CDNFootballer Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 CSL PRESS CONFERENCE - THURSDAY, MAY 2 at 12:00pm... Homewood Suites & Hampton Inn by Hilton, 5515 Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto Expect 2013 season schedule should be out at the press con along with other info for this season. Looks like they may be going with 12 teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Maybe time to start a thread to cover the upcoming 2013 CSL season. The London Free Press had a lengthy article covering London City's recent press conference: http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/29/preseason-proves-entertaining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Kingston FC is holding a press conference tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon at 1pm at Richardson Stadium. If I'm able to attend it, I'll report back on it afterward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 The Astros definitely appear to be an ethnic Hungarian team now: http://www.torontovasas.com/en [h=3]Breaking News [/h][TABLE=class: contentpaneopen-tabella] [TR] [TD=class: contentheading-tabella, width: 100%] Hajrá Magyarok, Hajrá Toronto Vasas FC! [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] There are no translations available. Messze az Óhazától, de együtt, vállvetve "harcolunk" mi itt Magyarok, hogy megmutassuk Mindenkinek, hogy a Magyar focitudás nem kopott el,a tehetség és a munka sokra hivatott Kanadában is! Hajrá Magyarok, Hajrá Toronto Vasas FC! Örommel közölhetjük Mindenkivel, hogy a megállapodás megtörtént, a fúziót jóváhagyta a szövetség és így, 1970 óta, ismét magyar csapat szerepelhet a North York Astrossal közösen ASTROS VASAS FC néven a kanadai profi bajnokságban! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 ^ And that's the English version of the site. An example of what's wrong with the Canadian(hyphenated other nationality) Soccer League. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Yah, I'd heard that the Astros merged with another squad, as a number of their players from last year are playing on their OSL team this year. The Vasas team was playing as "Erin Mills" in the OSL MJ slot last year as per: http://forums.ontariosl.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=1902 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squizz1402635577 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Oh, for the love of... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Yah, I'd heard that the Astros merged with another squad, as a number of their players from last year are playing on their OSL team this year. I don't think the Astros have an OSL team: http://ontariosl.com/ViewArticle.aspx?NewsID=132 I'm not from Toronto so not an expert on this stuff by any stretch of the imagination but I think the Mississauga Eagles were originally a Hungarian community oriented team. There was a short-lived CPSL/CSL entry back under that name when the league launched in 1998: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Canadian_Professional_Soccer_League_season I think the Hungarian leadership of Erin Mills (who ran the Mississauga Eagles) that were most keen on having the Eagles CSL team got ousted over the winter by the more mainstream youth soccer types and the "merger" with the Astros: http://offthepitch.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7498 may be their way of staying involved within the sport at a reasonably high level, given Erin Mills had regained control of an OSL entry that had recently been used by Toronto Vasas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squizz1402635577 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Fun fact: Igor Pisanjuk, who came up through Erin Mills and was with the Mississauga Eagles a few years ago, now plays for Vasas in Hungary. Other fun fact: According to Pisanjuk's Wikipedia page, "he is the best in the nightlife of Hungary". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdude Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Other fun fact: According to Pisanjuk's Wikipedia page, "he is the best in the nightlife of Hungary". Clearly, a step above the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djuradj Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Just got back from the press conference a few hours ago, it was pretty interesting. I'm writing a short report on it for RedNation Online. Does anything from the conference interest you in particular? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 12 teams in the first division, 9 in the second. There's another thread with more information in it here: http://www.cansoc.org/showthread.php?46367-CSL-2013-season-the-last-one-before-CSA-sanctioning-ends-on-Feb-14th-2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Kingston FC press conference today was essentially to introduce the team and to release their schedule. I put it online here: http://supportlocalsoccer.blogspot.ca/2013/05/kingston-fc-schedule-released-first.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDNFootballer Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 Article on London City's Press Conference : "Pre season proves entertaining" http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/29/preseason-proves-entertaining The important news . . . after playing for most of its 40 year existence at Cove Road Field, City will play its opening game Friday and the CSL’s opening game, at the BMO Centre. After that game, if the fields are in good enough shape. City will play at the Hellenic Community Centre on Southdale Rd. Game 1 on Friday will be free admission. City has brought Marin Vucemilovic-Grgic on board. He was CSL’s most valuable player last year with Toronto Croatia scoring 16 goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDNFootballer Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 2013 CSL First Division Schedule has been released, 12 teams & 132 games this season : http://canadiansoccerleague.com/schedules/1sched.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDNFootballer Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 2013 CSL First Division Schedule has been released. 132 games total this season : http://canadiansoccerleague.com/schedules/1sched.