Details of the York 9 FC Kit Launch held at Market Brewing Co. in Newmarket on Thursday April 4, 2019.
I received an e-mail along with other York 9 FC season ticket holders to the kit reveal on Monday and
immediately knew that it was more serious than the April Fool's tweet about head coach Jim Brennan
being signed as a player. With a confirm date deadline of 'Monday (sic) April 2nd @ 12pm sharp' I first
read after I came home from work that I had missed the deadline which would have been a real prank.
The event was held at the Market Brewing Co. at 17775 Leslie Street in Newmarket with the invite stating
doors open 6:45pm sharp and the program starting at 7:15pm. OK I arrived early despite a detour
forcing me off Leslie as they were taking a jog out of the road. I arrived just after 6 pm and took one
of the last parking spots. There was a large shopping mall about half a block away so I expect that
would take the overflow. The establishment looks retro with an operating brewery behind the plate glass
of the bar/event centre. It was established in 2016 which if you didn't look closely you might think
it was a century old.
Working the door was Johnny Stancati who I've known for years with League 1 Ontario Woodbridge Strikers.
He said he was just hired by York 9 two days ago but will keep his assistant manager duties with Woodbridge
and L1O--he writes many of the team game reports and also has a role with the Canadian Soccer Association.
Wandering around most people were fascinated by the merchandice table while I was more agog seeing for
the first time a blow up poster of the York 9 Stadium seating plan now that Alumni Stadium will not
be used. It was only earlier today I discovered on the CPL app that my tickets suddenly are visible
so I could find where I sit in this stadium. The front row of Section 500! Ooh wow! The centre line
with my back to the sun...great!
The 'main' event was being held in downtown Toronto which I found out the location earlier in the day.
The 'pro reporters' were all down there...How convenient I thought. For a little bit of publicity
tonight and those same reporters won't be there for the CPL inaugural game as they have commitments
to cover MLS Toronto FC on the same afternoon. Anyway I was jealous for a minute but was happier
to be here with York 9 players and fans.
It was 7:10pm when the simulcast began with CPL media director Kurt Larson and league commissioner
David Clanachan talked about the kit designs. Someone leaned over and told me that discussion was
recorded earlier today. It was like watching a foreign movie as their lips and sound were out
of synch. The discussion could have been taped weeks ago as it was topics I'd heard them discuss
before. Expansion, their League 1 Ontario relationship etc.
At 7:30pm team kits were revealed for each of the seven teams. That meant 14 different designs
because of home and away considerations. There are sites that have a lot better pictures then
my grainy ones seen on a screen...in fact I stopped writing down the colour schemes. I was more
interested in the contrasts. I watched a highlight package of the MLS Los Angeles FC team and
they were running around in gray names and numbers on white shirts. I had a hard time telling
the players apart even with the zoom in of the cameras so I would dread sitting 50 yards away.
I had that nightmare watching L1O Sanjaxx Lions in their early years with yellow on white!
These uniforms will all be easy for me to see. Most have white numbers on a coloured jersey
both home and away. I thought the HFX Wanderers light blue on dark blue would be the only
one that I may have a tough time seeing.
Kits were modeled by two players from each team. Easy to get the players as they are leaving
Friday for training in the Dominican Republic so they'd be in Toronto anyway. York 9 FC
was introduced with players Kyle Porter and Manny Aparicio modeling the kits which
meant they weren't up in Newmarket. After all the kit intros pro models, male and females
were there modeling jackets, hoodies, backpacks and other gear. The music was EDM and
it played well. Starting with 'Hello' by Dragonette and Martin Solveig. Dragonette can't
be more Canadian with vocalist Martina Sorbara being the daughter of a former longtime cabinet
minister of provincial liberal governments over the years. I thought it may be an all-Canadian
playlist but except for hearing 'partynextdoor' the rapper from Mississauga, the others were
international stars like Pitbull and Calvin Harris.
