December 28, 2020...Rocket Robin's Soccer in Toronto Season Review: 2020
Monday December 28, 2020 Rocket Robin's Soccer in Toronto Season Review: 2020 Well this has sure been a year unlike any previous one since I started attending soccer games in 1989. I didn't attend a single match during 2020 because of the COVID pandemic. I felt for the last few months that there was nothing for me to summarize but this will be a time capsule for years from now when my pages have little original content—just mostly cut and paste from news releases from the teams and leagues that I follow. York 9 FC (Canadian Premier League) This was tough for this new league in only its second year of operations. It started off well with me attending their 2020 kit unveiling in February and the schedule released listing that their home games were being moved to Friday nights so as not to conflict with Toronto FC games. Sounded promising but then when the pandemic hit in March, the league start was delayed then eventually an abbreviated season was held in a 'bubble' in Charlottetown Prince Edward Island. The season began August 13th and it was all over with the Final held on September 19th. A seven game mini-season, three more games for the four playoff teams and a one game Final. York 9 FC only played the seven first round games and finished fifth of the eight teams, missing the next round by one point. Their problem was they tied four of those games and fell short. I was able to watch their games on the OneSoccer app and attend virtual post game press conferences on Zoom but it wasn't the same. After rumours of a rebrand, the owners/management renamed the team 'York United FC' and chose new colours. The biggest changes for me is that next season it looks like only seven players of the 2019 roster will still be with the team. It appears their roster will be the youngest in the league which could mean a slow start to the season. Toronto FC II of USL League One This league was also postponed but when they did have a season, TFC II decided to sit out the season because of border concerns. At the time, the American cities had the most infections. From the schedule the league released, the competition was more regionalized but TFC II would have to travel to Florida most often which became the state with the most infections. The Canadian government imposed a 14 day quarantine period for teams crossing the border and that wasn't going to satisfy the league. Some players were loaned out to CPL teams and fit in quite well. Some of the American players were loaned to American USL teams and near the end of what would be the season, a Canadian was loaned to one of them and a few others to European teams. A few were even signed by TFC at the MLS level as they were allowed an expanded roster this season. Ironic that after League One had a number of COVID postponed and cancelled games, the agreed to one game playoff final was never played at the end of October because of another COVID outbreak. My entire webpage on them was just cut and paste. It would have been interesting any other year because their games are late Friday afternoons and York 9 FC was scheduled to play Friday evenings so driving through rush hour traffic to see both may have been difficult. League 1 Ontario This league also didn't play in 2020. The season was postponed with the hopes of some kind of Fall schedule which would have been interesting as many of the teams lose their rosters when the players leave for college and university. Although most post secondary sports were cancelled, the league finally cancelled their season even though the comparable PLSQ in Quebec eventually got a shortened season. What has been promised is that 2019 champions Masters FA will get the L1O spot in the 2021 Canadian Championship for the Voyageurs Cup. My website: I had a lot of time on my hands with no soccer and the loss of my volunteer job at a local hospital. I finally posted my pre-internet soccer games by photographing and posting page by page my Canadian Soccer League (Canada's national league from 1987 to 1992) programs. I starting attending games in 1988 and had saved all my programs although it eventually turned into one page handouts then even that was replaced by the sale of 'The International Soccer News'. For the earlier years, I used some of the programs as scrapbooks by adding cutouts from the daily newspapers of stories and standings. I've never taken time for computer games until recently. I bought Football Manager 2021 and immediately downloaded the patch (created by Edward Hon-Sing Wong) of the lower league teams in Canada partly for the reason that I was a character in the game. Yes there is a reporter named 'Robin Glover' who writes for Waking The Red although I haven't run into him yet. Last thing and it's because of me keeping a website for over 25 years now, I received e-mails for interviews because I attended a game in 1996 that featured soccer hero Diego Maradona playing a special exhibition game here in Toronto for Toronto Italia against a CNSL All Star team. He had come to the city to visit one of his younger brothers who played for Italia and a game was hastily arranged. It was a sellout at Birchmount Stadium. The first enquiry I received was from a writer from The Athletic and that story was printed months before Diego unexpectedly passed away. When that happened I received a call from a writer from Canadian Press although my quotes weren't used and then a part in a documentary filmed locally which may come out in the new year. My original report on that game is at: http://www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com/cnsla061.htm Some of the posts before and after that date expand on the origins and aftermath of that game. Best wishes for soccer in Toronto in 2021! Rocket Robin robing@eol.ca
back to 2020 League 1 Ontario Men's index
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