Canucks4Ever
Well-Known Member
A couple of quick points:
1. On TWU, my understanding is that they have not "joined" the league. They are merely playing each FVSL Premier side once, mid-week, in conjunction with the season. I would assume they were added to the the table for scheduling purposes with the FVSL software. This is also supported by the fact that TWU only have an eight game schedule, not 21 like everyone else.
The merits of playing an extra game mid-week in the middle of the season when you also need to prepare for a weekend fixture can be debated. However, my understanding is that the teams were informed of this at least a month or so ago and that the FVSL considers this as a great opportunity to grow the league's presence.
One assumes that this supports the notion that TWU will be a L1BC franchise. I have sources who have told me they will be, but BC Soccer is ostensibly ready to excommunicate anyone who lets L1BC info leak pre-announcement, so it is difficult to confirm.
2. The Premier Academy U23 - Premier FC - FCT Academy journey is somewhat concerning and I would guess the league is also disappointed about the way things have gone. That being said, it was slightly beyond their control. They had a commitment from Premier to come into the league and clearly Premier overestimated their abilities. The alternative would be to have a team in your top division outright fold and I cannot imagine they would be taking any less flack for that.
Now, it can be debated about why the FVSL were in a position to hand a spot out to a team like Premier Academy in the first place and was it worth the risk. On the latter point, the league brought in five new teams with somewhat comparable resumes and four of them have more or less worked out. The former point is a much broader discussion and one that has had some ink spilled on it already, though I am sure there is much more that could be said.
Once it happened, I, for one, am not sure how the league should or could have handled it differently. As for the issue about two teams from the same club in Premier, that is certainly a hard and fast rule in the VMSL. However, if memory serves the FVSL set that rule aside circa 2015 or 2016 maybe when it allowed both Port Moody Rangers and Port Moody Gunners in Premier in the same season.
3. The comments about the Pak Cup and Provincial spots are intriguing to me. I have long been on record that I believe you should need some level of journey or context to appreciate winning a trophy that is over 100 years old. By and large these teams do not have that. I remember when Abby won the Pak Cup the last time it was awarded in 2019 and it was the club's first trophy in forever and it was that particular group's first major accomplishment. Great to see. Similarly, there was the season Aldergrove came out of nowhere to win the Pak Cup and nab a Prov Cup spot after a disappointing season following their run to the Provincial Final. Awesome story.
Then there was Tigers (now of the FVSL) winning the Imperial Cup back in 2018. Did they want to win that game in that moment? Sure. But after it was over, did they care about winning that trophy and all the history? Not really. A couple of pictures with the trophy and then mom and dad drove them home. Training on Tuesday. No dressing room celebration. No night out with the cup. It was all rather underwhelming.
Should the Pak Cup winner get a Provincial Spot this season? I am willing to bet it will be either Abby or Tigers who win it and that they will already be going to Provincials. The bigger question is how is that fifth and maybe even fourth place FVSL qualifier going to fair against sides from other leagues? A scenario where Faly or Mirco Footie sneak into Provincials only to get pasted by double digits by Metro Ford or BB5/CCB is not unthinkable and that is probably not a great look for the league (that said Micro Footie did beat Abbotsford leaving some regular contributors to this forum rather quiet about that outing...).
1. On TWU, my understanding is that they have not "joined" the league. They are merely playing each FVSL Premier side once, mid-week, in conjunction with the season. I would assume they were added to the the table for scheduling purposes with the FVSL software. This is also supported by the fact that TWU only have an eight game schedule, not 21 like everyone else.
The merits of playing an extra game mid-week in the middle of the season when you also need to prepare for a weekend fixture can be debated. However, my understanding is that the teams were informed of this at least a month or so ago and that the FVSL considers this as a great opportunity to grow the league's presence.
One assumes that this supports the notion that TWU will be a L1BC franchise. I have sources who have told me they will be, but BC Soccer is ostensibly ready to excommunicate anyone who lets L1BC info leak pre-announcement, so it is difficult to confirm.
2. The Premier Academy U23 - Premier FC - FCT Academy journey is somewhat concerning and I would guess the league is also disappointed about the way things have gone. That being said, it was slightly beyond their control. They had a commitment from Premier to come into the league and clearly Premier overestimated their abilities. The alternative would be to have a team in your top division outright fold and I cannot imagine they would be taking any less flack for that.
Now, it can be debated about why the FVSL were in a position to hand a spot out to a team like Premier Academy in the first place and was it worth the risk. On the latter point, the league brought in five new teams with somewhat comparable resumes and four of them have more or less worked out. The former point is a much broader discussion and one that has had some ink spilled on it already, though I am sure there is much more that could be said.
Once it happened, I, for one, am not sure how the league should or could have handled it differently. As for the issue about two teams from the same club in Premier, that is certainly a hard and fast rule in the VMSL. However, if memory serves the FVSL set that rule aside circa 2015 or 2016 maybe when it allowed both Port Moody Rangers and Port Moody Gunners in Premier in the same season.
3. The comments about the Pak Cup and Provincial spots are intriguing to me. I have long been on record that I believe you should need some level of journey or context to appreciate winning a trophy that is over 100 years old. By and large these teams do not have that. I remember when Abby won the Pak Cup the last time it was awarded in 2019 and it was the club's first trophy in forever and it was that particular group's first major accomplishment. Great to see. Similarly, there was the season Aldergrove came out of nowhere to win the Pak Cup and nab a Prov Cup spot after a disappointing season following their run to the Provincial Final. Awesome story.
Then there was Tigers (now of the FVSL) winning the Imperial Cup back in 2018. Did they want to win that game in that moment? Sure. But after it was over, did they care about winning that trophy and all the history? Not really. A couple of pictures with the trophy and then mom and dad drove them home. Training on Tuesday. No dressing room celebration. No night out with the cup. It was all rather underwhelming.
Should the Pak Cup winner get a Provincial Spot this season? I am willing to bet it will be either Abby or Tigers who win it and that they will already be going to Provincials. The bigger question is how is that fifth and maybe even fourth place FVSL qualifier going to fair against sides from other leagues? A scenario where Faly or Mirco Footie sneak into Provincials only to get pasted by double digits by Metro Ford or BB5/CCB is not unthinkable and that is probably not a great look for the league (that said Micro Footie did beat Abbotsford leaving some regular contributors to this forum rather quiet about that outing...).