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Where now for D3 level soccer in Canada?


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A couple of key snippets of info from the Canadian Soccer League this week suggest that the landscape of Canadian pro soccer isn't going to be changing as much as some people have been anticipating in the short to medium term. Firstly, Dominic DiGironimo stepped down as league commissioner after he tendered his resignation and it was accepted by what was described in an official CSL press release with the explanation provided being "The league has been charting its future during the past year and differences eventually appeared which became irreconcilable, leading to the commissioner’s departure". The sticking point would appear to have been some aspect of DiGironimo's aggressive push for coast to coast expansion and the insertion of the phrase "long-term expansion" at the end of the press release suggests that plan may have been placed on the back burner by the "equity owners" (i.e. the older members of the league with full franchise rights). The second snippet on twitter from London City, mentioned that there are only four expansion teams for 2011 (i.e. the previously announced teams from Ottawa, Kitchener, Mississauga (Erin Mills) and Pickering). That means the fifth team from Quebec City that was expected to be announced later has fallen through.

First paragraph of the above blog for the people who get frustrated when bloggers are just link dumping.

See http://canadiansocceropinion.blogspot.com/2010/12/where-now-for-d3-level-soccer-in-canada.html for more details

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First paragraph of the above blog for the people who get frustrated when bloggers are just link dumping.

See http://canadiansocceropinion.blogspot.com/2010/12/where-now-for-d3-level-soccer-in-canada.html for more details

You'll find several very well read threads on this forum with a large numbers of replies have been initiated by my blog links in recent weeks. Given my level of participation on this board I don't think I can reasonably be accused of only coming here to dump a link. All further followups on my part will be confined to the actual topic of the thread i.e. where now for D3 level soccer in Canada.

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Here is a blog entry I've put together examining the future of D3/D4 level soccer in Canada in light of the recent developments in the CSL:

http://canadiansocceropinion.blogspot.com/2010/12/where-now-for-d3-level-soccer-in-canada.html

Dude, this is textbook link dumping. Whether there are other well read threads on the topic isn't a question. Neither is your regular contribution to the forum. It's the post content (or lack thereof).

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Dude, this is textbook link dumping. Whether there are other well read threads on the topic isn't a question. Neither is your regular contribution to the forum. It's the post content (or lack thereof).

Without having read the blog (I don't read anything that's a product of link dumping) I can tell you that it probably says that the CSL is a bad league that no one should ever watch, and it will point to the PDL as the bright, shining sun on the horizon of Canadian soccer.

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Without having read the blog (I don't read anything that's a product of link dumping) I can tell you that it probably says that the CSL is a bad league that no one should ever watch, and it will point to the PDL as the bright, shining sun on the horizon of Canadian soccer.

Despite the crap scheduling, the overall amateruishness of most of the teams (and especially the Great Lakes division), non-focus on Canadian talent (looking at you TBay), and the fact that it's probably more costly in transportation to have a PDL team than a CSL team?

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No surprise that the usual suspects on here are quite happy for the agenda on D3 level soccer to be set by a small self-serving clique of "equity owners" based on a "my country right or wrong" sort of mentality but as with having a national association run by a small self-serving clique of directors drawn from the provincial associations it doesn't match how things are done elsewhere when the sport is operated in a truly professional manner.

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No surprise that the usual suspects on here are quite happy for the agenda on D3 level soccer to be set by a small self-serving clique of "equity owners" based on a "my country right or wrong" sort of mentality but as with having a national association run by a small self-serving clique of directors drawn from the provincial associations it doesn't match how things are done elsewhere when the sport is operated in a truly professional manner.

Ok Mr. PDL, this just makes me laugh.

As for the usual suspects you mean: Everyone but you and the Grouchy Old Man

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You'll find several very well read threads on this forum with a large numbers of replies have been initiated by my blog links in recent weeks. Given my level of participation on this board I don't think I can reasonably be accused of only coming here to dump a link. All further followups on my part will be confined to the actual topic of the thread i.e. where now for D3 level soccer in Canada.

BBTB. I have seen your name on here quite frequently, so I know you are not link dumping. However I am trying to show that a good blog format for the V's should include the first (1-2 paragraphs) in this thread so people can get a taste and then finish reading on your site to help with your traffic numbers. I fully understand that people need to go to your site but I feel you need to attract them with a good opener. This is something I would like to see our moderators enforce to help keep things flowing and remove posters from blog-dumping. Just my opinion though.

