Yukon, NWT, Nunavut

[Gerrit]

Can anyone tell me of soccer in these arctic/sub-arctic regions of Canada ?

I will first explain my rather unusual request: I have been obsessed by the arctic ever since I was 5 years old and first watched the globe. One of my dreams in life is to make an extended travel in the area, mainly Ellesmere Island and the town of Resolute.

I once checked a website on a local Northwest Territories based regional FA that organised school competitions. Of course there's the problem of having good pitches, the climate doesn't really encourage outdoor sports. However, some very remote high-arctic towns entered the competition: Baffin Island towns have entered few times, and the northernmost community sending a team was Grise Fiord. Remarkable, because Grise Fiord, a 200 people settlement on the southern tip of northernmost island Ellesmere, is one of the 5 northernmost towns in the world (it is hard to determine which was is furthest north, as some are rather scientific posts than true towns) and still Grise Fiord has always sent a team each time the NWT/Nunavut school championship was organised.

Is there any local league ? Is there any more or less organised club ? (guess competition could be not possible because of the travel distances and difficult/expensive travels to the main Canadian towns)

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Don't know too much about the Arctic. Most Canadians live within 200 km or so of the US border and hardly ever venture north. I think Yukon and NWT send adult teams to the Canada Games but not to the annual amateur level National Championships. My impression is that this would primarily involve players from the immediate Whitehorse and Yellowknife areas.

[hobbes]

I can't answer your question entirely Gerrit, but I can give a few half answers. Bring Back the Blizzard is spot on with what he said about national championships. The Yukon and NWT will send U18 teams to the Canada Summer Games this summer. If you're really curious I could tell you how they look since I'll be there. But it's not until August.

They don't attend the national provincial all-star tournaments held every year (the Games are every four years and the all-star tournaments are held annually, but are basically the best each province has to offer). In fact New Brunswick doesn't seem to have entered this year either?!

There is however a national club championship for each youth age level as well as men's and women's. Since 1984 the Yukon has sent five teams: Assante Templars, Yukon 86ers and Yukon Falcons in the male field and Midnight Sun and Northern Flames in the female. The CSA website didn't indicate what age groups any of these teams represented. It appears they each went once. I assume that these are teams put together from across the province rather than proper club teams, but I don't know.

I just started working with a soccer fanatic from Ontario who spent the last four years in Whitehorse. He played in a league in Whitehorse, so there are definitely leagues. I wouldn't think the calibre would be very good at all, but I never bothered to ask. I'll ask for more details when I see him next.

He did tell me that Yukon teams compete in BC's provincial tournament in hockey which I didn't know. Also the hockey teams travel to Alaska for competition as often if not more so than northern BC.

cheers,
hobbes

[Gerrit]

Yes, if you could tell me on their performances in August i'd be very interested.

Ever since I was 5 years and watched the globe for the first time, I have had a deep obsession for the Arctic and spent hours every week studying maps and reading travel guides, mainly on the remote areas Far North. One of my goals is to ever travel through Nunavut and go up to the northernmost towns (Grise Fiord and Resolute) and then up to the northern tip of Ellesmere Island where you have a national park (northernmost in the world) and the military station of Alert which is the world's northernmost settlement if you ignore the fact that they only have temporary inhabitants. Standing on the beach there, all you can see is the North Pole, you're on about the northernmost land mass in the world. Amazing !
Also, I have friends in Yukon who are prepared to help me moving up there. It's not easy to find a job there, but if I ever have the chance it will be the experience of a lifetime...

Are there any soccer teams (apart from these schoolboys teams that only play once a year) on what they call the Arctic Archipelago ?? Ellesmere Island and Devon Island only have 1 or 2 settlements of 200 people each, far too remote for football I guess (though for any Toronto-based team it would be a unique travel to play there at the 'edge of the world') but Baffin Island has a few bigger towns (5000 to 6000 people). Of course the fact that people rely on air transport there is not making it any easier, but then 5000 people makes enough for a very small local competition...

[DoyleG]

The territories also compete in indoor soccer at the Arctic Winter Games. Generally they play against Alaska, Northern Alberta, and occasionally Greenland and Russian teams.

[JG]

Yukon Selects at 2000 Canadian Senior Men's club championships:

http://www.soccer.on.ca/Nationals00.nsf/0/6b47c960f7029dbb8525668e006ce9de?OpenDocument

vs. Fredricton United FC (NB) 0-3
vs. CS Francheville (QC) 1-3
vs. Woodbridge Azzuri (ON) 0-7
vs. St. Lawrence Laurentians (NF) 0-4
vs. Rino's Westside "A" (BC) 0-6

[Gerrit]

The territories also compete in indoor soccer at the Arctic Winter Games. Generally they play against Alaska, Northern Alberta, and occasionally Greenland and Russian teams.

Russian teams ?? What parts of Russia ? Most parts of Russia above the arctic circle are either uninhabited or either have weither/military/scientific posts (example Dikson, Nova Zembla islands)


I think I once read about Yellowknife and/or Whitehorse having their own indoor league. The same guy told me that in the whole of NWT and Nunavut there were only 4 regular soccer fields (because it's difficult to maintain the pitch in good conditions ---> arctic climate) and all of these pitches were on mainland ground, not on the Arctic archipelago. Not sure if this is correct though, wouldn't surprise me there are a few more he doesn't know about. I mean, the NWT and Nunavut are bigger than any European country, and they would have only 4 grounds ?!

[JG]

I think I once read about Yellowknife and/or Whitehorse having their own indoor league.

http://www.yukonsoccer.yk.ca/men/index.html

[DoyleG]

Russian teams ?? What parts of Russia ? Most parts of Russia above the arctic circle are either uninhabited or either have weither/military/scientific posts (example Dikson, Nova Zembla islands)


http://www.awg.ca/