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket Robin Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Details of the Canadian Soccer League press conference of Thursday May 2nd, 2013 at 12:00pm held at the Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn by Hilton in Etobicoke. There were about 50 people in attendance, most with some link to the league or one of the teams. The meeting was called to order at about 12:15pm. The head table was made up of Pino Jazbec (league administrator), Phil Ionadi (head of player development), Willy Jung (Rogers TV), Vincent Ursini (chairman of the league), Eric Barber (Days Inn), and Stan Adamson (director of media and PR). Stan Adamson opened up with the joke "This press conference is sanctioned". He went into some detail of what it felt like over the last few months waiting for court decisions--like not being able to drive. The league is a full member of the CSA in good standing under FIFA and CONCACAF. (for now I'll say). Vince Ursini said he's been through the system and has seen a lot. One thing that holds us back is the self serving interests that come ahead of the game. It starts with coaches holding back the kids. In the CSA he saw a massive conflict of interest until about a year and a half ago when some changes were initiated. This league has had 10-14 teams apply from Quebec over the years. There's also been interest from BC. He's ashamed to see the system work like it does. The league has survived for 87 years although he can only comment on the last 15. He said it's survived because of the total commitment of the owners of the CSL and (Toronto) Lynx...they all lose money but have a conviction of the owners for their love of the game. He was around when the OSA desanctioned the CNSL. Our system is mostly run by volunteers. There are probelms getting pro soccer across the country. He thanked the owners. Ursini addressed the issue of match fixing. Should we be ashamed of it? Is it the owners/victims fault if their car is stolen? The investigation of the 2009 (match fixing) incident is still being investigated. He hasn't heard of anyone who's been able to solve match fixing. He wants to make sure we punish them to be a deterrent. There wasn't an investigation of US College basketball although FBI wiretaps revealed they're fixing games. We have twelve teams this year (in the first division). TFC Academy and Montreal Impact Academy will not be back. The other three have taken a year's leave of absence. Ursini said the CSL is the best player development league in the country. He's heard testimonials from ex Canadian National team coaches and TFC and Montreal Impact. 1st Question: from John Horvath "We should have a CSL/PDL/amature team tournament across the country! TFC, Impact, Whitecaps are not supporting that". [i think he was holding a petition]. Ursini answered the CSL had an open cup years ago but it got curtailed by different provincial associations. The CSL ran a Women's league as amatures because of provincial resistance. He says "Let the players play". He's trying to have a second tier/entry level division for financial reasons and level competition. We are a semi-professional league. He criticised the Easton report--it's not likely that owners will start out cold in some regions. Run a second tier league regionally and wnen it climbs to 15 teams maybe five teams will make the jump to the next highest level. He is in favour of other provinces starting their own semi-pro leagues. He said the CSA had antiquated rules from 1987 that are slowly being changed. They established standards that in the first year the players salaries per team would be $75,000 and the second year they'd be $150,000. The CSL was in good standing with the CSA unti the last few months. Stan Adamson said the CSL was accepted as a conditional member in the CSA in 2009 and a full member since 2010. Over the years the league has had team applications from Michigan and New York states but turned them down as they were advised by Sepp Blatter to "keep soccer in your own country" so they will not lose control of decision making. He pointed out how the USL is American controlled. Adamson said the CSL had met 90% of the 'new' CSA standards and most of the 10% they didn't agree on were financial in nature. Adamson addressed match fixing from Europe saying the CSL is still waiting for a CSA reply. The CSL was subject to undeserved sanctioning. The CSL will make sure match fixing doesn't happen again. He said there are 43 players who have played for junior national teams (not all Canadian nat teams--he meant Jamaica etc). The referee development in the league has been a success as many have moved on to higher leagues. The CSL second division has become a development league for young players. Phil Ionadi was introduced to talk about the development of youth players. He started with personal stories like at age 15 when he went over to Italy for the AC Milan Academy where'd they'd practice themselves then go five fields over and watch the first teams superstars. Then at age 17 he played for the North York Rockets which was also an eye-opener to play against older players. Look at the 1 Billion dollar investment in youth development soccer in Germany and now they will have both teams in the UEFA Championship League final. He was working with Armando Costa until he died earlier this year and Ionadi will continue and make him proud. Pino Jazbec spoke next and asked us to look at our press kits. There are twelve teams in the First Division. As Windsor Stars was squeezed in at the last minute so they were off to a slow start (first game for them at beginning of June). The playoffs will take place and be over by the end of October (last league game regular season on October 6th). There will be nine teams in the second division. Jazbec said about 90% of the time, teams will only play once a week. 22 games per team. Single table. Jazbec said that television this year has Cogego cable covering the Niagara and Kingston teams. Brampton will have all their home games covered (Rogers territory). The GTA will be covered by Rogers. The league web site will be showing two games per week in their entirety. Adamson spoke and again came back to betting. He said Ursini had gone to a symposium in New York and heard that betting had