Also want to point out that Vancouver Park's Board is going to spend $450,000 on pretend bleachers at Empire Park.... and there are no real bleachers for spectators to sit.
Do the Canadian people deserve better National Teams? There is weak community support for soccer in Canada. Rarely does a Canadian family have a meaningful connection with a community soccer club if a son/daughter isn't playing for the club. If Canada had good National Teams, it would be...
Does anybody have any inside info on the PCSL? How is that league doing? What is average attendance? Why aren't people talking about it like *the* semi-pro league?
Immigrant-wise Australia is very similar to Canada. If you look at the teams listed in one of their tier 2 leagues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Premier_Leagues_Victoria) none of them have 'ethnic' names. However, if you dig deeper into their Wiki pages you find most of them are...
In late 60's/early 70's semi-pro Croatia SC vs Columbus in the would get 2,000-3,000.
A colleague at work wrote a piece on the success of the Australian sports community.
The main point of the article is that Australian clubs focus on selling "Memberships" more than tickets. With a strong...
Tier 2 in Australia seems to be successful. Average attendance is 9,000.
Tier 2 is organized by regions comparable to Canada's regions. (Australian League System)
Australian National Team consistently qualifies for the WC.
Soccer popularity is behind Aussie Rules, Rugby and Cricket...
I've watched about 18 of the Croatia games this season so I've seen most teams twice. The parity is good. Like you say, it's a fast game but that's a good thing. It's entertaining soccer. Many games I've seen have been non-stop end-to-end action. Many goals scored on counter-attacks. The...
It's not moot. Richmond has been awarded a Provincial Cup berth because of the fiasco. Without the 'fiasco' they needed CCBRT to beat Croatia.
EDIT: Misread what you said. Yes, we are saying the same thing.
Want to give a shout-out to Simon Fudge at the Vancouver Courier for doing a story on us before the Nationals:
Soccer: Croatia SC pursues second national title in 30 seasons
http://www.vancourier.com/sports/soccer-croatia-sc-pursues-second-national-title-in-30-seasons-1.1419465
RE: ethnic clubs (including yours) will not be that interesting to their ethnic community if the number of "foreigners" playing for the club is significant
Historically (since the late 60's) that hasn't been an issue. It has always been about winning. For most of the club history, including...
Long-time organizer for Croatia here. Gonna keep the discussion going. Many insightful comments being made.
RE: The teams in the league ... temporary landing pads for local players
IMHO the root of the issue is the mid-season influx of college/university players. Once those players arrive...
Being an ethnic team the BCSA player out-of-district rules have been a barrier to developing our own youth system because our community is spread across all district boundries. This is a cause that the VMSL could take to the BCSA on behalf of its member clubs because so many of them are ethnic...
I'm an organizer for Croatia. I don't know the other VMSL clubs very well but my take is that the majority of clubs are being run by 2-4 guys who are already stretched-thin to operate a team week-to-week. On top of the usual VMSL demands for the organizers, the new league will add more work in...