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2016 Calgary Foothills PDL season

shermanator

By shermanator
in Canadian Teams & Leagues

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shermanator Experienced

shermanator

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Here's a link to Calgary Foothills' press conference yesterday. Nothing earth shattering, but they will be fielding a younger squad of local talent this year. It's nice to see a club at a high level where their mantra is solely about developing Canadian talent.

 

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shermanator

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On ‎13‎/‎04‎/‎2016 at 9:51 AM, Jason said:

I noticed that former Foothills PDL player Bradley Kamdem is now with the Rochester Rhinos.  Have we ever established is he eligible to play for Canada?   Born in France, grew up in Calgary.

Jaosn

I've asked him via DM and he mentioned that he is eligible.

One year in and Calgary Foothills already has produced a Canadian who has been drafted in MLS and signed to a USL contract (albeit he was a Calgary Chinooks product 3 years in to his NCAA career). I have to ask of the Ontario based PDL clubs, where are your Canadian MLS draftees?

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Blue and White Army

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On 15/04/2016 at 10:46 AM, shermanator said:

I've asked him via DM and he mentioned that he is eligible.

One year in and Calgary Foothills already has produced a Canadian who has been drafted in MLS and signed to a USL contract (albeit he was a Calgary Chinooks product 3 years in to his NCAA career). I have to ask of the Ontario based PDL clubs, where are your Canadian MLS draftees?

I believe several pros have played for London; but to be fair, London didn't really "develop" those players the way that a club with youth teams like Calgary Foothills could.

More all-ages clubs would be great.

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shermanator Experienced

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Foothills defeats FC Edmonton's academy (with a couple first team players) 4-0 this morning. Eddies must have still been in line for coffee that early I guess. Former FC Edmonton player Ajeej Sarkaria was on in the second half for Foothills.

And another article on the club touching on Zator and Russo getting trials with Oxford United in February.

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/soccer/foothills-fc-giving-players-a-chance-to-advance-their-soccer-careers

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shermanator

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Calgary Foothills is partnering with a local pub to do "Show Up and Ship Out". It's a package where for $15 you get a ticket to the game, a pint of beer, and a bus ride to and from the game from the Ship and Anchor (which is the soccer bar in Calgary). This is planned for the May 27 and June 26 games, and if demand is there it will continue for other games. 

This is probably no big deal to those in MLS or NASL cities but for a PDL club I think this is a big development. 

Calgary V's, Facebook invite is here. https://www.facebook.com/events/1022131094548309/ I think if you truly support local soccer, and can make it, you'll be there.  

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Obinna Grand Master

Obinna

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On Friday, March 11, 2016 at 5:51 PM, GuillermoDelQuarto said:

Really?  I thought with the stamps and flames it was pretty obvious that the soul of calgary is red?  I'll try it out though :)

Why green and white?

K.  Smaller above foothills, bigger than foothills? No foothills whatsoever?  The devils in the details :P

Thoughts?

rGjYqxM.png

It's a cool badge but I really do like the current logo Foothills has. For me, they have the biggest youth club in Calgary and I see their logo almost on a daily basis, mostly on the track suits of youth players. That's the thing I like about the Foothills club - they are fully integrated from youth to PDL. The only link they are missing is an AMSL team. They have a CUSA Premier team, a reserve team in division 1 (who are always competitve having played them several times), and a division 2 team that has merged with darts football club (another good club - albeit only adult). I don't believe they have a team or affiliation at divison 3 or below - which is fine, since ar that point the quality becomes more recreational and less competitive. Nonetheless, its cool to see they are integrated in the amateur game here in Calgary - I just don't know what's stopping them from entering a team in AMSL, it would be as simple as taking their CUSA Premier team roster and entering it into the provinical competiton, as the level is pretty similiar anyways. I don't know if their is an official reserve team for the PDL side, but if so I would think AMSL would be a good place for them, same for FC Edmonton and their reserve side. I suppose with the level of the city premier leagues in Edmonton and Calgary being close to AMSL, both clubs have chosen to keep their second teams city-based, rather than have them travel across the province. Unfortunately, non-participation in the AMSL prevents them from qualifying for the Challenge Cup. It would be a great way for both FCE and Foothills to spread their brand if either were to become perennial Alberta representatives at that national competition. 

