The start of Canada’s league
Saturday, Canada will kick off its first professional soccer league in years. Grand River Union has always supported local soccer. Dating back to the days of KW United in the grandstands of Seagram Road we celebrated Canadians playing the greatest sport ever. The last two years we have not had that opportunity. Many of the players from that time are now in this new Canadian League. Ready to battle it out for new cities.
We want to take a moment to celebrate the greatness of KW United FC and the launch of our new Canadian League. (this post won’t do the new league justice, check out the work of @mitchelltierney and @nathanmartin82. These guys love Canadian soccer and are local!)
To our former KW United players
We see you. In Winnipeg (Jordan Murrell, Skylar Thomas, Dylan Sacramento), Calgary (Julian Büscher, Sergio Camargo) and York (Nathan Ingham, Justin Springer, Austin Ricci). It’s going to be great to see you all showing your stuff again. We remember when you donned blue and white for our city. We remember when you lifted trophies. You guys were heroes for the kids and players in our area. You will continue to inspire kids but now across the country. Amazing.
To the former United management
We had our differences on how things should go, but by all accounts many of you are now involved in this league. You made a statement by bringing a PDL team to our area and building a culture of the sport as well as doing so with Canadians and locals. Thank you.
For the region
We should be here. We should be excited about our own team taking to the field. Celebrating our city in the stands.
We have a massive soccer culture here. We have clubs that have signed affiliates with Rangers and Forge. We have supporters who built their own futsal league because they saw a need. We’re builders and makers and creatives.
A city of startups missing a chance at the greatest startup league our country has seen. A city of barn builders who can’t figure out how to build a stadium. We can do this. We need to do this.
A couple of our supporters have been highlighting the lack of facilities in our city and what some other cities have available to them. As a group of supporters who also love playing the game we can struggle to get field time often. We can change that.
Canadian Premier League
But for now, you’ll see us in Halifax, York, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Calgary and Victoria (sorry Edmonton…). Because we are so excited for our league. For Canada’s league. For kids from this country to love this sport and see it live, as we did. With our scarves lifted high and our voices belting out:
GRAND RIVER JINGLE-HEIMER-SCHMIDT
And if you happen to have a couple million laying around and want to watch a city build something truly special, reach out to us!
