Introduction

This is the Northern 90 Podcast with Pat Sweet, Episode 15.

Welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast, covering the beautiful game in the great white north. For more Canadian Premier League content, head over to Northern90.ca. That’s Northern Nine Zero dot ca.

Welcome

Hello, Canada, and welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast!

I’m your host, Pat Sweet.

Before I say another word, I’d like to share this:

Woohoo!

We’ve had our first games and I am pumped!

This week’s episode is going to be all about the games in Hamilton and Langford, British Columbia, including an interview with Maxwell Mowbray, who’s a contributor to Northern Starting XI dot com and the man behind the PFC Ontatio Twitter handle.

First, of course, let’s dig into this week’s CPL news.

News

Results

  • I’ve been waiting a long time to say this: here are the results from the weekend’s matches.
  • York 9 visited Forge FC in Hamilton to play in front of 17,611 fans for the first ever game on Saturday. York 9’s Ryan Telfer will go down in history as scoring the first goal in league history in the 3rd minute. Hamilton’s Kadell Thomas tied it up later on, for a 1-1 tie.
  • Also of note is that Manny Aparicio saw red in the dying moments of this game for a second yellow.
  • Kyle Bekker somehow escaped the referee’s book despite a very aggressive, very late challenge on Joseph Di Chiara. That’s something I’ll be discussing with Max later on in the show.
  • A very entertaining game.
  • On Sunday, HFX Wanderers FC visited Pacific FC at Westhills Stadium. Pacific FC dominated this match, and were able to hang on to a 1-0 victory despite going down a man when Lukas MacNaughton picked up his second yellow for his foul against Kodai Iida.
  • Attendance in BC was 5,154.

News

  • In this week’s news, CanPL has partnered with Opta. Opta is the global leader in sports analytics, and they’ll be in charge of “[collecting] and [managing] data from all Canadian Premier League matches”. It’s very cool stuff – goals, shots, duels, takles, clearances, just about everything you can think of is there. Check it out on the highlights page for whatever game you’re interested in on CanPL.ca. I’ll have a link in the show notes.
  • There was a great article in the Guardian about the CPL and how it might help Canadian soccer at the international level.

If you want even more CPL content, including the most important headlines delivered straight to your inbox, then sign up for the Northern 90 Supporters’ group. When you join, you get a weekly newsletter with the top headlines, podcast notifications, access to private supporter’s group Facebook group, and much much more. Also, it’s free. Check it out at northern90.ca/join.

Next up, we go deep into the league’s first matches with Maxwell Mowbray.

Questions for Max

Maxwell Mowbray is a huge football fan living in Ontario who decided to rep his west coast roots and join the Lake Side Buoys in Support of Pacific FC. I caught up with Max to ask what the inaugual match was like, and what he thought of his team claiming the first win in league history.

  • Forge FC v York 9 FC
    • What was the atmosphere like in Hamilton?
    • What did you think of the quality of the match?
    • Who impressed you the most?
    • What was it like to see the first goal? Was it a bit odd for it to be an away goal?
    • Should Kyle Bekker have seen red?
    • What was the atmosphere like after the game?
  • Pacific FC v HFX Wanderers FC
    • Looked one-sided to me – what are your take aways
    • Who stood out to you?
    • Marcus Haber doesn’t have much of a reputation for hard work, but he definitely seemed to be putting in the effort during that match. What does he bring to this team?
    • What was Halifax missing?
    • What was promising about their squad?

General questions/ my own thoughts

  • Very impressed with the quality of play. Not all that different from MLS. Just wait until the nerves settle.
  • Red cards in both matches – what do you make of that?
  • OneSoccer was great – production was very good.
  • Forge Players that impressed
    • Nanco
    • Welshman could have had a few goals
    • Borges deserved a goal
  • York 9 Players that impressed
    • Ingraham was amazing
    • Manny/ telfer beautiful
    • Rollocks is crazy fast
  • York 9 v. Forge FC game
    • Forge movement was really nice once they settled
    • First 15 was all York. All Hamilton after that.
    • Bekkers elbow to Di Chiara is going to get him suspended
    • Refs allowed play to be a bit rough
    • Combination play from Forge is great
  • No one was rolling around after fouls. Loved that.

Thanks again to Maxwell Mowbray for that interview. If you’d like to check out Max’s work, you can follow him @PFCOntario on Twitter, and check out his work on nsxinetwork.com.

Next up, the mailbag.

Mailbag

You know how this works – you send me mail and messages and I read every single one of them. If what you send is extra good I read it on the podcast.

  • David wrote to ask what kind of engineer I am – I’m a systems engineer working in the defence industry – I’d love to tell you more but I’d have to kill you.
  • Paul Henderson, who’s a photojournalist covering the game in and around Toronto and Hamilton, and a good friend of the show, sent some incredible pictures of the inaugural game. I’ve set up a gallery in the show notes, so please do visit to check those out.

What do you think?

I’m going to start something new here and ask a question of the week. The question this week: What was the good, the bad and the ugly about the first games?

  • Leave a comment at northern90.ca/episode15
  • Write to me at pat at northern90.ca
  • Fire me a note on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram @northernninety

Of course, I love hearing from you on any topic related to Canadian Soccer and the podcast, so please do drop me a line.

Outroduction

That’s all we’ve got for the show today.

If you liked the show, don’t forget to subscribe to it, and when you do leave an honest review. That helps me make the show better and others find it.

Also, if you’ve been enjoying this show, you should join my supporters’ group. When you join you get a weekly newsletter with curated CPL content, access to a members-only Facebook group, contests, giveaways, fantasy leagues, all sorts of good stuff. And it’s free. Check it out at northern90.ca/join.

Enjoy your very first CPL matches this weekend, Canada. I’ll be back again next week to break them all down. Until then, take good care.

Credits

Featured Image

Photo by Paul S. Hendren.

Intro music

Move Like This by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Texas Radio Fish, Alex Beroza, and Snowflake

CPL Headlines Music

Calm the F*** Down by Broke for Free (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Main Content Intro Music

260809 Funky Nurykabe by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Mailbag Music

I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque

Outro music

Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Morusque, Jeris, CSoul, Alex Beroza