The Victoria Highlanders closed out the 2018 Premier Development League season Saturday at Centennial Stadium and will return next year to a much-altered playing field in more ways than one.
The amateur-development level Highlanders must deal with Friday’s official unveiling of the Victoria franchise in the professional Canadian Premier League, which begins its inaugural season in 2019 to fulfil the long-held dream of an all-Canadian professional soccer league.
“We’re after different things,” said Highlanders co-owner Mark deFrias.
“We’re primarily trying to get college players to the next level.”
Ironically, that next level being aimed for by many of the best Canadian PDL players will be the CPL.
Elite Highlanders players, such as Cam Hundal and Callum Montgomery, may be pro-ready for the CPL level.
“What we’re offering are different things,” deFrias said.
“We’re amateurs. They [CPL] are pros.”
The Highlanders brass will attend the CPL announcement in Victoria on Friday.
“We’ll have a conversation with them to see what partnerships might be possible to work with the CPL team,” said deFrias.
“Both want to find ways of working together, and both want to build up passion for local soccer, and both have time for conversation to help make really strong partnerships.”
Yet both clubs will be after the same fan base.
DeFrias said the Highlanders averaged a resurgent 700 fans this season at Centennial Stadium, a 300 per cent increase from the previous season under previous ownership.
“We want to continue to create our game-day atmosphere and build up to 1,500 fans,” said deFrias.
The CPL said it wants its franchises to attract between 5,000 to 6,000 fans.
PDL teams play only seven home dates in June and July. CPL teams will play more than twice that number from April through October.
“The CPL is a bigger fish,” said Highlanders head coach Thomas Niendorf. “But it provides our players with an opportunity to step up to the next level, which is what the PDL is all about.”
The question is, are there enough Island soccer fans to go around for both clubs as the CPL readies to set sail next year at Westhills Stadium in Langford?
“Fans can come out looking for different things [at the two different levels],” said deFrias.
But it is obvious who the junior partner will be in any market shared between pro and amateur teams.
The field will be tilted next season. The Highlanders will invariably be the team kicking the ball uphill.
ON THE PITCH: The Highlanders closed out their 2018 season account Saturday at Centennial Stadium with a game against Lane United of Eugene, Oregon, that had no playoff bearing, since both those PDL Northwest Division squads will miss the post-season. The Highlanders (5-9) were blanked 4-0 by Lane United (5-4-5).
