Yesterday, May 28th 2015, marked the tenth anniversary men’s soccer in Ottawa, and 15 years of Ottawa Fury as a club. Make sure you come out to support the club this evening as they take on Canadian rivals FC Edmonton and celebrate 10 amazing years of footy in Ottawa!

In 2000, the Ottawa Fury soccer program was launched as a women’s soccer team in the W-League. Two years later an English businessman by the name John Pugh would come to the capital and buy this small soccer club and, over the course of the past 13 years, he has molded it into the club we know and love today, Ottawa Fury FC.

Men’s soccer was introduced in 2005, as Ottawa Fury SC (as it was then known) played their first season in the United Soccer League’s – Player Development League. The first match this new Fury men’s team kicked off was on Saturday May 28th 2005, or 10 years ago this weekend. This match was won 3-0 by Ottawa Fury as they downed the Westchester Flames at Keith Harris stadium.

The first match was only played in front of 250 people on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The club now plays in front of at least ten fold that at TD Place with two supporters groups, drums, flags and smoke. The progression this club has made since John Pugh has taken over, including the introduction of well renown academies, has been purely natural and organic and not based on money and plastic fans. It has been slow at times, and a long process, but this club has been raised from the grassroots academy up to a professional NASL squad with quality Canadian players like Julian De Guzman.

Unlike some other expansion clubs in North America, Ottawa Fury was built from the ground up over the course of over a decade, slowly building its resources, its players, its fans and its reach in the community. The club now offers professional football to the fans in the city, as well as a great academy for young players to develop their games.

Thank you John Pugh, your commitment to soccer in this city has made many fans and players dream’s come true, and we cant wait to watch this club continue to grow in the NASL!