les nouvelles / una notizia / noticias / uma noticia
(OP / ED)
JUST IMAGINE ...
(January 1, 2025 / Scarborough): European football is filled with tradition, history and order. That’s why billions across the globe tune into matches from the Old World week after week.
Picture a team like Stoke City F.C., now toiling in the bottom half of English football’s Championship Division, unhappy with life as second-class citizens in the second tier of England’s legendary football pyramid. Imagine Stoke applying to the Premier League for a place among the stars by merely asking. No merit between the touchlines needed. Imagine Frosinone Calcio, unhappy with their eleventh-hour demotion out of Serie A, asking for reinstatement and being granted a full pardon.
Just imagine...
Picture the chaos and blowback by such clubs like Brentford F.C. or A.C. Monza, to name just a couple, who have fought hard to rise up through the pyramid system and maintain their respective positions in their top flights through merit, perseverance and sacrifice.
Just imagine...
Such actions would turn the soul of Euro culture upside down.
But it just won’t happen.
Closer to home. Before the 2024 L1ON campaign, under much ballyhoo, it was announced that League1 Ontario was planning to introduce promotion and relegation. Players were recruited to publicly boast on how well promotion and relegation would fit into the development of Canadian soccer. It would be the competitive sauce that propels Canadian soccer into the 21st century. Heck, Canada was promoted to co-host the World Cup in 2026.
Just imagine...
As we turn a page to 2025 we are reminded that Canada is a bureaucracy-laden territory, unable to operationalize tried and tested sporting traditions developed in far away places. In short … great idea…. horrible execution...and typically Canadiana. On December 30, 2024 it was announced by League1 Ontario that The Borough FC and the Cyclones of Sudbury would be upgraded to the Championship Division while Pickering FC would avoid demotion and not drop to League2. The Borough FC placed sixth in their L2 Division table while Sudbury placed outside the promotion zone. Pickering FC and their last-place standing found themselves engaged in a playoff/relegation match against Scrosoppi FC’s League 2 team. Pickering was torn apart in that match forcing their drop to L2 and the advertised system was fully functioning ...so we thought. Borough FC and Sudbury, considered good citizens among the League1 Ontario decision makers, lobbied for an upgrade. They painted a picture that their merit extended beyond the touchlines and their rightful place was in the Championship Division. Their voices were heard. For Pickering FC they found themselves the recipients of sloppy seconds when Scrosoppi decided that having teams in the Premier and Championship Divisions was too much to chew on. We are left with teams like Windsor, Waterloo and Master’s shaking their collective heads in disbelief. 2024 was a grind for those squads. At times, throughout the season, the concept of relegation appeared possible for the trio, if not imminent. The three teams adjusted , avoided football purgatory but not without their own complications. It was the intended goal of the League1 forefathers to create such organic stress that has captivated traditional footballing countries for decades. It was the adaptation of football’s true pressure cooker.
So we are left with good intentions gone askew - all perpetrated by the hard working decision makers directing League1 Ontario. The traditions of global football were overpowered by the reality of Canadian soccer.
Can we still imagine?
(Opinions expressed are from Paul Hendren and Touchline Insider)
JUST IMAGINE ...
(January 1, 2025 / Scarborough): European football is filled with tradition, history and order. That’s why billions across the globe tune into matches from the Old World week after week.
Picture a team like Stoke City F.C., now toiling in the bottom half of English football’s Championship Division, unhappy with life as second-class citizens in the second tier of England’s legendary football pyramid. Imagine Stoke applying to the Premier League for a place among the stars by merely asking. No merit between the touchlines needed. Imagine Frosinone Calcio, unhappy with their eleventh-hour demotion out of Serie A, asking for reinstatement and being granted a full pardon.
Just imagine...
Picture the chaos and blowback by such clubs like Brentford F.C. or A.C. Monza, to name just a couple, who have fought hard to rise up through the pyramid system and maintain their respective positions in their top flights through merit, perseverance and sacrifice.
Just imagine...
Such actions would turn the soul of Euro culture upside down.
But it just won’t happen.
Closer to home. Before the 2024 L1ON campaign, under much ballyhoo, it was announced that League1 Ontario was planning to introduce promotion and relegation. Players were recruited to publicly boast on how well promotion and relegation would fit into the development of Canadian soccer. It would be the competitive sauce that propels Canadian soccer into the 21st century. Heck, Canada was promoted to co-host the World Cup in 2026.
Just imagine...
As we turn a page to 2025 we are reminded that Canada is a bureaucracy-laden territory, unable to operationalize tried and tested sporting traditions developed in far away places. In short … great idea…. horrible execution...and typically Canadiana. On December 30, 2024 it was announced by League1 Ontario that The Borough FC and the Cyclones of Sudbury would be upgraded to the Championship Division while Pickering FC would avoid demotion and not drop to League2. The Borough FC placed sixth in their L2 Division table while Sudbury placed outside the promotion zone. Pickering FC and their last-place standing found themselves engaged in a playoff/relegation match against Scrosoppi FC’s League 2 team. Pickering was torn apart in that match forcing their drop to L2 and the advertised system was fully functioning ...so we thought. Borough FC and Sudbury, considered good citizens among the League1 Ontario decision makers, lobbied for an upgrade. They painted a picture that their merit extended beyond the touchlines and their rightful place was in the Championship Division. Their voices were heard. For Pickering FC they found themselves the recipients of sloppy seconds when Scrosoppi decided that having teams in the Premier and Championship Divisions was too much to chew on. We are left with teams like Windsor, Waterloo and Master’s shaking their collective heads in disbelief. 2024 was a grind for those squads. At times, throughout the season, the concept of relegation appeared possible for the trio, if not imminent. The three teams adjusted , avoided football purgatory but not without their own complications. It was the intended goal of the League1 forefathers to create such organic stress that has captivated traditional footballing countries for decades. It was the adaptation of football’s true pressure cooker.
So we are left with good intentions gone askew - all perpetrated by the hard working decision makers directing League1 Ontario. The traditions of global football were overpowered by the reality of Canadian soccer.
Can we still imagine?
(Opinions expressed are from Paul Hendren and Touchline Insider)