From the Black Hole

For episode 100 we welcome back Michael Findlay. Formerly with Canada Soccer in a number of roles, Michael is now doing some work for the Canadian Premier League.

We welcome back Tommy Wheeldon Jr who now adds GM and Head Coach of Cavalry FC to his list of titles. Of course, he is on to discuss the newly announced Calvalry FC, Calgary's entry into CanPL and the events that led to its establishment.

It’s been a long hiatus but we are finally back with Episode 98. I was joined by Derek Martin of Sports and Entertainment Atlantic to delve into the events that led to SEA pursuing a CanPL team, Derek’s personal conversion to soccer fandom, how a soccer team will enhance the urban landscape of downtown Halifax, and many other topics.

In Episode 97, Foothills TD Tommy Wheeldon Jr. joins us again to discuss all things Foothills, and a lot has happened. Foothills PDL went to the PDL final in 2016, the club established their UWS team, and they built a magnificent new indoor soccer facility, the first of its kind in Alberta. As usual, Tommy has a some great stories and gives his opinions on the importance of the upcoming Canadian Premier League.

On Episode 96 we have an exclusive podcast interview with Joe Belan who is leading the group who is looking to bring a Saskatchewan team to the Canadian Premier League. To say those of us in the province are excited about this is an understatement. Like the Canadian Premier League will change the landscape of Canadian soccer, so this team will change the soccer landscape in Saskatchewan. It's as surprising as it is exciting. Have a listen.

In episode 95 we were joined by Canada Soccer Deputy General Secretary Joe Guest. Joe take us through much of the behind the scenes game administration details involved with putting on National Team games and professional team games, as well as the decision making process about the past, present, and future of the Voyageurs Cup. We discussed how the competition has changed recently and how it might change with the addition of CanPL teams in (hopefully) the near future.

On our latest episode we welcome back Jerson to discuss all that has happened in Saskatoon futsal as well as his recent trip to Kingston to compete in the Canadian National Futsal Championship.

In Episode 93 we were joined by Colin Elmes and Will Cromack of TSS Academy and also of the new PDL team TSS Rovers. Colin and Will recognize many of the issues plaguing Canadian player development and have been working for years to address those issues. That labour continues with the first season of TSS Rovers.

It's been a busy week here at FTBH World Headquarters and we finish it off by chatting with James Covey and Andre Bourque who are working to establish Halifax Wanderers Supporters Group. This was another super fun conversation with excited soccer guys. With all the great stuff happening in places like Halifax, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Hamilton, away days are going to be brilliant in CanPL.

While the NASL and USL world was in disarray this off season, it was business as usual in the front office of FC Edmonton. And it now looks like staying the course and sticking to the message has things looking up for the team. Jay Ball joined us to discuss how.

In our latest episode we were joined by Levi Oakey and Adrian Martin of Grand River Union to discuss supporting in K-W and the prospects of a CanPL team.

We are back with another rambling discussion of reactions from the MLS playoffs, focusing on the tie between Toronto and Montreal, and then we slowly switch over to CanPL talk. However, at the end we spontaneously cooked up a way to wrap up 2016 and we need your input. If you are interested in contributing, please send us your Canadian soccer highlights and lowlights from 2016. Direct message us on Twitter or Facebook and we will try and include your contributions during our 2016 year-in-review episode. Thanks in advance for any contributions.

Yes, stuff. Jeff and I had not done a podcast together since sometime in August. So this episode turned into us simply trying to catch up on stuff supplemented by several discussions of Jeff and Cheryl's Ukrainian cooking. Lars once again is absent, this time enjoying a holiday in Dubai. Jerk.

We originally talked to Tino in July right before he was about to take his Canadian University Women's Futsal Team to Brazil for the University Futsal Championships. Now we are following up with him to see what his experience was like. ** A brief note - I recorded this interview using a method that I'd not yet tried and the sound quality left a lot to be desired. Despite my best editing attempts, the sound is still poor. Apologies for that.

In advance of the Canadian Men's National Team's two upcoming friendlies in Morocco, we were joined by interim head coach Michael Findlay to discuss the lessons learned from the previous World Cup Qualifying round and how those lessons will be applied as the team is in transition.

From the Black Hole, Soccer Podcast, Soccer Canada, CANMNT, CANWNT, Ottawa Fury FC, Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps, Women's World Cup, Voyageurs Cup, CCL, CONCACAF, FC Edmonton, Supporter Culture, Canadian Premier League, Steven Sandor

When we look back at 2016, the Women's National Team's bronze medal at the Rio Olympics will be a massive story, not only because of the medal, but also because of the way it was won. This was no hold-on-by-your-fingernails-and-hope-to-score-a-late-winner performance, but a quality affair where the women looked full measure for their wins. It was exciting and, dare I say, gives fans hope for that the future is bright where previously it was easy to believe that our women were on their way into a dark and difficult rebuild. Luckily, work took me to Saskatoon so Jeff and I could sit down for another rambling recording (complete with Cheryl laugh-track). We spend the second half of the podcast discussing the women's performance while in the first half we refer to many other CanSoc stories that certainly didn't escape our notice, but that we haven't had time to give our full attention.

In Episode 83 we were joined by the OSA's Manager of Player Development, Bobby Lennox. Bobby's role with the OSA takes him throughout Ontario working with clubs and coaches to support grassroots player development.

For Episode 82 we were joined by Canadian Men's U20 head coach Rob Gale. We discussed the unfortunate cancelation of the recent U20 camp in Costa Rica due to a volcano, the many new faces coming into the U20s, player database, tracking and evaluation, and what lies ahead for the U20s. I think Rob convinced Jeff to become an optimist!

In today's episode we were joined by Saskatoon's Jerson Barandicah. To say Jerson is involved in a lot of Saskatoon's soccer scene would be an understatement. From coaching the U of S Women's Soccer Team to developing new futsal leagues, he seems to do it all.