June 18, 2020...Press conference for the proposed League 1 Ontario team 1812 FC Barrie

  
A press conference was held at 1:00pm on June 18, 2020 to announce the plans of the '1812 FC Barrie'
team which will apply to League 1 Ontario to commence in time for the 2021 season.    
  
The press conference was held over the Zoom program because of the global Covid 19 pandemic.  
(Note:  I was ready but the meeting ID number was changed with minutes to go and I kept attempting
to sign on with the old number so I missed the first 12 minutes.)  

*Late news.  I have now recorded the full 41 minutes a few days after it was posted on the club website. 

Here is the audio of the 41 minutes of that meeting.  (right here)

start 
Andrew Weilgus (team owner) was the MC for much of the meeting.  
0 min...opening welcome and introduction of who is joining him.  
4 min...Weilgus explains how he got started with this club including reaching out to the Barrie
Soccer Club, reaching out to League 1 Ontario.  1812 has 'just started the process'. The growth
of Barrie as a city.  Potential fan base.  
13 min...Will Devellis (coaching director of Barrie Soccer Club) outlines his vision.
16 min...Mark Cristante the technical director of Barrie Soccer Club (who will also be the tech director 
of 1812 FC) outlines his vision.  They will expect to hire a coaching staff for 1812 FC.  The recent 
success of Barrie Soccer Club. 
17 min...admission that they have NOT applied to League 1 Ontario membership yet but will start today. 
18 min...Peter Raco (club's football advisor) offers feedback on their support in the city (Barrie).
He encourages people interested in working with the team ie sponsors etc to contact the club. 
20 min...comments by Roman Cordelle (the Irish accent) and Jacob Sanderson of the team's supporters 
group 'Kempenfelt Crew'.
24 min...kit designs are revealed with the transitional 'Your company name here' on the chest. 
They are at the 'pre-order' stage. Games will be "family friendly and affordable".  Request is made
for sponsors.  Will be a year round team.  It is mentioned that Season tickets will be $75 and includes 
a t-shirt and hat.  Player name dropped!  The possibility of Jeremy Hall playing for the team.  
30 min...Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman makes some comments as a former player and soccer parent.  
32 min...guests questions answered:  
       progress made during this pandemic?  
       games covered on TV?  
       time periods for tryouts?  
       player compensation?  professional or semi-professional? 
       home venue of Georgian College?  
       building a stadium?         
	   
A bubble popped up where chat 'guests' (like me) we could ask questions.  My own were ignored but 
they may have been addressed in the opening 12 minutes that I missed.   
  
My questions were : If they had their choice, what day and time would they prefer to play their 
home games? and (knowing that L1O because of problems in past years with new teams overcoming financial 
problems restricts new teams to enter with a men's team OR a women's team in their first year), 
Will they be applying for both a men's and women's team and if they could only choose one, which 
would they start with?    

I will contact the team to ask those questions and update any answers here.  

back to 2020 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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