The Globe and Mail

Soccer is a simple game, played in the open, under a variety of skies.
 
In England, the great football palaces – Anfield, Old Trafford – mostly sit soaking in the creeping chill of wintery English grayness from November to March.  In Italy and southern Spain, the beautiful game is played in salt air under a deep, hypnotic Mediterranean blue.  Throughout equatorial Africa, the sky seems to rise forever, and can go from empty calm to drenching, rolling rain in less time than it takes the players and fans to run for cover.
 
So, early last week, what were some of the best and brightest minds in Canadian soccer doing in a huge, dark, chilly suburban dining hall – under a hideously painted fake sky?
 
No guff.  This thing was horrendous.  A semi-circular arched vault, carved into a brooding, flat forgettable ceiling, painted electric light blue and covered with lurid white cloud-like blobs.  Even on Downsview’s darkest, drabbest day, you’d be a whole lot closer to celestial bliss if you just ripped the roof right off it, and took your chances with the gathering elements of the Canadian fall.
 
An unlikely place, perhaps, to inaugurate a blog. 
 
But there are good reasons to begin right here. 
 
2007 has been the best and worst of times for soccer in Canada.  On the good side, BMO Field opened, Toronto FC joined MLS, and the whole world watched as our home and native land hosted a boisterous and successful FIFA U-20 World Cup.
 
Ah, but on the flip, our young lads performed dreadfully in that tournament.  Our women’s national side was ousted early from their World Cup in China.  And the Canadian Soccer Association was rocked with defections and scandals.  The squabbling CSA is now under interim leadership, with no chief executive, no technical director, facing scorn and lawsuits, saddled with an outdated board structure that can no longer find a way to function. 
 
That’s what drove us all to Downsview last week for – a little chat.
 
Much will be written about this meeting in the weeks to come.  For now, though, there’s one particular moment I want to share.  CSA finance director Vince Ursini wandered in, and was soon graciously answering frustrated, heart-felt questions from coaches, club officials, the media and former Toronto Metros-Croatia star players Bob Iarusci and Carmen Marcantonio.
 
Ursini, in jeans and a pullover, speaking “as himself,” offered sympathy – and answered directly.  Understand.  The CSA is not particularly in the “direct answer” game.  Internal politics is thick and layered in a place where representatives from every province have a vote on the board.
 
At the end, I took Ursini aside and asked a direct question.  He had spoken repeatedly of CSA reform, but I was still unable to see how a board of directors with so many competing local agendas could ever be able to function.
 
“It can’t,” he said, with a shrug and a sad smile.
 
And that, folks, is the most direct and honest answer I have ever received from the Canadian Soccer Association.  Undoubtedly, Mr. Ursini has agendas of his own, but at least there’s a point of agreement.
 
In the meantime, the vacuum left by the CSA’s present paralysis is being filled.  Canada’s three professional men’s soccer teams, Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact of the lower-division USL – are backed by serious money and connections.  TFC is part of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.  Vancouver owner Greg Kerfoot is a billionaire.  Montreal’s Joey Saputo is an ambitious and well-connected local businessman.
 
Suddenly, these teams are working together to take over one of the CSA’s most important role – player development.  Suddenly, youth soccer clubs across the country are mulling over whether to completely bypass the CSA, and work with the pro clubs directly.  The change could be huge – revolutionary.
 
A new day is dawning, all at once.  And the sky won’t be a badly lit ballroom-ceiling monstrosity.
 
This blog is here to chronicle it all.
 
I’ve been covering soccer – in my former role as a columnist for Sportsnet.ca – for seven years.  Throw in my time calling games for local television, and my direct involvement with Canadian soccer spans two decades.
 
The Globe and Mail has brought me here to create a new and thriving on-line community of soccer lovers.  We’re going to discuss the entire world of the beautiful game.  Europe, South America, World Cups, FIFA, UEFA – the CSA.
 
Other members of the Globe’s wonderful sports-writing staff will also be here, chipping in thoughts, sparking conversations.
 
Most importantly, we welcome contributions from you, the fans.  Much of the best soccer writing in this country is being done by regular fans, on fan-driven web sites.  We want that to happen here, too.  Just click the “comments” link, and go.  Consider this your own little corner of Canada’s national newspaper.
 
And you can always contact me, at knightonsoccer@yahoo.ca.
 
Let’s make this a very special place for soccer fans to gather.  The times, they are a-changin’ – and we all have a say in where soccer in Canada is about to go.
 
Onward!