I was tracking the sponsors on the kits. Volkswagen (who were announced as a league sponsor
months ago) are on the Pacific and Halifax kits although it looked like a slightly different
VW logo on each one. Cavalry had WestJet which satisfied one of my questions of how the
teams will get to different cities in this huge country. 'One Soccer' is the sponsor of
FC Edmonton and Valour FC. Tim Horton's is sponsor of Forge which makes a lot of sense as
Hamilton was the starting point of the franchise and the name of the stadium of where they play.
York 9 has Macron who are the kit designers of all the teams.
I expect that presentation will be on the league website.
That presentation ended and the York 9 FC one began. There was a 30 second TV ad for the team
which I've seen before and heard is being played on station TLN during their Serie A broadcasts.
I've got the audio of the York 9 presentation below:
mp3 File...the York 9 presentation after the downtown Toronto simulcast...9 min 5 sec
(I started recording about two minutes in). Preben Ganzhorn is in the middle of discussing
the York 9 kits. He praises Macron as the kit maker and team sponsor. Jimmy Brennan then
introduces the players who are here and discusses the preseason in Dominican Republic.
Another player now signed is Jose Pina from Venezuela who is already down in Dominican Republic
waiting for the team to join him.
After that audio the formal presentation broke up and parents took their children home. I made
sure I spoke with team president Preben Ganzhorn for the second time tonight reminding him that
many of the pro reporters will not not be at Tim Horton's Field but at BMO on April 27th.
[Yeah Friday and the Toronto Star mentioned not a word of the event in downtown Toronto about 3 km
from their office]
Ganzhorn told me that 'One Soccer' is the content provider in the MEDIAPRO deal. He said all games
will be on the league app. He answered me that there will be over-the-air broadcasts but he won't
say which companies. He said there will be better L1O coverage right away and that I'll be surprised.
I am used to camcorder on a pole broadcasts up to now and don't expect eight camera angles for crowds
of 50 people but even one 'Game of the Week' high production level broadcast will dazzle me.
I spoke to Ben Zayandehroudi VP of Ticket Sales and Fan Services. I was not able to see my ticket
for the 'away game' in Hamilton. He answered that game which now has expected travelling support
of 1200 will not be on the app. The ticket pick up for we travellers will be when we get on the
bus. For those going to the game on their own there will be a booth set up in the parking lot
in Hamilton and our names will be on a list. (my advice, bring ID!) He also said there will
be four pick-up spots for the courtesy buses which will show up on the team web site tomorrow.
One will be at the Pioneer Village subway stop which will be about the closest stop for York
Lions Stadium. That should satisfy the downtown Toronto crowd. Some of the other places are
shopping malls which should have plenty of parking.
Below is my outdoor interview with midfielder Emilio Estevez Tsai. I had arranged it before the
presentation using Cyrus Rollocks at the same table who could vouch how good our interview went
at the Brampton event if he needed any convincing. As expected the crowd and music were still
too loud so we went outside. Good thing he put on his coat as the nights are still cold
out here.
mp3 File...my interview with midfielder Emilio Estevez Tsai...4 min 46 sec
Estevez talks about the kit launch, his tryout at the Open Trials in Vaughan, the rivalry with Sigma
(now with a lot of them moving to Forge FC), his inclusion in the Chinese Taipei national team, the
elephant in the room on the internet (or should I say the Mighty Duck?) having a movie star's name,
and what they'll looking forward to with the training camp in Dominican Republic.
Merchandise tables were already laid out before we arrived.
Players and fans watch the kit reveal in downtown Toronto before the team reveal began up here.
Here's what they were watching.
Head coach Jim Brennan introduces each player with a short bio. Beside him is Emilio Estevez Tsai.
Dennis of 'Trix' did some ball juggling.
Members of York 9 FC pose for pictures and selfies. (about half the team at a time)
The York 9 FC kit numbers over by the order desk. Now we know who wears what.
Market Brewing Co, the site of the York 9 FC kit launch in Newmarket. I took this picture before
the event started. (ie daylight)
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01
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