Unfortunately for Ottawa sports and soccer fans, the Ottawa Fury FC announced they have suspended operations after being unable to obtain a sanction to continue to play in the United Soccer League (USL).
What’s even more unfortunate are the internal politics that led to this.
“How could this team be suspending operations? Politics, of course,” team president John Pugh of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) told the media. OSEG owns the Fury.
“We needed to be sanctioned and that did not come,” Pugh added. “They knew our deadlines. They knew the deadlines we had been given by our league.”
Pugh is right. The Fury requested a multi-year sanction to Canada Soccer to play in the USL, but they were denied. Instead, they were given a one-year sanction for 2020. However, they were not sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation and Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) in time for the Nov. 1 deadline to take part in the 2020 USL season.
It’s interesting and ironic that Canada Soccer and CONCACAF came out with statements expressing how disappointed they were in the Fury’s decision to suspend operations. It was their decision to not sanction them that led to the decision. It was their decision to squeeze the Fury into this situation, to try and bully them into joining the Canadian Premier League (CPL).
The Fury have stated in the past they support the new CPL and are even open to joining it in the future. However, their plan was to stay in the USL for now.
It’s understandable from their part. The Fury had an opt-out clause for the CPL but it required a one-year advance notice. That means if they wanted to join the CPL by 2020, they would have needed to decide before the CPL even started their league.
The Fury have done a tremendous amount for Canadian soccer. They’ve been praised for giving numerous Canadian players opportunities to compete and develop as players, and even hired former national team captain Julien de Guzman as their general manager. The team has found stability since moving to the USL, from the North American Soccer League, in 2017.
From a soccer fan’s point of view, the USL is a tier below Major League Soccer (MLS) and is currently a better quality league than the CPL.
While I am proud and happy to see the CPL grow and succeed (with my hometown Forge FC winning the title), it also helps Canadian soccer to have a team and players competing at the USL level—just like it helps to have three Canadian MLS teams at the highest level of soccer in Canada and the U.S.
Having players and management work at higher levels is good for their development, and the reality is the CPL isn’t at that level yet. It might be someday but currently, it’s not.
If anything, it’s disappointing to see how the CPL, Canada Soccer and CONCACAF have reacted to the Fury after the support the club has provided to them. Ultimately, I believe they were driven by their own agenda to try and force the Fury into the CPL.
Now, the future of the Ottawa Fury is uncertain. They’re not in the CPL or the USL. They’re not in existence. Now, everyone suffers the consequences—especially those in Ottawa.
File photo.
