Introduction

This is the Northern 90 Podcast with Pat Sweet, Episode 18.

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.

In this week’s episode, I interview Steve Hemphill and Ian Fellows of the Lake Side Buoys who just completed a cross-Canada tour on their motorcycles of every CPL city.

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

Top Stories

League Standings

  • It’s been a little while since the last episode, so I’ll just do a recap.
  • Here’s a list of things that haven’t happened yet:
    • Cavalry FC hasn’t stopped winning
    • York 9 FC hasn’t won
  • Every team has played at least 5 league matches
  • Standings
    • Cavalry – 15
    • Forge – 13
    • Valour – 9
    • Wanderers – 7
    • Pacific – 5
    • FC Edmonton – 4
    • York 9 – 3
  • Cavs have only one home game left in the spring.
  • Away teams have averaged only just over 1 point per game so far this season, so a long road stretch will be tough.
  • And Tristan Borges, a 20-year old Canadian kid leads the league in scoring with four goals to his name.

 

Canadian Championship Matchups

  • Cavalry FC, HFX Wanderers FC and York 9 FC all advanced.
  • First games of round 2 start this week.
    • Cavalry vs. Hamilton
    • Halifax vs. Winnipeg
    • York 9 vs. FC Edmonton

News

  • Pacific FC’s front-office shuffle – four staff are gone who covered marketing, sales, and daily operations.
  • A CanPL club will take on Antigua GFC in the first round of CONCACAF League. Forge FC is currently the frontrunner for the “Canada 2” spot. CONCACAF League starts up July 31.
    • If a CanPL team doesn’t make it deep into the tournament, I’ll be rooting for A.S. Robinhood from Suriname.
  • In some sad news, Canadian Referee Carol Anne Chenard was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and will be missing the Women’s World Cup in France. Chenard recently made history with the first all-female officiating crew to manage a first division men’s game in Hamilton not long ago.
  • Women’s World Cup kicks off in France on June 7 and will run until July 7. The Canadian women are currently ranked 11th in the world and are up against the Netherlands (17), New Zealand (24), and Cameroon (72).
  • The Canadian Men’s National Team will compete in Gold Cup starting June 15. Sadly, but not surprisingly, no CanPL players were included in our national team. However, there are four players playing for other squads:
    • From Forge FC – Quillan Roberts and Emery Welshman (Guyana),
    • From Halifax – Jan Michael Williams (Trinidad and Tobago)
    • From Edmonton – Kareem Moses (Trinidad and Tobago)

If you like the headlines, check out the Northern 90 Supporters Group!

Next up, an interview with Steve Hemphill and Ian Fellows of the Big Country Footy tour.

Interview with Steve Hemphill and Ian Fellows of the Big Country Footy Tour

  • Have you ever had an idea that was too crazy to actually do, but other than that, you had no good reason not to do it?
  • Lake Side Buoy member Steve Hemphill knows that feeling.
  • What makes Steve different, is instead of pushing the idea aside, he doubled down and made it happen.
  • By now you’ve probably heard of Steve’s CanPL tour, but if you haven’t, the premise was simple: ride your motorcycle to see a game in every CPL host city in a month.
  • Along the way, his friends Ian Irving and Ian Fellows joined him for legs of the tour.
  • I caught up with Steve and Ian Fellows in their Halifax hotel where they were waiting out the rain before hitting the road to make it back home.
  • We had a great chat that covered the league, the venues, supporter culture in Canada, and how things look for the future of soccer in this country.
  • The first voice you’ll hear is Steve’s. Ian comes in next.
  • Here’s my chat with the guys.

[Interview]

  • After I turned the mic off, we sat and chatted for a few more minutes about all sorts of things – more soccer, how to get great train ticket prices in France, and whatever came up.
  • The guys were great and had such a passion for the game.
  • I imagine there are a lot of Steves and Ians out there – or at least people who want to do something big like this.
  • Here’s my call to action – do it. Don’t wait. If you ask these guys, it was the trip of a lifetime.

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.

  • Tons of mail! Thanks, everyone!
  • Barry Fitzpatrick – a Scot who’s madly in love with the game and is following the league with great interest wrote me a book on the league set up in Scotland. It’s incredible. He’s given me permission to post his explanation of how Div 1 football works there, and it’s a fascinating set-up.
  • Liam Pritchard from Wales wrote to say that he’s become a regular listener. Welcome, Liam! Liam weighed in on the question of the week about how people felt about the apparent lack of a gap between Canada’s semi-pro teams and the CPL. He argued that it’s actually not such a bad thing.
    • Allows for easy measurement of league progress in the future
    • Also shows that there is still talent in lower levels – great for expansion.
  • Edward Johnson from Toronto also weighed in on the question of the week and expressed similar sentiments to Liam.
    • Said that he was pleasantly surprised with the quality
    • Also mentioned that it’s good for expansion – there’s continuity between the leagues.
    • Also suggested I tackle league salaries – great idea.

This week’s question: Can Cavalry FC possibly continue its dominance, or will the away games and compressed schedule derail them?

  • Leave a comment at northern90.ca/episode18
  • 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 – so whatever you want to share, just drop me a line.

The Week Ahead

No league matches over the next couple weeks over the international break, but a couple of Canadian Championship matches.

Wednesday, June 5

  • Can Champ
    • Valour FC at Halifax
    • York 9 hosts FC Edmonton

Friday, June 7 – Women’s world cup starts

Tuesday, June 11

  • Cavalry FC hosts Forge

Wednesday, June 12

  • Halifax at Winnipeg
  • FC Edmonton hosts York 9

Saturday, June 15

  • League play resumes
  • Gold cup starts

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.

Thanks so much, Canada. Have a great week.

Credits

Featured Image

Photo by arivoli tamilarasan on Unsplash

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