Kingston FC status moving forward...

As mentioned a few weeks ago, Kingston FC withdrew from the CSL this season. The story that came out over the next few days was that the team had applied to the Ontario Soccer Association in an attempt to enter League1 Ontario as a second eastern Ontario team after the Kingston Clippers.

Today, the organization announced that they are working toward a move into the OSA structure as an OSA Recognized Non-Club Academy (ORNCA).

L1O: Kingston Clippers schedule announced (Updated)

Earlier this morning, the League1 Ontario schedule was announced. The Kingston Clippers will be playing 22 games this year, eleven at home, eleven away, beginning May 2nd in King City and wrapping up September 26th in Toronto.

Their home opener takes place on May 9th at 2pm at Queen's West campus field, Miklas-McCarney, in Kingston, but the majority of their home games will be played at Tindall Field on the main Queen's campus.

The full schedule for the Kingston Clippers can be found below.

A successful "mega-club"?

On another of my tangential, non-news postings, earlier this week, a friend of mine pointed out a recent excellent article on SoccerAmerica asking if there was a place for small clubs in the USA. As a quick summary, that article states that, yes there is a place, but at a certain point, those clubs will need to either combine or affiliate with another club to ensure the proper levels of development and standards.

As anything related to soccer here in Canada often does, this led to a discussion about how it could, would, and should apply up here in the so-called "frozen north". The big issues that arose were specifically that there are different levels of services expected between smaller and larger clubs and that the political and economic reasons for larger clubs tend to be outweighed by their lack of developmental benefits. Typically, the larger a club, the more inefficient it is and the oversight and accountability becomes more difficult to manage, much like we often see here in Ontario with the OSA↣District↣Club chain.

Weekend Roundup - June 7/8

This past weekend, the League1 Ontario Cataraqui Clippers held their home opener down at the St. Lawrence College field on Saturday with a 5pm kickoff. The Clippers' OYSL team continued their fight in the U17 division. Kingston FC played a pair of games out of town split between Milton and North York. And finally, the Kingston United women play up in Ottawa this evening.

L1O: Cataraqui Clippers league schedule announced

This morning, the Ontario Soccer Association officially released the League1 Ontario full league schedule, including the games to be played by the Cataraqui Clippers.

As mentioned previously, the Clippers will be opening their 2014 season at the OSA's Soccer Centre in Vaughan on May 31st against Masters FA with an 11am kickoff.

The Clippers will host the Toronto FC Academy the following weekend at home on Saturday, June 7th at 5pm at the main St. Lawrence College field.

L1O: Cataraqui Clippers League1 Ontario press conference

This afternoon, the Cataraqui Clippers held a press conference at the Ambassador Hotel in Kingston, along with Ron Smale, the president of the Ontario Soccer Association, and Dino Rossi, League1 Ontario chairman and OSA board member.

The conference was used to make a formal announcement to the Kingston (and area) media and to show off some of the players that will be playing with their League1 Ontario team this summer.

Outdoor Season is almost upon us... (Updated)

As the snow begins to melt and the grass (and turf) underneath begins to become visible and obvious, outdoor seasons are and tournaments are starting to warm up the turf in the Kingston area.

This past weekend, one of the last indoor tournaments took place, the Queen's High School indoor invitational, out at the Kingston 1000 Islands Sportsplex in Westbrook.

On the boys side, St. Pius X from Ottawa repeated as the boys champions with a 2-0 victory over Cornwall's St. Joseph's. Eight teams started pool play with St. Pius X and St. Joseph's finishing first in their respective divisions and a bye to the semi finals. St. Joseph's beat Belleville's Bayside 1-0 in the semis to advance to the final. St. Pius beat Pickering's Pine Ridge 2-0 in the semi finals on their way to the championship.

The girls side saw another repeat champion, also from Ottawa, as St. Francis Xavier HS won in a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory over Alliston's Banting Memorial. Thirteen teams started pool play with St. Francis Xavier, Banting Memorial and Whitby's Donald A Wilson capturing their respective divisions. Banting Memorial reached the final with a 1-0 quarter final victory over Smiths Falls, and a 1-0 semi final victory over Donald Wilson. St. Francis Xavier beat Bayside 3-1 in the quarter finals, and Pine Ridge 4-0 in the semi finals on their way to capturing the title.

League1 Ontario announced, Cataraqui Clippers playing

This afternoon, the Ontario Soccer Association officially unveiled their League1 Ontario (L1O) competition beginning this summer, and here in Kingston, it was revealed that the Cataraqui Clippers were one of the ten inaugural teams taking part, playing as the Kingston Cataraqui Clippers.

The official announcement and presentation took place this afternoon at the OSA's Soccer Centre in Vaughan, Ontario and was attended by the Cataraqui Clippers' technical director Chris Eveleigh and former Kingston FC player, Jason Massie.