My other team

[Ottawa Green]

What you have to remember is most American and Canadian adults have absolutely no interest in soccer, they never played it, watched it or new what it was, all they care about is baseball, football (NFL) or ice hockey or NASCAR. It is only the last 2 generations that have taken any interest and that is because the latest generation have taken to it because it is so cheap and simple and anyone can play and it's reasonably safe to play, compared to football and ice hockey.
At nearly all MLS and NASL stadiums there are fan organisations

this is part of the Fury's group, they are organised have Facebook pages and are sponsored by local bars. They keep up a constant chant and cheering, the rest of the crowd are usually quiet but do get loud on occasions.
Ottawa's stadium is very open so sound does not travel that much, Fury are averaging about 5500 fans per game, which is about average for NASL.
One of the big differences i notice is the Fury are very into the community, the players regularly visit the local youth soccer organisations and conduct clinics, some of the players are actually coaching youth teams, some of the players are on local radio and tv doing interviews and promoting the next game, every youth player under 14 has a free season ticket to attend Fury games, (i believe over 20,000 have been issued) at every home game 3 local teams are selected, 2 to walkout on the field with both teams for the intoduction and National anthems, and one to be the ballboys/girls. At half time there are youth soccer games for 10 mins and at the end of the games all the youth in attendance are invited down on to the field to get autographs and photos with the players.
All Fury games home and away are broadcast on local radio and tv, and at the stadium there is a huge screen that broadcast the game to the fans with replays etc

 

[SurreyGreen]

What happened between the 2 different seasons then? As there appears to be a massive difference in results. Any new players signed?

 

[Ottawa Green]

SG I think their are 2 reasons for the difference between the 2 seasons.

1. The Fury finally learned to score, in the first half there record was
P W D L F A PTS
10 2 5 3 5 8 11

the 2nd half the record is

11 7 3 1 20 10 24

2. The return to the side of captain Richie Ryan, he played a total of 25 mins in 2 sub appearances in the spring season, but has played all of the games in the fall season, also scoring 3 goals.

In the spring season Fury conceded 8 goals, 6 came in 2 games, in the final 6 games, Ottawa conceded 1 goal but only scored 1 goal, they finished the spring season undefeated for 5 games. They started the fall season undefeated in the first 7 games scoring 16 times conceding 6.
Ottawa`s defence is obviously the strength, Romain Peiser (French) has 10 shutouts leading the league in 21 games, back 4 Ryan Richter (US), Mason Trafford (CDN), Colin Falvey (Ireland), Rafael Alves (Brazil), have played every minute of the 2 seasons so far.
Ottawa usually plays 4-4-2, the midfield consists of Richie Ryan (Captain) (Ireland), Mauro Eustáquio (CDN), Julian de Guzman (CDN) captain of CDN national team,and Siniša Ubiparipović (Bosnia) and the forwards are rotated between 8 different players.
Ottawa`s leading scorer is Tom Heinemann (US) 4 goals
The Fury also went 648 minutes without conceding a goal.

 

[Ottawa Green]

Looks like i`m going to get wet today, absolutely pouring down and it`s suppose to stay like that all afternoon, hopefully they will allow me to wear a poncho at 4th officials table.

 

[Ottawa Green]

I did`nt get too wet as i was protected with my new jacket curtesy of the Canadian Soccer Association left over from the Women`s World Cup Soccer tournament, nice red jacket by Adidas.
Ottawa Fury 0 Fort Lauderdale 0 very surprised with the 6327 in attendance considering the weather conditions and that the game was live on local tv.

Highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y-pYd_ ... e=youtu.be

 

[SurreyGreen]

What are the admission prices like?

 

[Josh Pope]

The quality of the finishing in that game was.. Interesting, to say the least.

 

[Ottawa Green]

SG here is a link too the ticket prices and the seating areas, http://www.ottawafuryfc.com/single-game-tickets
The Fury only use 2 areas of the stadium the lower level and and the 2nd level which are all executive suites. Season tickets range about $400.00 for 16 games ($ is worth about 49p) so approx 200 pounds per season
The rest of the stadium will be opened up as the crowds increase up to approx 24,000. They have started to use the small sections at field level on the north side these are for specilaty groups who buy tickets from sponsors.

