CSL à Québec
Publié : 03 novembre 2010 9:15
Québec serait le point d'obtenir une franchise de la CSL pour 2011 ou 2012, selon Ben Rycroft (http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/680905):
Ben Rycroft a écrit :CSL headed to Quebec City
by: Ben Rycroft November 03, 2010 1:04 AM
It’s Called Football learned yesterday that a Quebec City group has received pending approval from the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) for an expansion franchise.
Two sources within the CSL say the group, headed by Jean Sebastian Roy – a partner and VP of marketing for the Quebec Kebs of the Professional Basketball League (PBL), is moving ahead with plans to bring a second semi-professional soccer team to the province of Quebec for the 2011 or 2012 season.
The team is slated to play out of either Laval University PEPS stadium – which seats just over 12,000 - or a brand new turf-field facility at College Francois-Xavier Garneau - which is equipped with bleachers that can accommodate up to 2,000 people.
The group is seeking entrance into the general league table and not the Quebec-only conference, which CSL Commissioner Dominic Di Gironimo eluded to plans of on the Oct. 15th episode of It’s Called Football.
The only hurdle now standing between Quebec City and a CSL team is approval by the local and provincial bodies – and that’s where it gets sticky.
A second group, made up mostly of members of the Quebec Regional Soccer Association, recently applied to the Quebec Soccer Federation for approval to pursue Professional Development League (PDL) franchises in the region. They were looking to create a conference of fourth division soccer in the province.
The CSL, which is considering wide expansion in Ontario and into British Columbia, is considered third division soccer.
The provincial federation turned down that PDL application but has been entertaining appeals to reverse it ever since. Sources within the provincial federation indicate the PDL application ‘is a non-starter’ but said they must play out the process for ‘the politics of it’ and that they ‘weren’t interested in sanctioning both at this time.’
And so the Quebec City CSL expansion team waits. Waits as the provincial body plays out an application that they don’t expect to be passed and waits for the regional group to realize what they have planned won’t ever get off the ground.
The CSL says Quebec City is ready. The club – which has connections to the local university soccer community and as far away as Argentina – says they’re ready.
How long the process is drawn out will determine if Quebec City is ready for the CSL in 2011 or if they will have to wait until 2012 for semi-professional soccer to arrive.