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Calgary Foothills drew FC Edmonton's academy 1-1 yesterday. Sadi Jalali was sent off in the first half, we couldn't figure out why but my guess is he received a yellow for a foul and another yellow for dissent. Foothills let Edmonton play with 11 in the second half either way. FC Edmonton scored a goal in the first half that looked pretty offside from our viewpoint. Darius Ramsey scored for Foothills and 2 goals were called back for offsides.

Was a good crowd, maybe 500 in the stands? 27 degrees and sun didn't hurt.

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rob.notenboom Community Regular

rob.notenboom

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On May 16, 2016 at 1:42 PM, ted said:

Geez your guys looked good yesterday. Full marks for an impressive win in the second game of a road trip.

When I saw Calgary playing in Winnipeg a couple of weekends ago they looked like they had some great chemistry, communication, and technical skill. Of course they were playing a club team from Winnipeg that seemed to be significantly weaker so they had lots of time and space. Still, I'm not surprised that they are doing well. 

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rob.notenboom Community Regular

rob.notenboom

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Was great taking in the Foothills game with the Footsoldiers. Just a few observations:

Tommy's crew is playing exceptionally well. They keep the ball on the deck (although they did resort to the odd long ball), are great at keeping possession, and have exceptional team chemistry. They really fight for each other. The Highlanders are not a poor team either, but you could tell there was a bit of a gulf in class. Interestingly, Colin Miller made his way into the stands during the first half. I wonder if he was scouting someone in particular or just there to have a gander.

 


I said this to a couple of the Footsoldiers guys afterward (or maybe it was just ESG Shawn ... can't remember) but they are doing an excellent job of keeping things authentic and growing organically. They didn't really employ a capo, but people just started things spontaneously in response to what was going on on the field, in the stands, or in their heads. The rest of the crew just picked up on it and this is such a great supporters culture to establish. Fun times ahead in Calgary. Additionally, from last year to this year it seems they have won over the regular crowd. Instead of giving them weird looks, the fans smiled at the Footsoldiers, gave them applause and thumbs-up after the game, laughed when a funny chant done, and even joined in a couple of times. Great stuff, and it was my privilege to get to spend an evening with them and lend my voice. Cheers folks, until the next time.

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shermanator

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Rob, you're too kind! 

2-2 draw this afternoon. Highlanders draw even late off an own goal. 4 points clear of second place. 

Also, accordingly to this article, one of the conditions of Calgary Foothills joining PDL was having to pay visiting team's airfare for each home game. So not only are they having to fly each trip, they have to pay for anyone to bother playing in Calgary. That's a pricey condition on joining a US based league. Just a good argument for a Prairie high performance league ala League1 Ontario....

http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/calgary-foothills-fc-hands-highlanders-a-lesson-in-basic-soccer-1.2276237

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ted Mentor

ted

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22 hours ago, shermanator said:

... one of the conditions of Calgary Foothills joining PDL was having to pay visiting team's airfare for each home game.

Holy Crap!!!  I wondered why our guys flew this weekend.

That is insane. You guys definitely need a Prairie D3, we can move to a BC D3 and we will see you in Voyageurs Cup games. :)

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shermanator Experienced

shermanator

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Calgary Foothills played 3 games in a 72 hour span this past weekend and gained 6 points. Top of the Northwest Division with 19 points on 9 games. 6 points up on third place Lane United with 5 games left to go. Playoffs are looking likely.

And now I have to ask. To the Calgary V's who haven't come to a Foothills game yet, I'm curious as to why? Scheduling conflicts? No interest in PDL? An issue with local youth club rivalries? Not wanting to be "openly Calgarian"?

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