reached $1 million per game in this league. He said it is easier to manipulate a smaller league. I asked a question: What do they think of the six or so people at every game from the betting companies that are in the crowd saying "it's safe, home team danger, it's safe" throughout the game? (which are instructions to their home base to not take any bets at that minute because the home team has been awarded a Penalty kick etc). Ursini answered me: We don't object to the betting forwarders in the stands. [actually I thought a good clear answer] but then he rambled on into an actual example of match fixing in Germany and Switzerland. Adamson said CSL doesn't have any problems with the betting companies. Adamson then said Canada will likely never have a top flight league (the biggest teams will be in MLS). Any cross country league will be at this/our level. Eric Barber from Days Inn spoke next and told a joke about his company chasing soccer teams and the luxury hotels are chasing the hockey teams. Also some personal moments with him and his father back in Holland then about his sons but he got in a related story about his son quitting soccer after having his team not being able to play in a tournament in the next district because of that association's sanctioning. He was the first speaker of the day that drew applause. Willy Jung from Rogers TV spoke next. He said they were cutting back on their weekly broadcasts but not because of CSA sanctions. There's been pressure by community groups to broadcast other sports--more 'grassroots sports' and less CSL and IBL (baseball?). There will be more soccer youth leagues covered. Toronto has three area CSL teams. Jung did say that Rogers was increasing coverage with two channels, digital 368 and 369 High Def with its "Local Sports Plus" channels and so now they will be able to broadcast games all over Southern Ontario. There will be different times for local coverage. This will give the CSL bigger 'reach' than they've ever had before. This information will be confirmed in the next few weeks. Big applause for these statements. Adamson then welcomed Burlington FC into the league and introduced their owners. He said there will be a Hungarian touch in the league with the Toronto Vasas organization "Astros Vasas FC" with shared ownership with North York Astros [who the last few years have won usually only one to four games per year]. The meeting ended at 1:17pm (hmm one hour) and there was then an opportunity to ask one on one questions and have sandwiches at the buffet. I can tell the league has been hurt by the CSA decision and court action. The schedule was only made up in the last week. There will be many fans that won't know what's going on as the teams have been waiting to find out if they'll be operating. Fortunately only two games are being held on this first week (Kingston and London) and both have had their own press conferences this week to draw local coverage to their teams. The web pages for the league and many of the teams need updating. Many have links and logos for teams that are out of the league. I saw Alex B who produced the show "This Week in the CSL" in the last few years before the meeting say to me that he'd been relegated to only web broadcasts but after the conference ended was over talking to Willy Jung and hopefully pitching his show to fill space on those new Rogers channels. Rocket Robin robing@eol.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDNFootballer Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Great report on the press con Rocket Robin, very interesting stuff! Hopefully the 2 games a week on the CSL website will be streamed live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Any idea what the rationale was for the 1 pm kickoffs? That's not likely to be popular with either the players or spectators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 I can tell the league has been hurt by the CSA decision and court action. Think that's an understatement given the only reason they still have sanctioning for 2013 is that the arbitrator ruled they had been given unreasonably short notice and put the implementation date back by a year. Hopefully a mod will merge the two threads. Starting the second one was a mistake on my part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 1pm Sundays -- it's actually smarter based on the local populace. The prior games had 7pm Saturday night kickoffs at a field that was tough to access without personal transportation. The new field is within walking distance of the student population and a large number of homes. In addition to this, it's on two bus routes. As I understand it, the idea with Sundays is to give people something to do with their Sunday afternoons, as it is very tough to compete with Saturday night entertainment typically. The team is aiming for the youth crowd, which is also why they are playing the three Saturday games during local tournaments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 London City's first game was cancelled by the ref who felt that the indoor facility that was being used was unsafe: http://www.lfpress.com/2013/05/03/pitch-plexiglas-cancels-game Let’s just hope what was to be London City’s opening game Friday isn’t an omen for the rest of the season. What was to be their opening game, against SC Waterloo Friday night, was abruptly cancelled when the referees felt the Plexiglas around the pitch at BMO Centre was dangerous for players. Both teams wanted to play, but the refs would have none of it. They declined to comment on their decision... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Kingston FC plays their first game today against Brampton City. I suspect that the game won't be cancelled due to plexiglass... so that's something at least! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toje Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Kingston defeated Brampton 6-2 today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDNFootballer Posted May 5, 2013 Author Share Posted May 5, 2013 Kingston defeated Brampton 6-2 today. I think Kingston FC will be one of the stronger teams this year with quite a few good players on their roster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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