Sunday October 6th, 2019 League 1 Ontario Awards Lunch held at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton at 12:30pm
in the Members' Lounge, on the fourth level.
Instead of holding a dinner at a banquet hall in Vaughan as was done in previous years, the League held their annual awards
in the stadium in Hamilton a few hours ahead of the CPL game between home team Forge FC and York 9 FC. Timing was perfect
as the L1O season had just ended the previous Friday and this was a derby game with the other Ontario CPL team. This was the
CPL's first ever 'League 1 Ontario Day'.
While that was a further drive for the majority of teams that are located in the Greater Toronto Area, the event would
be more publicized because of the media attention. The CPL had become owners of this league at the beginning of this season.
Men's Division MVP and Golden Boot winner Maksym Kowal would participate in the coin toss before the CPL game.
Guests arrived and were able to have finger foods before the presentation began. There were about 80 to 100 guests
so that was comparable to previous years' participation. Each attendee was given a paper ticket to the CPL game which started
at 3:30pm. It was in Section 115 which was right at the 55 yard line valued at $45.
The individual award winners and All-Star team members had all been announced day-by-day to maximize headlines in the week
leading up to this event so it wasn't a surprize that way. Nothing different than other years.
L1O Men's Commissioner Dino Rossi Jr was the MC for the afternoon. He boasted that there were forty players who had L1O
experience who have played in the CPL's first season. He also asked CSA official Tony Camacho to confirm the number
of game officials have come from L1O--"Eight". The individual awards were voted on by coaches.
There were four 'new' awards given out today that weren't in previous years. There are now 'Midfielder of the Year'
and 'Regular Season Champions' (ie finishing first) awards given out to both men and women. The Rogue Street Elite
supporters group of North Mississauga Panthers FC donated the Men's Regular Season's Champions trophy. The award
will be known as 'The Supporters Trophy'. The Women's Regular Season Champions trophy is named the 'Ron Smale Cup'
after the former president of the Ontario Soccer Association.
When the All Star teams player's names were to be announced to come up for a team picture, they were told not to
come up until all the names were read off. This was wise as very few of the players were here--many would be away at
post-secondary schools. Some of the individual winners were not here either although Women's MVP and Golden Boot winner
Jade Kovacevic (from far away London Ontario) was here later in the afternoon as I saw her on the OneSoccer broadcast.
Also very appropriate that the individual winners from Alliance United were not present. Their absence was a major
contribution to their playoff run being halted at the semi-final hurdle because of their commitments (along with
many teammates) to the University of Toronto.
Men's First Team All-Stars
Men's Second and Third Team All-Stars
Women's First Team All-Stars
Women's Second and Third Team All-Stars
Men's Coach of the Year winner Duncan Wilde of Oakville Blue Devils with OSA Gary Miller,
the Ontario Soccer Association's Director of Soccer Operations
Women's Coach of the Year winner John Yacou of Oakville Blue Devils with Gary Miller
Men's Golden Boot Winner Maksym Kowal of Vaughan Azzurri with presenter from Onesoccer Eva Havaris,
VP of Strategy and League Operations of the CPL
Women's Golden Boot Winner was Jade Kovacevic of FC London who was not here.
Men's Goalkeeper of the Year presented by Johnny Misley CEO of Ontario Soccer to Lucas Birnstingl of Oakville Blue Devils
Women's Goalkeeper of the Year presented by Johnny Misley to Sarah Forde of FC Oshawa
Men's Defender of the Year presented by Victor Rodriguez of Media Pro
was awarded to Kenny Lioutas of Alliance United (team official Julian Green accepted the award)
Women's Defender of the Year was awarded to Diamond Simpson of Woodbridge Strikers with Victor Rodriguez
Men's Midfielder of the Year presented by Pep Rubies of Media Pro
was awarded to Nikola Stakic of Alliance United (I'm unsure of who accepted the award)
Women's Midfielder of the Year was Julia Benati of FC London who was not here.
