League fit in?

[bettermirror]

BC premier league is purely recreational - just at the highest rec level (though some argue the standard will drop in comparison to the Vancouver Metro Soccer League's overall standard). Inevitably what will happen is the best players will stay in BCPL but switch teams as necessary to remain in the league!

That aside...

PCSL has quite a history, and a u21 fully fledged league (and at least 1 team has a u18/u19 program as well). Coaches are paid, but players are NOT. Games are not in stadiums either (for the most part).