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Have to admit to not having followed the CIS thing, Macksam. Might check it out over the next few days. Perhaps worth noting that Ben Rycroft has a blog entry at the moment about the CSL changing direction:

http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?751-CSL-charting-a-new-path

which more or less fits with my interpretation of the recent CSL press release in terms of the "equity owners" not being happy with the rapid pace of expansion and DiGironimo leaving because of that. Given some of the posters on this thread who have been criticizing my blog entry (albeit without actually reading it :) ) were amongst the most vocal cheerleaders of coast to coast expansion on here, it is somewhat puzzling to see them still zealously championing the CSL at this point. Should a small clique of "equity owners" really get to call the tune like this? If not isn't it time that the CSA sorted out what they want to achieve at the D3 level?

Having the moratorium at the D2 level seemed bizarre to me because as I argued in an earlier blog entry it seemed like a case of closing the stable door after the horse had already bolted but there is a case to be made for sorting out a coherant national strategy on the elite amateur and semi-pro level of the sport at this point and that's what I was hoping the blog entry would spark some discussion on. I see a role for leagues like the CSL (albeit with pro/rel rather than franchising in league structures centred on each major city, which integrate amateur and semi-pro clubs) to cater to the major metropolitan areas and for leagues like PDL (with franchising and a strong U-23 focus) to cater to the remoter parts of the country in a junior hockey sort of way and would be interested in what people think about my rationale on that.

For Razcle's benefit, I don't take the blog all that seriously. Definitely not doing it to try to make money or to further a career in journalism or anything like that. It's something I'm experimenting with to see if I can get certain points across more effectively and in a more positive way than through only using the medium of messageboards. Been pleasantly surprised by the amount of interest so far.

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So not only does he refuse to read my blog entry, he also refuses to follow links I provide. :) So nobody can be left in any doubt on this here is what Ben Rycroft wrote after speaking to several CSL insiders.

Sources have told Canadian Soccer News that a rift developed over the past year between Di Gironimo and a number of owners who felt as though the league was expanding too quickly.

When I ridiculed the prospect of CSL expansion to BC a few weeks back (in a manner that evoked a very negative response from Juby and Vic) it was because my impression has always been that the core group within the CSL enjoy having some of the trappings of a national league but are not actually interested in ever seriously pursuing its substance and these latest developments definitely fit in with that. In contrast to the "equity owners", Di Gironimo was clearly serious about coast to coast expansion and also about pursuing a D2 level involvement in addition to the D3 tier of the sport so I'm not surprised that he hasn't lasted long in the commissioner's job. I suspect he had a very narrow window of opportunity between AGMs where certain actions could be pursued at his own discretion to come up with something concrete and present the "equity owners" with a fait accompli that they couldn't subsequently undo for PR reasons. Odds on that the powers that be at the CSL will keep the league commissioners job within the inner circle in future to make sure there is no repeat of the recent not-for-profit association escapades.

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So not only does he refuse to read my blog entry, he also refuses to follow links I provide. :) So nobody can be left in any doubt on this here is what Ben Rycroft wrote after speaking to several CSL insiders.

Sources have told Canadian Soccer News that a rift developed over the past year between Di Gironimo and a number of owners who felt as though the league was expanding too quickly.

When I ridiculed the prospect of CSL expansion to BC a few weeks back (in a manner that evoked a very negative response from Juby and Vic) it was because my impression has always been that the core group within the CSL enjoy having some of the trappings of a national league but are not actually interested in ever seriously pursuing its substance and these latest developments definitely fit in with that. In contrast to the "equity owners", Di Gironimo was clearly serious about coast to coast expansion and also about pursuing a D2 level involvement in addition to the D3 tier of the sport so I'm not surprised that he hasn't lasted long in the commissioner's job. I suspect he effectively had a very narrow window of opportunity between AGMs where certain actions could be pursued at his own discretion to come up with something concrete and present the "equity owners" with a fait accompli that they couldn't subsequently undo for PR reasons.

Well, then, I suppose I just got told.

So if this is in fact the case, and Di Gironimo is still on the CSA's professional soccer committee(http://canadiansoccerleague.com/newsnet/templates/?a=94&z=1) then I have to wonder the following;

Di Gironimo would have been in contact with a number of potential investors in other provinces for CSL. If it did become apparent that the CSL equity owners were going to quash expansion, could a new Canadian D3 regional league emerge that would be adminstered directly from the CSA with Dominic Di Geronimo playing the sort of role he had intended at the CSL?

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I suspect he might have got onto that CSA committee on an ex officio basis and may wind up losing his place to Pino Jazbec well before May 2012. Time will tell. It will be interesting to see what if anything the CSA does about the CSL's D3 sanctioning if the assessment made by the powers that be in Ottawa is that that the CSL are not interested in expanding significantly outside southern Ontario. My guess would be that just as it suits the "equity owners" of the CSL to have some of the trappings of a national league, it also suits the CSA to have something in place that looks vaguely like a league of that type even if the substance isn't there and there is little prospect of it ever materializing. There would be a lot more scope for radical action in setting up something else at the D3 level under Di Gironimo if the BC expansion bid had made significant headway.

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