December 17, 2021
Rocket Robin Soccer In Toronto 2021 Season Review
The year 2021 was sure a year that I will always remember. It started out that I was expecting another year where no games were played 'at home' or even 'at all' as was 2020. This was the second year in a row the schedules were effected by Covid pandemic regulations.
York United FC (I was able to get to attend all 10 home games plus their two in the Canadian Championship and their lone playoff game).
The Canadian Premier League was at least scheduling their season but it was unclear how much would be played in a bubble in Winnipeg. The season didn't get started until near the end of July. York (now rebranded from York 9 FC) and Forge FC were caught in a bind as they weren't allowed to train as a group because of provincial government restrictions in Ontario until two weeks before the season began. I was able to attend one of their practices when I read a rumour and double checked that they were training at the Ontario Soccer Centre. I was feeling great as it had been so long since I was able to see any soccer in person. I was one of the only 4% of Canadians who had been double vaxed at that time because of a system glitch that allowed my five year age group and the fact that I lived a few streets inside the boundary of the City of Toronto to receive a batch of the AZ vaccine that would have been discarded at the end of the March because of its expiry date. Second dose by the end of May with similar reasoning and a lot of hustling to beat the month end.
Receipts in hand I went to that practice but was turned away (at that time the players because of their young ages hadn't even a single dose) and couldn't sit in the empty stands with two 'soccer dads'. A compromise was reached that I could watch from behind the fence (not bad as it was still a clear view) and not report nor photograph the game (easy as there were so many new players on the roster and they were wearing unnumbered t-shirts).
The season began and I was watching their Bubble games on OneSoccer and joining in Zoom calls of their post game press conferences. I stopped attending Zoom calls after the Bubble as I got busy with the League1 Ontario season. Their first home game was Friday July 30th against Forge FC with restrictions of either isolating in the Press Box (masks must be worn) or the stands (I am also a SSH) and I always chose the Press Box.
A very different team than 2019 (or the Island Games shortened 2020) in that the management decided to go with youth over experience despite acquiring a few CPL veterans. I was afraid that having less than two weeks training before starting the regular season would mean they'd be off to a slow start (most pundits understandably had them pegged at eighth ie. last) and hopefully get better as the season went along. Surprisingly they went along with a somewhat 50/50 record throughout the season and grabbed the fourth and final playoff spot. The Western teams started off hot except for rebuilding FC Edmonton but once the Bubble was over and Valour FC had to start playing road games, they collapsed and it allowed York as the best of the second tier teams to grab the last playoff spot despite losing to Forge FC in their last two regular season games but both Valour FC and HFX Wanderers could only tie their last games of the season and not pass York which made the second Forge game of no consequence. York's final table results were 8 wins, 8 losses, 12 ties for 36 points. They had more ties than any team in the league which kept them in that second tier.
I also have to thank management for getting accreditation for the Canadian Championship quarterfinal down at BMO Field to play Toronto FC and their CPL semi-final against Forge at Tim Hortons Field. Those games I lacked a computer so I couldn't hear their post game press conferences clearly as they were both conducted in the stadium but remotely.
Canadian Men's National team (I attended their three home games in Toronto)
The Covid situation was better than it was in July for Canada's World Cup Qualifying games in the Octagonal. Tickets in the first break September 2nd and 8th were only sold in pairs with seating of two empty seats, your two seats, two empty seats for the entire row. Finding out that the press box had limited seating and I wasn't sent an application for that, I was able to buy seats pretty close to the press box. A friend working for the CSA was able to slip me game rosters through an opened window before each game.
Canada had played all their preliminary games to even make this final eight on the road or using a 'home' in Florida. The Octo didn't start well as in their first game they had to come from behind to tie Honduras with the Toronto stadium filled almost 50% with Honduras fans. By the end of this year 2021, things have improved as the team is still undefeated eight games into the campaign and currently lead the group! September 8th they beat El Salvador and October 13th when tickets could be bought individually they decisively beat Panama with me watching with my jaw open as Alphonso Davies beat a stopped defender near the sideline and dribbled in and scored. A decidedly pro-Canadian crowd had packed the stands for that game.
