Fellow Hamiltonians,

Today is an historic day for soccer fans, aka footie followers, in our country. Almost every Canadian has played soccer at one time or another, now we will have our own league to cheer for and for our kids to aspire to play for*.

The leadership of the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) has shown outstanding commitment to its vision for the future of soccer in Canada with the decision to ratify the Canadian Premier League (CPL) today.

The CPL will fill the existing void in the national Canadian soccer development platform by operating a top level professional league, both on and off the field. The CSA and the CPL’s shared commitment is to foster the development of Canadian players.

Most importantly, I’m really excited the Canadian Soccer Association has approved Hamilton’s application to become an official member of the CSA. This approval allows our Hamilton team to apply and join the CPL at the appropriate time. When that time comes, our club will play out of Tim Hortons Field, which has proved to be a world-class soccer stadium and has consistently provided a best-in-class live viewing experience for all of its events. The stadium successfully hosted a Canada Women’s National Team game back in 2015 and all men’s and women’s soccer games at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.

This day is only possible thanks to the unwavering support of soccer fans across Canada, such as our own Barton Street Battalion supporters. They have tirelessly drummed up interest and support locally (and nationally) for the CPL and Hamilton’s future soccer club over the past 15 months.

This is just the beginning of the fun and excitement to come! We’ll share the details of Hamilton’s professional soccer club in the coming weeks. We will be working with Canada Soccer and its many members, sponsors, fans, followers and supporters as all of us together work to make the CPL into one of the most entertaining and progressive footie leagues in the world.

Until then, visit www.hamiltonprosoccer.ca to become a Hamilton CPL fan.

Cheers, Bob

Caretaker, Hamilton Tiger-Cats (the other football club in Hamilton)

*With three daughters myself, I’m only too aware that there isn’t (yet) a Canadian women’s professional soccer league.