One of the biggest differences i have seen from the Fury compared to Argyle is the commitment to making coming to a game a fun event, examples before the game and at half time there are kids areas with bouncy castles, shooting on goalies, hardest shot etc. as i have said before at least 3 local youth teams are invited on to the field, 2 to be a guard of honour as the players come out the other team will be ballboys/girls, also at half time there will 2 mini football games on the field, also a fan shooting contest on goal.
One of the sections you will note is designated as supporters area, this is an area where fans can stand all game drums smoke bombs are allowed, a couple of times during the game they will start a chant like "stand up if you support the Fury" and then the other sections start standing and chanting as well. all of the game is shown on a giant screen with replays (the 4th official keeps telling me they are not allowed to replay controversial decisions, i smile ). After the game all the players go over to the supporters section and clap and cheer them, then the players go to their dressing room, in the meantime ALL the youth fans in the stadium are invited down on to the playing field with their families, to meet and greet the players who come back out on the field and get autographs and photos they stay on the field for about 20 mins.

 

[Ottawa Green]

The Fury had some bad news on tuesday when it was announced that coach (manager) Marc Dos Santos would not be back for a 3rd season next year as he is going to a MLS team in the USA.

How to beat Bruce Grobbelaar in net

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWjYEO_ ... e=youtu.be

 

[Ottawa Green]

Back to the top of the Fall league after a 2-0 win at Fort Lauderdale, tonight they are away to NY Cosmos and on saturday away to Carolina.

 

[Ottawa Green]

Fury extended their lead in the fall leagueTuesday night with a amazing and surprising 4-1 win away to the NY Cosmos. Inflicting the first home defeat in 18 games, and one of the Cosmos worst defeats in their history. Next game away to Carolina on Saturday Fury's 3rd away game in 8 days.

 

[Ottawa Green]

ONE point is all the Fury need to clinch the Fall championship after yesterdays 1-0 win, that is one point gained by the Fury or one point dropped by Minnesota, BUT to clinch the overall championship they will probably need to win their last 2 games.
If the Fury get that point they will host a home playoff game on Nov 8, how cold will it be then as i nearly froze my cahoonees yesterday afternoon, i was already suffering from a very bad cold but by the time i got home i was literally shaking and ended up soaking in the bath for 2 hours, and then slept for 12 hours.

Highlihts from yesterdays win

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znunxWO ... e=youtu.be

 

[Lundan Cabbie]

Looks tight at the bottom. How many get relegated?

 

[Ottawa Green]

LC there is no promotion and relegation, the NASL the league where the Ottawa Fury play in want to have it, but it means they have to find another league to associate with. The NASL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as the Division II league in the American league system, under Major League Soccer (MLS) and above the USL (formerly, USL Pro).
MLS is a Division 1 league and USL is Division 3 league, the problem is MLS controls the way football is run in the US, it costs about 100 million dollars to get a MLS franchise, whereas the NASL it is about 5 million, there approx 27 teams in the USL and 19 of these teams are affiliated with MLS teams mostly as reserve teams.
A couple of names you might know from the USL, former Argyle star Jason Bent is the head coach of TorontoFC 11 the reserve team of MLS team Toronto FC and Paul Buckle who is head coach of Sacramento Republic who are associated with San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS
The US soccer federation has some very strange rules, the only way the NASL could ever become a div 1 league is if they have representation from all over the US, right now the NASL is very much a east coast league, of the 11 teams, 7 are in the east with Indy, Minnesota, San Antonio and Edmonton covering the rest of N. America. There will be 2 new teams in the NASL next year Miami and Puerto Rico, again eastern teams, unfortunately the USL has tied up most of the cities that the NASL would love to be in.

 

[Lundan Cabbie]

So if there is a local ambitious club somewhere, they have no progression path to get to the top? No opportunity for a Wimbledon or Crawley Town?