PJSweet Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 http://www.therecord.com/sports/local/article/482577--group-shooting-for-canadian-soccer-league-franchise Group shooting for Canadian Soccer League franchise The clock is ticking on a group that wants to field a professional soccer team in Waterloo Region this year. The Canadian Soccer League will decide Sunday what to do with the application to join the 14-team circuit. A group fronted by Cambridge’s Marko Sandalj paid a $25,000 deposit to the league in October and was granted conditional acceptance by former CSL commissioner Domenic Di Gironimo. Since then, the team, known as Kitchener-Waterloo United, has attempted to secure a playing facility in Kitchener or Waterloo that will meet the league’s minimum requirements of an enclosed home field with 1,000 seats and a functional press box. The team must also show the league’s board that it has enough quality players to be competitive. The team hasn’t signed a single player to date, says Zoran Kukic, who is handling the group’s media relations. Stan Adamson, the CSL’s media relations officer and voting board member, said the league will do one of three things at Sunday’s meeting. It can allow Kitchener-Waterloo United to join the league for the 2011 season that begins in early May. It can give Kitchener-Waterloo United approval to join the league in 2012. Or it can allow the group to field a team in the league’s reserve division in 2011. “I think when they started to put things together, they didn’t quite have all that they needed in terms of the playing facility . . . and players of that level are in short supply,” said Adamson. “There’s still time. We don’t kick off until the first week of May and if it looks like they can put it together in time, the board would approve it on the 13th and they’d have to get moving to put things together.” Adam and league administrator Pino Jazbec will decide on Kitchener-Waterloo United’s fate along with representatives from the league’s 13 equity-owner franchises. The league has already announced that the Windsor Border Stars will join as the 14th team this year. An equity membership, Adam explains, costs between $150,000 and $200,000, while a non-equity member gets in for about $45,000. Players are paid anywhere from $250 a game to $3,500 a month. Open tryouts for Kitchener-Waterloo United are scheduled for Feb. 22 and 24 at RIM Park. The team is looking for 40 to 50 players in total, according to its website, split between the senior pro team, and under-23 or under-20 team. Bob Shane, the City of Kitchener’s supervisor of athletics, confirmed he has had talks with Sandalj about Centennial Stadium. He is going to have another meeting in the next seven to 10 days, he said Friday “I have had preliminary discussions with Marko, but nothing is concrete. Nor have we indicated one way or another from the city any type of support. We are still talking,” said Shane. Sandalj was unavailable for comment. Centennial Stadium is one of three local facilities that could be used, although the press box at Centennial was closed years ago. University Stadium at Wilfrid Laurier University and Warrior Field at the University of Waterloo are the other options. The local bid has been linked to the ownership group of the Brantford Galaxy franchise that won the playoff championship in its first year of operation in 2010. Even Kukic, who designed the team’s logo and created the temporary website, isn’t sure who is pulling the strings and signing the cheques. Sandalj was president of the KW Srbija team in the Kitchener and District Soccer League last season. The CSL has been in business since 2006, taking over from the Canadian Professional Soccer League (1998-2005), which followed the Canadian National Soccer League (1993-1997) and National Soccer League (1926-1992). Kitchener has been without a professional team since 1991, when the Kickers folded. mbryson@therecord.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razcle Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Thanks for posting this. We were beginning to wonder what would happen to the deposit put down for the KW club. Hopefully something will materialize soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammer Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 The local bid has been linked to the ownership group of the Brantford Galaxy franchise that won the playoff championship in its first year of operation in 2010. Even Kukic, who designed the team’s logo and created the temporary website, isn’t sure who is pulling the strings and signing the cheques. Sandalj was president of the KW Srbija team in the Kitchener and District Soccer League last season. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Can an owner of a pro team own more than one team in the same league, should be interesting come bwin time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJSweet Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 What I'm curious to know is what's going on with plans to transform the CSL into this national league all across Canada: with teams from Quebec, Ontario, BC, Manitoba and probably Alberta. The last time anything was mentioned in the news was back in November 2010. Then with the resignation of CSL chief Dominic DiGironimo, the man spear heading this project, the whole idea was no longer mentioned in the press. With the resignation of DiGironimo, do you guys think that the CSL expansion across Canada is pretty much dead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammer Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 yes, stay tuned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamiltonfan Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 The MLS had two men own the entire league at one point. However, the league should investigate the issue, keep the possibility for match fixing to a minimum. There’s potential for significant earnings on the overseas betting websites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 And there's also the potential for all kinds of legal entanglements thanks to the software they have than can spot irregular betting patterns as Croatia Sesvete players recently found out the hard way. I thought the conspiracy theory amongst the Croatian community in Hamilton revolved around the use of bookmakers in Croatia and/or Serbia who have been attracted to the CSL by the involvement of the two Croatias and the White Eagles rather than the likes of Bet365? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coppercanuck Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 There are a couple of good things to take out of the article; stadium standards and letting the team play in the reserve league. In my mind this are kind of connected. The CSL needs to keep its standards up, very important to keeping the professional attitude for these clubs and future clubs. The minimum requirements of an enclosed home field with 1,000 seats and a functional press box doesn't seem that hard. Also by getting these teams in the reserve league helps get the press out there, build the brand, build fan base, sign and deal players. The club can go through the motions a bit, get the day to day operations down, iron out stadium issues and then be ready for the bigger league, if they are good enough on the field. If I were commish for a day ... change the name of Reserve League to CSL 2nd Division. All expansion teams have to come through the "D2". It just makes sense for clubs to learn to walk before they run. Also start signing agreements with the top local senior leagues to have promotion/relegation agreements. Ottawa-Carleton League, Quebec's Provincial league and the mess of southern Ontario Leagues. Allowing these top teams to test the waters in the CSL 2nd Division would help the owners realize that the step is not that big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballfan Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 KW will have a team this year in the CSL. The TRUE owner of the team is the same owner as the Brantford Galaxy (some croatian guy in croatia), who apparently gambles A LOT of money on his team in Malasyia and has been under investigation for match-fixing. Its a good thing that the CSL does their due diligence before they let these corrupt teams into the league. Its teams like this that will make the entire league collapse and deter other teams from joining. Mark my words right now, the 2011 CSL final will see KW vs Brantford Galaxy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redcoatsforever Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 KW will have a team this year in the CSL. The TRUE owner of the team is the same owner as the Brantford Galaxy (some croatian guy in croatia), who apparently gambles A LOT of money on his team in Malasyia and has been under investigation for match-fixing. Its a good thing that the CSL does their due diligence before they let these corrupt teams into the league. Its teams like this that will make the entire league collapse and deter other teams from joining. Mark my words right now, the 2011 CSL final will see KW vs Brantford Galaxy. Got any proof? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 There are enough snippets of info there that googling should provide a name without too much effort but I had no luck when I tried. Beyond that would a Croatian guy from Croatia really get a Knin Serb to run one team and hook up with people from a team called Srbija to start the other? I suppose Robert Prosinecki (yes I know he's of mixed ethnicity and used to play for them) just became coach of Red Star Belgrade after being an assistant for the Croatian national team so maybe things are more relaxed on that kind of thing again these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammer Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Brantford Galaxy head coach is Serbian and the majority of their imported players, second batch that came over are Serbian, joining up with Kitchener Serbia makes no difference to the owner. The Brantford management team, one of which is Croatian and the other Serbian and these two are tied at the hip. The owner of Brantford is a Bosnian Croat and lives in Switzerland that's the word on the street Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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