Victoria Highlanders terminate W-League team

[Lord Bob]

They'll play the 2013 season in the PCSL Women's Premier.

http://www.victoriahighlandersfc.com/news.php?newsid=468

“The Highlanders FC organization is committed to the development of the women’s game locally and nationally,” said Mark deFrias, Highlanders FC General Manager. “The decision to discontinue the W-League team does not prevent us from remaining true to that vision. With the changing landscape of women’s soccer it would not have made sense for the Peninsula Co-Op Highlanders to remain in the W-League for 2013. We are strong supporters of the USL and look forward to continuing to compete on the men’s side in the USL Premier Development League.”

[CanadianSpur]

They'll play the 2013 season in the PCSL Women's Premier.

http://www.victoriahighlandersfc.com/news.php?newsid=468

It really is disappointing how the momentum gained by the women after the olympics has been squandered.

[Lord Bob]

It really is disappointing how the momentum gained by the women after the olympics has been squandered.

Normally I'm the first to leap to the defense of western Canada's soccer programs but yeah, you're right; what else is there to ****ing say? This autumn has been a travesty.

I wrote a bit of crap about it this morning, but the gist of it is that I can understand why the Highlanders had to drop out of the W-League (their teams were garbage, they drew an average of 332 fans per game, their best regional rival already left) but still, this is ridiculous. It's arguably undoing all the good we got out of the American pro league.

[Vic]

I read it earlier today in the Times Colonist and was wondering about the choice of opening comment:

We’re pleased with [the decision],” Mark deFrias, general manager of all Highlanders’ programs confirmed on Thursday afternoon.

http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/highlanders-pull-team-out-of-w-league-1.32633

I understand what he's saying, just seemed odd the way it came across. Competing in the W League obviously took a lot of effort and energy. Hopefully they're just dropping out of the league and not that commitment. If anyone ever see's any indication of that please share it here.

[Mango]

I wrote a bit of crap about it this morning, but the gist of it is that I can understand why the Highlanders had to drop out of the W-League (their teams were garbage, they drew an average of 332 fans per game, their best regional rival already left) but still, this is ridiculous. It's arguably undoing all the good we got out of the American pro league.

Very good read, Lord Bob. Thank you for sharing. You make a lot of great points.

[VPjr]

sad that they couldn't make it work in W-League but it just goes to show how challenging it is to find a workable business model to support High Level Amateur/Semi-Pro soccer when there is so much travel involved. it is even more challenging on the women's side of the game as there is still not a strong track record of supporting elite women's team sports at the gate.

I can't blame the Highlander ownership for pulling the plug. they are running a business. They may have made some errors along the way since launching their W-League team but that's life.

Hopefully this will spur some talks to create a Canadian alternative (maybe a BC-Alberta regional league that is close to on part with the level of competition found in W-League)...