League1 Ontario (I attended 30 games Men, 1 game Women)
This was a league that suspended their entire schedule for 2020. This year they released a schedule to start at the end of July (three months later than other years) with 16 'Premier Division' teams and were to play a reduced 12 games for the regular season with less teams making the playoffs for a simple one game semi-final and final. They originally were placed in four, four team conferences to cut down on travelling and mingling between geographical areas. That was changed last minute when only 15 decided to play so the conferences were realigned into two with a seven team East and eight team West. Because the boundary of the conferences was Toronto, I was able to see all teams at least once and conducted an audio interview with all the teams' head or assistant coach by the five week mark of the season.
There were other teams that had played at the top level before who elected to play at the 'Championship Division', 'University Division' or 'Reserve Division' level, some playing even shorter schedule. This was a way for some of the smaller teams with their main rosters disappearing for NCAA and Usports commitments to stay active in L1O. It also allowed a good blueprint for some of the newer teams to get a taste of the setup of the league. With more teams being announced for the 2022 season, it plants the seeds for a second division to this league for the smaller clubs and for possible promotion and relegation between them with Premier now possibly up to twenty teams for next season with applications still being accepted.
The championship team was Guelph United who used the experience and organization of University of Guelph, city officials, and the youth Guelph Soccer club to 'Unite' and win in their first year in L1O. Hard luck team this season was '1812 FC Barrie' (another new team) who weren't allowed to play at their 'home' stadium because of Covid restrictions imposed by Georgian College and ended up with their home games played in Brampton. The Final was held on November 7th (ending the season one month later than usual) on a surprisingly mild day. That day also let me see the Women's Final for my one game of the season...I just don't have any more time.
Toronto FC II of the USL League One Division (I attended their last four home games)
This was a team with a tough season to play. They had gone through 2020 on hiatus because Covid made border crossing too restrictive to operate as all their opponents are American. This season they did play but the first part of the season had them hold their home games in Arizona and Florida. With some back-loading and schedule trading they were able to play their last eight of fourteen home games at the BMO Training Ground. That was good for the team but then a mixed message was given out of “no fans allowed” then “family and friends”. I had made inquiries throughout the changing goalposts
and received a personalized e-mail that said “Don't come”. I ended up going to their third game expecting to be turned away and planning to continue my drive to see an L1O game but I must have come early or the protocol had been changed again and I was able to walk right in after showing my vaccine papers and drivers licence. They won three out of these last four home games and came within a game of the playoffs but had to watch other teams pass them on the final weekend.
This season puts an end to their USL participation as a new league made up exclusively with MLS teams is set to kickoff for 2022. Twenty one teams to start gathered from League One and Championship where the MLS '2' teams played this year will be in it.
My summary for this season is later than any other year. The season ended later but also just when the schedules were being announced I got back on the roster for my volunteer work so that kept me busy. Also for a few months my computer was acting up with the fan working but malfunctioning and was as loud as a blender. It made being logged on for more than half hour headache-causing.
I started writing a monthly column for the online publication 'The Sentinel'. http://cansha.coffeecup.com/
During the offseason I expect I will add some league articles to my website if they are still available via cut and paste. I can also get back to Football Manager 21 which was the first FM I've ever played. I added the Canadian mode which has the lower division leagues like L1O. I didn't have the time to play during the season and I was getting confused as my L1O team during four seasons had gradually blended with other teams with all the roster changing and I didn't want to risk getting confused with the real players. Someone in the game, I asked the mode designer, there's a character with my name but I've never met him at a press conference yet.
A big thank you to the managers and players and game officials of the leagues I follow helping me fill in the blanks on game day.
Best wishes for 2022
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
Twitter @RocketRobin01
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