Men's Young Player of the Year winner was Ryan Raposo of Vaughan Azzurri who was not here.
Women's Young Player of the Year winner was Leah Pais of Vaughan Azzurri who was not here.
Men's MVP winner Maksym Kowal of Vaughan Azzurri with L1O Men's Commissioner Dino Rossi Jr.
Women's MVP Winner was Jade Kovacevic of FC London who was not here. (winner for the fourth year in a row!)
Oakville Blue Devils players and coach with the new trophy for finishing first in the regular season in the Women's Division.
The Ron Smale Cup
Oakville Blue Devils players and officials with the new trophy for finishing first in the regular season in the Men's Division.
The Supporters' Trophy
Masters Futbol players and officials with the Men's Championship trophy.
manager Hubert 'Junior' Groves, goalie Spiridon Koskinas, forward Akeem Priestley, defender Adam Czerkawski,
head coach Rick Titus.
A close up of the Men's Championship trophy now with the Masters decal properly attached.
There was no 'Goal of the Year' winners for Men nor Women today. There was a projection
of all the goals of the month nominees playing while people were eating. I was told they'd be
edited and voting would be carried out later. They acknowledged that one of my finalists
was never filmed but I saw it in person. A game between Windsor TFC and OSUF from Ottawa
held at a neutral site in the GTA to share travel costs had a great bicycle kick game winner.
I got a chance to mingle with many of the league officials during the afternoon. I confirmed with the hat-trick hero of the Men's Final, won by Masters Academy that his name is spelled 'Akeem P-R-I-E-S-T-L-E-Y' as I've mispelled it all year as have the preprinted game day rosters right up to the final game LiveStream broadcast. I asked Master's head coach Rick Titus if he was going to continue also coaching the Mississauga MetroStars of the indoor MASL team. Recent headlines have said next season they would be playing in different Ontario cities for each of their home games. He anwered that he's no longer with them and said Tony DeThomasis is the owner. I've know De Thomasis from years of owning/coaching York Region Shooters in the CPSL/CSL from near the beginning of this century. After managing York Region Shooters to the championship in 2017 of the, by then, desanctioned CSL league he partnered with former player Filipe Bento to launch Unionville-Milliken SC in L1O in 2018. He brought some of his favourite players to merge with the youth players from local teams but told me he was disappointed by the quality of the younger players. In 2019 he started off with Masters FA but transferred over to ProStars FC. Lots of player movement for those two clubs midseason. A few tables over was ProStars head coach Josef Komlodi! He said De Thomasis is not with Pro Stars any longer. I spoke to Dino Rossi Jr before the event got started. He wouldn't answer any questions about new teams joining the league (applications to join are on the website which close on Monday then they have to be evaluated etc) even though I was baiting him by saying the Hamilton area could certainly support a team--they have the Hamilton United team in the Women's Division. I congratulated former Canadian national team player Carmelina Moscata on accepting the new post as commissioner of Women's Division (Dino Rossi Jr retains the Men's Division commissioner position). She wasn't asked to on the spot outline her vision for L1O women's soccer as she just was named less than two weeks ago. I confessed that I'd seen 40 L1O games this year but only one was in the Women's Division--that was the at Championship game which was the last time we talked. On my way out I saw open boxes of L1O t-shirts and wondered if that was a door prize or were they for sale. I looked to see if there was one in my size--Yep. Then I couldn't find a sign of the price and asked the security team who had no idea although they were readying to clear our gathering so the club members could reclaim the room. I went back into the room and asked Moscato. She didn't know but said "Go for it!" so I grabbed one on my way out. Now rather than proceed to Section 115, I went down to the ground floor and checked in with security again to ask if I could report on the CPL game (I have a York 9 FC media pass but not a CPL media pass). That was OK'd quickly and I went back to upstairs but this time to the seventh level. Rocket Robin robing@eol.ca twitter @RocketRobin01
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